Going back to Tegus...Need new ideas

After seeing all the new threads about tegus, I decided that I am going to get back to keeping them. It has been a few years since I had my old one, and I am looking to maybe try some new caging alternatives for the hatchling stage. Previously I kept my hatchling in a 40 gallon breeder. But as we know these guys quickly outgrow that and need their adult cage. Do any of yall start with more of an intermediate size cage, one that they can spend more than a few months in? Im going to ultimately build their adult size cage myself, just looking for options that might last a bit longer for the hatchlings.

From my experience I would say start them in their adult cage, that being said I had mine in a 4x2x2 while I was building her adult cage, and as a hatchling she seemed ok, but she quickly got cramped up in there, so personally if you were going to put them in a "temp cage" seeing how quickly mine was cramped in a 4x2 I would say a minimum of a 6x2, which at that point you will be spending quite a bit on a cage that size, just to then bump it up to a cage 8ft longer. My 2 cents for what its worth.

Yeah I hear what you're saying. I have no problem building an adult cage myself, but would rather not build two custom cages. I feel like if I put a hatchling in an 8 foot cage it would get lost or be hard to observe. I do like having easy access to the hatchling when I first get him.

Hát about building the adult cage and make it with a divider in the middle. So when it grows all you have to do is remove the divider

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That's actually a good idea. Problem is that I am moving this January, to a more permanent spot, and would rather build the adult enclosure once we are there.

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

That's actually a good idea. Problem is that I am moving this January, to a more permanent spot, and would rather build the adult enclosure once we are there.

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Well I will tell you by January it will have outgrown a 4x2x2, so depeding on how soon you are wanting to pick one up, you could either wait until you move or try to find a used 6ft vision cage for sale on CL, that may buy you some more time, just be aware after doing all my searching there wasn't a single off the shelf cage that really was tailored to a lizard that needed a deep layer of substrate and a high heat basking spot, which led me to start building my own cages, but before that I modified all my vision cages to have a drop down bulb inside the cage to achieve higher temps and made substrate barries that I put on the inside lip by the glass doors to allow a good 6inches of substrate, (still not enough for a tegu, but works nicely for my blueys).

My personal beliefs are to put it in its adult enclosure as soon as available.

Yeah these are all the things I have been thinking about. I cant find any used vision cages or any used pvc enclosures in my area at all. Pretty frustrating. I know its not ideal but might need to find as big of a tank as possible and have that hold him over until I build the adult cage this fall.

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

Yeah these are all the things I have been thinking about. I cant find any used vision cages or any used pvc enclosures in my area at all. Pretty frustrating. I know its not ideal but might need to find as big of a tank as possible and have that hold him over until I build the adult cage this fall.

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glass tanks are rough with keeping their humidity up. It may be worth shopping around online at some tractor or equestrian supply stores online and get a big rubbermaid plastic trough, then you could make a lid for it, big enough space for it to run around, deep enough substrate, etc. They do it a lot for ackies. That would be the only other option I can think of other than waiting. There is not off the shelf tank big enough to house them for close to a year, if you aren't moving until Jan, lets be honest building a cage will be low on the list of priorities because you be unpacking and getting your new home situated. If you go the small cage route you will be kicking yourself a few months down the road. I am not harping to be mean, I am telling you from my own experience, the money wasted, the rushing to get a bigger cage, the health of the animal, all things that I constantly kick myself for.

Link for some troughs and stock tanks. http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/stor...ch/stock-tanks

Thanks for the link. Not too sure how I would construct a lid for one of those. Ive also never really been fond of having high intensity heat lamps next to plastic. For humidity I have found in the past that some thin melamine on top of a wire lid holds moisture in the tank pretty well. Was also going to purchase MistKing misting system that I would use in the adult cage anyways. This would really only need to be a setup for no more than 6 months.

Thanks for all your ideas, I really appreciate it.

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

Thanks for the link. Not too sure how I would construct a lid for one of those. Ive also never really been fond of having high intensity heat lamps next to plastic. For humidity I have found in the past that some thin melamine on top of a wire lid holds moisture in the tank pretty well. Was also going to purchase MistKing misting system that I would use in the adult cage anyways. This would really only need to be a setup for no more than 6 months.

Thanks for all your ideas, I really appreciate it.

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The lid can be as simple as using some clamps around the lip to hold down some aceyllic or wood. The melting point of the plastics is generally higher than your basking spot will ever get. My small cages are all PVC, which generally has a melting point of 140 degrees F and I have never had an issue. plastic stock tanks I believe are ABS which also has a high heat rating. All that being said. In my 8ft cage I have now with 2ft of substrate there is no need for a mist king. I use a watering can and after the initial period of dialing in my humidity, I have had to use a full can once and my humidity has stayed up with no issues.

Scroll down to view lid on a trough: http://www.repticzone.com/forums/Mon...es/945676.html

Ah I gotcha. I'm actually really interested in the 4x2x2 metal troughs. I think j could fashion a wood/mesh lid. I could then just have the heat lamp/uvb over the screen part?

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

Ah I gotcha. I'm actually really interested in the 4x2x2 metal troughs. I think j could fashion a wood/mesh lid. I could then just have the heat lamp/uvb over the screen part?

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That could work, however metal will transfer heat faster than plastic. So I guess it depends on how much your ambients fluctuate. The plastic will insulate better so if you were to do a fixture with the bulb inside the tub you could get away with a lower wattage and maintain temps better, metal will act like a heat sink and draw heat away since it wont be filled to the top with substrate.

There will also be just as many tegu hatchlings in 2016. No harm in waiting until after the move. I know it's not easy but this will also give you time to shop the various vendors and see what kind of stuff they tend to offer. They might even have holdback yearlings so you can get an idea of how your little one may mature.

I've had tegus before, from hatchling through adult so I definitely know how fast they grow. I've gotten all my tegus from Ty Park in the past, and plan on picking one up from him again. Regardless of when I get the baby I'm still not comfortable putting a hatchling in an 8 foot enclosure. So I will need to have an intermediate enclosure for short term. If it's going to be short term I would rather not mess with wiring lamps inside the cage. In the past I build up basking platforms to get the right temps. Just from looking around the internet it seems that people use metal troughs pretty successfully. I will check out the plastic tubs. Still wary of them.

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

I've had tegus before, from hatchling through adult so I definitely know how fast they grow. I've gotten all my tegus from Ty Park in the past, and plan on picking one up from him again. Regardless of when I get the baby I'm still not comfortable putting a hatchling in an 8 foot enclosure. So I will need to have an intermediate enclosure for short term. If it's going to be short term I would rather not mess with wiring lamps inside the cage. In the past I build up basking platforms to get the right temps. Just from looking around the internet it seems that people use metal troughs pretty successfully. I will check out the plastic tubs. Still wary of them.

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People can utilize metal troughs successfully when they are the base of the cage and filled with dirt. Metal may work fine like I said depending on your ambients, I just know with my temps it won't work for me. Metal WILL draw away heat. If you are wary of the plastic tubs do a bit of digging on the actual different materials they are made of. "Plastic" is a catch all term, I work with "plastics" and metals all day so I am fairly familiar with them. Each one has a different melting point as it is made up of different compositions. Here is an example, a 1/4 inch sheet of type 1 PVC has a max exposure point of 140F, that isn't the melting point, that is the point in which it will start to warp and get brittle. All 3 of my small cages are 1/4in PVC with internally wired bulbs. All 3 bulbs get to a temp of 140F on the bulb itself, however they are far enough from the walls that the temp drops to the wall surface to 90F way below the "danger" zone. The bulb is in a ceramic fixture which is attached to a metal box, again the heat drops substantially so there is no danger of melting. We utilize different plasitcs for components in our products and I run them through our autoclave at 135C which is 275F with multiple cycles at a 30 minute exposure rate and we don't have them melting. My point being plastics can be quite a bit tougher than one would think. That being said good plastic is costly, a cheaper one like you would find at a local hardware store for fountain liners, I would tell you to ignore everything I just said.

Now as far as wiring a bulb internally I know you said in the Tegu thread that you were a little unsure of electrical, but the fabrication side you were comfortable with, it wouldnt be that hard to do, once you had the lid figured out, I would say it may take an additional 10 minutes to wire it up.

