Tegu Enclosure Walkthrough

[isdrake]

A video showing the setup of our enclosure.

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Also made a shorter one for one of our other enclosures (bearded dragon) if anyone is interested.

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[nordica]

Those are fantastic enclosures! I always enjoy seeing anything you put up about them.

As far as the substrate for Zelda goes, I have to agree with you. I know it's a very hot topic that a lot of people feel very strongly about, but I think you just need to go with what works for your beardie. For one of ours, we have her on ZooMed's "Vita Sand", and we've never had a problem. She's not fed in her enclosure, she doesn't dig around in it, and sh'e never ingested any. for our other beardie, we have her on "play sand" that I got at Home Depot. We originally had her on the same colored Vita Sand that our other one is not, but she hated it. The minute I switched her to the play sand, she was much less stressed, and almost stopped doing the "glass dancing". She LOVES to dig and burrow, so keeping her on anything that prevented her from doing this was always out of the question. ;)

[isdrake]

Thanks a lot. :)

Yeah It's almost annoying with all these beardie owners claiming that you can't use loose substrate because the dragon will get impacted or sick from germs unless you change the substrate once a month or every other week. I don't see why bearded dragons would have bigger problem with substrate than other lizards... I think it's just exaggerated. Can you imagine changing the substrate for a Tegu once a month? XD

[Sephora]

That is wonderful! Good job! :D

[the enigma]

I always used vita sand without problems with my uromastyx. he never became impacted.

[txrepgirl]

Wow. Those are some awsome enclosures. You should make a living out of that :) . I subscribed to your videos ;) .

[nordica]

Yeah It's almost annoying with all these beardie owners claiming that you can't use loose substrate because the dragon will get impacted or sick from germs unless you change the substrate once a month or every other week. I don't see why bearded dragons would have bigger problem with substrate than other lizards... I think it's just exaggerated. Can you imagine changing the substrate for a Tegu once a month? XD

I get a little frustrated at times as well by all the "anti-sand" sentiment out there. Don't get me wrong, I get it. There IS a risk of a beardie ingesting some of it and becoming impacted, and it DOES make it harder to keep sanitized. However, I once again go back to my statement of you just have to use what's right for your individual beardie... or any other pet for that matter. ;)

[Sephora]

isdrake, or anybody that can help, I was wondering where can I get those kinds of huge corks that serve as hides?

[Pikey]

most pet shops sell them, you can check onlline (google search), & Ebay sells them cheap as well as nice drift wood.

[Sephora]

Great! Thanks Pikey! Will check that out. :D

[Nessie]

Beautiful enclosures! I seen your walk through a awhile back for the Tegu enclosure and am wondering how your rock background is holding up (looks to be fine). Did you use the foam and grout method? We are within a couple weeks of getting started on our adult enclosure and are trying to decide what will finally use to make the rock walls. At the present moment for substrate I use coconut husk but I love the look of the top soil more, seems so much more natural and it looks like it will stay moist much longer. Do you ever have an issue with mold? I use a humidity box in my tank with a fine peat moss and my tegu loves it and he is always leaving me large pieces of skin behind so I may just go ahead and use that in my whole enclosure. One more thing, I have had major issues finding the right humidifier for my tank, I had issues with a warm mist dripping very hot water condisation in my tank and the cool mist I use does not produce any mist what so ever.....What make/model do you use?

Sorry for all the questions but I want to make my enclosure right the first time as it will be a very large project!

Thanks in Advance
Vanessa

[isdrake]

Beautiful enclosures! I seen your walk through a awhile back for the Tegu enclosure and am wondering how your rock background is holding up (looks to be fine). Did you use the foam and grout method? We are within a couple weeks of getting started on our adult enclosure and are trying to decide what will finally use to make the rock walls. At the present moment for substrate I use coconut husk but I love the look of the top soil more, seems so much more natural and it looks like it will stay moist much longer. Do you ever have an issue with mold? I use a humidity box in my tank with a fine peat moss and my tegu loves it and he is always leaving me large pieces of skin behind so I may just go ahead and use that in my whole enclosure. One more thing, I have had major issues finding the right humidifier for my tank, I had issues with a warm mist dripping very hot water condisation in my tank and the cool mist I use does not produce any mist what so ever.....What make/model do you use?

Sorry for all the questions but I want to make my enclosure right the first time as it will be a very large project!

Thanks in Advance
Vanessa

Sorry for the late response. I will try to answer your questions the best I can. It's hard to talk about technical stuff like this because I'm not familiar with the English worlds :) The background is only holding up with angle iron, one end is glued to the fake rock, the other end is nailed to the plywood. We also have a thick wire of steel infront of the whole thing in case the angle iron would give up.

It's the traditional styrofoam and grout method yes. :) Unfortunately this was my first attempt and I was in a great deal of hurry. I didn't make enough research and ended up using a very fragile grout. Who knew there was a hundred different types of grouts anyway? XD She has already made a hole in it. I guess I will have to remove the whole thing later on then she is bigger.

I have never had any problem with mold in this enclosure. And I'm very happy with the cheap humidifier. I doubt you will find it in the US though. http://www.biltema.se/sv/Hem/Stad/Maskiner/Luftfuktare/

I'm looking forward to see your project. :) I would recommend that you do a lot of research before you start working and that you try out the materials first so you don't end up like us. Good luck.

[LovleyLin]

Beautiful enclosures! I seen your walk through a awhile back for the Tegu enclosure and am wondering how your rock background is holding up (looks to be fine). Did you use the foam and grout method? We are within a couple weeks of getting started on our adult enclosure and are trying to decide what will finally use to make the rock walls. At the present moment for substrate I use coconut husk but I love the look of the top soil more, seems so much more natural and it looks like it will stay moist much longer. Do you ever have an issue with mold? I use a humidity box in my tank with a fine peat moss and my tegu loves it and he is always leaving me large pieces of skin behind so I may just go ahead and use that in my whole enclosure. One more thing, I have had major issues finding the right humidifier for my tank, I had issues with a warm mist dripping very hot water condisation in my tank and the cool mist I use does not produce any mist what so ever.....What make/model do you use?

Sorry for all the questions but I want to make my enclosure right the first time as it will be a very large project!

Thanks in Advance
Vanessa

I came across a really nice quality misting system that you might be interested in if you want to invest some money into it. The starting kit is around $100 but it is a really nice system with a no drip mechanism built into it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St21uqeSDI0
I hope this helps!