what should i use to build my cage?

[spencer]

ive decided the 10x7x4 would be too much hassle so im just gunna follow the 8x4x4 cage tutoriel and i found out untreated spruce is non toxic so thats what ill be using .

as for sealent im not sure yet :(

[ApriliaRufo]

Well hopefully you are just another person who doesn't understand how to state measurements and are not just plain ignorant. 10x7x4 means that would have a 10 foot wide, 7 foot tall (good luck with a room to do that in), and 4 feet deep, which doesn't do much for your tegu. A long and tall enclosure is worthless for a curious ground dwelling lizard. I'm building an 8x6x8 for my two tegus and eventually a third. Doesn't really cause my any problems as my garage is being converted into a kind of reptile showroom with the giant tegu cage being the base of my work bench. They need a decent height so you can add plenty of substrate, but not to climb. FLoor space is the best you can give them. And yes the bigger the cage, you'd better prepare to buy a HELL of a lot of heat tape or wires. Get your soldering skills out, and work hard at your job, cuz the electricity bill is going to be a BEAST.

[spencer]

i meant 10 foot long 7 feet wide 4 feet tall. im just gunna folow the the 8x4x4 instructions givin in another post because thats too much work when plywood comes in 8x4 and 4x4 so yea.

[Warner]

And yes the bigger the cage, you'd better prepare to buy a HELL of a lot of heat tape or wires. Get your soldering skills out, and work hard at your job, cuz the electricity bill is going to be a BEAST.

My red is in a cage that is 8x3x3 and is heated by a single 90 watt halogen bulb that is on during daylight hours, and a 60 watt ceramic emitter that stays on 24 hours. There is also a megaray 60 watt UV bulb that is on during daylight hours as well. I don't consider 210 watts to be using a lot of power, and that is when everything is on. His basking spot is in the 110 - 115 degree range, the cool side of the cage is around 80 degrees in daylight hours and probably closer to 70 or a little less at night. If the cage is built right the heat shouldn't escape easily. My cage is in my cold basement in the Chicago area, for reference. I'm sure the room that it's in drops to the mid to low 60's at nightime.

Warner

[spencer]

well now ive done the cuts to the 2x4's and for the left and right side i cut a piece of plywood in 2. now i gotta seal it.

From what ive heard all i need to do is ask for a non toxic sealent, maybe something for a pond or like cabinets where you keep food.

[Warner]

well now ive done the cuts to the 2x4's and for the left and right side i cut a piece of plywood in 2. now i gotta seal it.

From what ive heard all i need to do is ask for a non toxic sealent, maybe something for a pond or like cabinets where you keep food.

Or you could put vinyl sheet flooring down and caulk the seams....that's what I did. I covered the entire inside of the enclosure with it. Works good.

Warner

[Tegster]

We're using pure clear silicone to seal Tegsters enclosure.

His enclosure is made of 1/4" pine plywood (lauan) with 1/8" ceramic tileboard, for showers, adhered to it. We're using the silicone to adhere the shower board to the plywood as well as to seal the edges.

[meanah]

nice.. ill be reading all of this very soon too. when i build mine

[Warner]

We're using pure clear silicone to seal Tegsters enclosure.

His enclosure is made of 1/4" pine plywood (lauan) with 1/8" ceramic tileboard, for showers, adhered to it. We're using the silicone to adhere the shower board to the plywood as well as to seal the edges.

"Ceramic" tileboard? Are you sure it's really ceramic? All the tileboard that I found when I was considering what to use was simply heavily compresses paper (felt like board, but it's really just paper) that was covered by some shiny surface, but it was definitely NOT something that you'd want to be in contact with water or even in a high humidity environment. Make sure you double check that before using it...

Warner

[spencer]

so i could use something like tile flooring stuff and caulk the edges to make it waterproof?

me and my dad are going to be doing the main part of the cage building and a plumber and fello herper 2 doors down is installing free of charge a fully automatic watering system from the roof of the enclosure that will spray out 1L of myst twice weekly to make sure everything stays up to the proper humidity.