If you decided to go this route and have any questions let me know, I'd be happy to try and help out with pictures or diagrams if need be.

Wow thanks for the info! I guess I forget that we autoclave some plastic items in our lab. But they are very high end science ware. I'm going to Home Depot today to do some research.

What are your ambient temps in your room outside the enclosure?

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

Wow thanks for the info! I guess I forget that we autoclave some plastic items in our lab. But they are very high end science ware. I'm going to Home Depot today to do some research.

What are your ambient temps in your room outside the enclosure?

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No problems! I was looking at the rubbermaid tubs and from what I can see on their site, they are pretty decent tubs (material wise), but again you will pay a bit more for them. Right now my ambients hover between 75 and 80F, during the winter they will drop to the mid 60s and when we hit tripple digits I wouldn't be suprised to see them climb to the mid 80s. My reptile room is a modified garage, I added double wall insulated doors, redid all the seals around the doors, double paned window, with sun blocking shades and plumbed AC/Heat into the room and installed 2 ceiling fans. So I see that the temps are stabilizing, to 80 during the day and 70 at night, however with just a thin wall of metal I know the temps will fluctuate with the room when it is mostly air space in there, if that was the base of your permanent cage and it was filled to the brim with dirt then they heat loss wouldn't be as drastic.

On a side note what type of lab do you work in?

Oh wow, you have put a ton of work into your reptile husbandry! That's awesome. I usually get temps in the mid 70s in winter, high seventies and low 80s in summer.

Im a neurotoxicology PhD student. Getting my doctorate in neuro based immunotoxicology. I do mostly neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative research/ drug development.

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

Oh wow, you have put a ton of work into your reptile husbandry! That's awesome. I usually get temps in the mid 70s in winter, high seventies and low 80s in summer.


Im a neurotoxicology PhD student. Getting my doctorate in neuro based immunotoxicology. I do mostly neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative research/ drug development.

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Thanks! I am one that really enjoys trying to provide the most natural environment inside the cages for my reptiles and try to learn about their native habitiat. It is something fun for my kiddo and I, and I wanted to try and stabilize the room as much as possible. It has been a long work in progress, and the room still isn't done. I have a deep sink down there for washing bowls out and a full bathroom with a tub for the lizards to soak in, once the room is fully painted and dialed in I will be uploading some pictures of it.



That is really cool. I am in the Bio-Medical world, and work at one of our companies R&D Facilities, our site is focused on the development of ventilators.

Thats awesome. Im sure your kid loves it. I love the natural look too, and will be upgrading a lot of my enclosures as I get a more long term housing situation. Somehow I am lucky enough that my girlfriend/soon-to-be-fiance says that I can have ANY reptile I want as long as the enclosure is "pretty."

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

Thats awesome. Im sure your kid loves it. I love the natural look too, and will be upgrading a lot of my enclosures as I get a more long term housing situation. Somehow I am lucky enough that my girlfriend/soon-to-be-fiance says that I can have ANY reptile I want as long as the enclosure is "pretty."

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Yes my kid loves it, he is going to be 7 in August, so he is at that fearless stage when he wants to touch everything from a full grown retic to the largest monitor he sees at shows, so I am working on teaching him caution and making him realize not all these animals will be nice 100 percent of the time. Without sounding like the worst parent in the world I am almost hoping sooner rather than later he gets tagged by our male Childrens Python because he is small enough to not do any damage, but might teach him a little caution.

Make sure you get what she said in writing, signed and notarized!!!! My wife said and I quote "when you get the reptile room done and all the cages built and organized, as long as it looks nice you can do/add anything you want down there..." Fast forward 1 year because I have been waiting for a certain breeder to hatch his clutch of Childrens Pythons, I told her they finally hatched and we should be getting our female sometime this summer, she freaks out and says "I told you no more reptiles." Which means that once I get the lil worm in a few month I will have to ask for forgiveness lol.

Haha yeah maybe I should get a notarized contract.

So after pricing troughs and supplies to build a top for it, I think its actually going to be cheaper to just build a wooden enclosure, seal with drylok, and install light fixtures inside the enclosure in more of a standard setup.

