Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: Design plans for tegu/monitor cage?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Posts
    213

    Default Design plans for tegu/monitor cage?

    Hi, I want to get a argentine tegu, or some sort of monitor lizard, and i'd like to find an adult or half-grown one that needs a home instead of buying a baby. I plan on building an 8x4x? enclosure but I have never built anything before, lol. I have no idea where to start really. What are the best materials? Does anyone have any design blueprints or something I could use? I'm also unsure how high to make it. Most likely if I don't get a b/w tegu I will get a savannah.
    I'd like the cage to have good visibility and, of course, be relatively inexpensive. Any tips??
    thanks!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Posts
    213

    Default

    ANYONE?? man this place is dead, i found a tegu i want so really need to get moving! i have no idea where to start!!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Posts
    768

    Default

    Heya, if the tegu you have your eye on is a small youngster under 20" or so, you will be able to get away with a 55gal breeder or equavalent tank, so if you can pick up one of those it will do at a pinch and buy you a bit more time to build your cage (my tegu started out in my beardeds cage [obviously not at the same time as her] for a week or so while we built his own enclosure).

    Building your own enclosure is an easy business once you draw up a plan of what it will look like; the only tricky parts are taking into account the thickness of wood/plexiglass to get everything the right size, and fitting hinges etc. Some large hardware stores will actually cut wood to size for you as well, so all you need to do is give them the measurements and screw it all together. Draw a design on some paper and work out the sizes - it really doesnt take too long. Heres a VERY rough example to inspire you (please dont actually trust my measurements made here!)



    For materials, we used MDF at 15mm thickness for the basic cage layout, 5mm plexiglas designed for outdoor use, coated hardboard for the back of the cage (its easier to cut through to fit the air vents, cables for lights etc), pine 2x2 for the door frames, and all the interior wood surfaces were coated in a low VOC pond paint to waterproof them (this is essential, or all your wood will swell up and split from the humidity in the cage). For a long cage like an 8fter, you will also need a support in the middle or your roof will bow in; we made ours out of MDF again, with pine 2x2 for the internal structure. The plexi windows are set into the door frames and sandwiched in place with two strips of dowelling, which are just nailed in place; if you want to get really technical you can cut grooves into your doorframes and slide the glass in, but that was really too much hassle for us You can use tempered glass instead of plexi (dont use unstrengthened glass or a thump from an adult tegu can break it), but we went with plexi because it doesnt shatter and its lighter than glass. It will get scratched up though over time, but thats just an aesthetic pointer

    Height wise I would go for at least 2ft, but 3ft is better if you put a 1ft edge along the bottom of the cage to hold 1ft deep of substrate. In the example, the lip is 6" deep - this is the actual measurement of my cage, as we wanted to keep the height of the enclosure down so that it could be moved through a doorway when we move (bear in mind that a cage 8x3x3 will probably need to be dismantled if you want to take it through a regular doorway). You really want no less than around 18"+ between the top of the substrate and the roof of the cage, or the space you have to work in when leaning in to clean the cage/pick up your tegu will be uncomfortable to work in. Conversely, more than around 2-3ft between the top of the substrate and the roof of the cage will make it hard to maintain temps, particularly the basking spot. Remember also that normal reptile UVB tubes are a lot more ineffective when they are 12" or more away from your reptile, so having a UVB light 2ft away from the tegu is almost like having no UVB source at all. Other than this, they arent big climbers when adult so height isnt as important as to some lizards. A bit of variation in environment though like plants/corkbark will give your herp something to do.

    I strongly advise against sliding doors in an ault tegu cage; our last enclosure had sliding doors, and when the tegu became larger he was actually able to knock the doors out of the runners and escape. They do get very strong when they are adults, so bear this in mind when you build your cage (ours now has reinforcement screws all over the place just to be sure!).

    Make sure to fit adequate ventilation into the cage; ideally air vents should be placed at the top corner of one side of the back of the cage, and then the opposite corner on the other side eg top left corner and bottom right corners. This causes air to be dragged through the cage as warm air leaves via the top vents and cool air is pulled in through the bottom ones. Alternatively putting them in the sides of the cage in a similar fashion (bottom of left side/top of right side) is good. Avoid putting vents in the roof of the cage as far as possible; too much humidity is lost through an open top.

    Lights...I personally have my lights fitted inside the cage. If you do do this though, make sure they are very securely fitted and that the tegu cant climb on them. They are very active when younger (and may not lose their curious nature when older) and will really destroy anything that they can. Dont underestimate them; my tegu almost burnt his old cage when he knocked down an unfastened light onto the substrate. If you fit lights inside the cage, ensure they cant damage them or ideally cant even touch them. You can buy wire cages for lights that will prevent access, but make sure your tegu cant climb on it or he will probably be burnt. Remember also that UVB cant penetrate very fine mesh. I also have a heat mat secured inside the cage for cold winter nights; if you put one of these in the cage, ensure that it cant be dug up and damaged (mine is gaffer taped to the floor of the cage by its plastic lining) and always hook them up to a thermostat to control the temperature. This shouldnt be essential unless your house temps drop below 60F at night when the lights are out. Finally, make sure that you can wire more lights into the cage if necessary; when my tegu was smaller, one spot light was enough to heat his body, but now that he is an adult he needs 2 large floodlights to heat him up. The tegu should be able to warm his whole body at once in order to properly thermoregulate, so you may need to expand the diameter of the basking spot as he gets bigger. This will also help brighten up the cage, as an 8fter runs a risk of being too dark at the "cool" end. If this is the case, it might be an idea to run a beauty light or just a low wattage spotlight into the cool end just to brighten it up and encourage activity.

    Wow, this is pretty long, but I hope some of it will be of use We built our 8x3x2 for around £200 - a store bought cage would have probably cost upwards of £800 and not been customised to our space or species. Self-built is really the way to go!

    Heres a pic of my cage for reference for some of the things I have said here that might have come out as mumbled jargon;

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Posts
    213

    Default

    WOW!! Thank you so much! That will be so helpfull. I'm going to go looking at supplies tomorrow.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •