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Nero557
03-29-2006, 12:43 AM
All right, so this question would be for the people with acrylic or plexi-glass for the windows on their enclosures. How do you go about keeping it from being scratched? I noticed quite a few people used plexi, where as I probably would have used glass if the tegu can access it. Is it just that some people just leave it all scratched? and just don't care, or do you guys constantly change it?I was just wondering because I'm about to be building new enclosures for my Tegus.

tegulevi
03-29-2006, 01:44 PM
Lexan dude lexan is the wave of the future. it is virtually unbreakable and difficult to scrath as well. you can even cut it with a circular saw

Teiidae
03-29-2006, 01:50 PM
I guess it would depend on how bad the Tegu scratches at it - I have one un-occupied enclosure that was 4 walls of plexi scratched to hell from my Colombian that I will be replacing with tileboard - My Argentines don't usually sit there and scratch at it all day - just when they want out, so yea I would just replace as needed...

Nero557
03-29-2006, 05:26 PM
Where would I go about getting Lexan? and yeah, that's what I did Teiidae, but my Arg's don't really scratch it anymore, now that I think about it, they used to when they were little... but they really don't know... thanks guys

jb
03-30-2006, 12:28 AM
I only have used glass...and where do you find Lexan, too? I may be interested...sounds expensive, like Lexus.

tegulevi
03-30-2006, 01:43 PM
its actually not that expensive. if you cant get it through lowes go to usplastics.com
we use it at work. you can put in in a sheet metal break and bend it without breaking it, and it will hold the bend just like steel

varnyard
03-30-2006, 03:49 PM
Sounds like awesome stuff. I will be looking for some as well! :)

Nero557
03-30-2006, 09:07 PM
Really? Well, I'm going to have to check Lexan out. Sounds like some good stuff, thanks Tegulevi. :)

tegulevi
03-30-2006, 09:26 PM
no problem man, i get occasional freebies at work. I take home some of the leftovers. when you cut it you should put the saw blade on backwards. i dont know why but thats what i was told. you will be surprised how hard it is to cut. I accidentall sat the saw still running on it and it just scrathed a small spot.

yeaitsdave
03-31-2006, 04:32 PM
We talked about the stuff in organic, its pretty impressive, and the molecular formula is outrageous (I'll hafta find my notes and post it, its always worth a laugh).

As for keeping it from being scratched... try keeping his nails clipped? :wink:

Johelian
03-31-2006, 08:06 PM
We've used plexi in all three enclosures we've built (I say we - really my boyfriend). The positive - its reasonably cheap and very easy to get hold of, easy enough to cut and robust enough to withstand an adult tegu on his back legs pounding it with his full body weight trying to escape. I would be very cautious about using glass in a similar situation, particularly if you go for long, wide doors. The downside - really only one, in that it will show up scratches. To be honest though, they arent a massive issue; his smaller enclosure had very battered doors, but now hes in his 8ft cage he barely touches the doors, other than to give them a half-hearted knock to see if he can open them. I think that if you had an all-plexi cage you would begin to see the damage more quickly, but at the rate hes scratching these doors I dont think we will ever bother replacing them. My beardeds 2-year old cage also has plexi doors and shows only a few faint marks.

I would think the type of plexi you use might affect how badly it scratches; we use the stuff designed for outdoor use, so maybe its tougher?

jb
04-01-2006, 03:50 AM
i think you can polish out the scratches with polishing compound, too. but it takes some elbow grease to do it.

Johelian
04-01-2006, 09:35 AM
Is that stuff safe if a tegu licks it or anything? We're pretty paranoid about using any chemicals in the cage - took us long enough to find a coating we were happy with ;)