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

Haha yeah maybe I should get a notarized contract.

So after pricing troughs and supplies to build a top for it, I think its actually going to be cheaper to just build a wooden enclosure, seal with drylok, and install light fixtures inside the enclosure in more of a standard setup.

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Probably true. I have noticed most of my cages I build save at least half the money it would cost to buy off the shelf ones.

Yep. Ok so here is my sticking point. Where do you find/what kind of track do you use for the glass doors? With the boa cages in the past that I built, I used a hinged door with framed acrylic, but would much rather have sliding glass for all my builds moving forward. Any advice?

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

Yep. Ok so here is my sticking point. Where do you find/what kind of track do you use for the glass doors? With the boa cages in the past that I built, I used a hinged door with framed acrylic, but would much rather have sliding glass for all my builds moving forward. Any advice?

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Well it really depends on what materials you are using. If you are going with wood then I would search around for some 1/4in tracks that you can screw into the wood: http://www.mcmaster.com/#door-tracks/=xrlmtw

If you are going to do glass I recommend going the tempered glass route. That was pushed on the monitor forum quite a bit.

Just one word of advice to think about. I have sliders on all my smaller cages, they work great for the all of my other lizards, but when I had the Tegu in the smaller cage she was constantly shoveling dirt into the tracks making it impossible to slide open and closed, mind you this cage had a 6 inch barrier before you could even get up to the tracks, they weren't ground level, which is why on her big cage I went the hinged route. I would much rather have sliders but she already proved it would be a pain to constantly vacuum out.

Ah I see. I was thinking about that too. Im actually concurrently building a boa cage for one of my adults, and was more thinking the sliding glass for that build. I really would rather have sliding glass for all enclosures, but I definitely see the issue you bring up.

After some youtube 'research' it seems that people easily make their own sliding glass tracks using these C channels from home depot, and cut their own glass.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbranded...3?N=5yc1vZc2gt

yup that basically looks like the same thing I linked to you, except it was two tracks vs. one. Either way when you get the glass cut make sure you leave a little wiggle room in order to be able to pull the glass in and out of the track, it may be a good idea to add some plastic "sliders" to the top and bottom of the glass where it contacts the channel.

Great idea..Not sure if you covered this in a previous post, but what did you use to seal the interior of the enclosure? I know that many people use silicone to seal edges, then paint, and then put a water based polyurethane top coat over that. Two things I don't like about this are having to work with polyurethane (headaches), and having to wait 3 weeks for the fumes to dissipate. I looked into fiberglass resin and drylok, but not sure how that would turn out with paint beneath. Im also going to post this in the 'DIY' section for others to see.

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

Great idea..Not sure if you covered this in a previous post, but what did you use to seal the interior of the enclosure? I know that many people use silicone to seal edges, then paint, and then put a water based polyurethane top coat over that. Two things I don't like about this are having to work with polyurethane (headaches), and having to wait 3 weeks for the fumes to dissipate. I looked into fiberglass resin and drylok, but not sure how that would turn out with paint beneath. Im also going to post this in the 'DIY' section for others to see.

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Haha I just replied to your other thread. You can use FRP (which is generally what is on the lower walls of bathrooms in public places, office buildings, etc. Or they make a PVC equivalent that is flexible, can be cut with a razor blade and glues down with liquid nail. That is what I used, then to seal the seams I used PVC 1/4 round trim and liquid nail.

Ah gotcha. Im sure that looks great. I am more looking for some kind of paint/chemical application. Ive landed on using an epoxy 3:1, or any epoxy paint really. Im also thinking just a good latex outdoor paint for the boa cage, and drylok for the tegu.

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

Ah gotcha. Im sure that looks great. I am more looking for some kind of paint/chemical application. Ive landed on using an epoxy 3:1, or any epoxy paint really. Im also thinking just a good latex outdoor paint for the boa cage, and drylok for the tegu.

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That will work fine...a lot of people do it....especially if this is for your boa...with the tegu I did the walls the way I did because I figured at some point if she clawed the walls enough she could peel away the coating and expose some wood...will it happen probably not...I tend to over think everything, make this more difficult for myself, and go overkill haha

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