The monitor enclosure

[BrandX]

New guy here. just thought id post some pics of my nile monitor enclosure. it measures 4x4x8 with a 70 gallon aquarium for now, has 2 48" uvb 10.0 lights as well as various basking lights. i made the cage in two pieces to make moving it through doorways and such easier as well as making it easy to expand via adding sections to the middle later on when he out grows this size enclosure. btw i also sell live and frozen feeder rats as well as dubia roaches for anyone in the tacoma wa area.

[mumps]

Looks pretty good!

I'd love to see a pic of your niloticus. How old/large is it now?

Thanks for sharing.

Chris

[redstormlax12]

Great looking enclosure. It's nice to see some people actually giving the monitors what they really need. They are the primates of the reptile world!

[BrandX]

hes not too photogenic but heres a few i just took.

[BrandX]

heres a few more pics of his 70 gallon home when i first got him as well as some construction pics of his new expandable enclosure. the 70 gallon is now his swimming pool. i decided that after having him "locked" up in such a small enclosure for maybe three months it was time to head out to the garage and come up with something better. his current pool will be going away sometime in the next year and getting replaced with a larger pond style pool such as the type you would bury in ur back yard for a water garden.

[mumps]

Nice pics!

What are your plans for his next enclosure? Or are you going to be adding to that one? Took mine about a year and a half to outgrow an 8x4.

Chris

[wolfy-hound]

How do you clean the aquarium? How do the two halves hook together?

I never thought of making the enclosure in parts(prefab house! LOL) so a larger cage could fit through doors. I just build things inside, and know I can't move them outside without destroying them.

I'm sure he's a happy lizard in there.

[BrandX]

the two halves are held together with super heavy duty draw latches and sealed with weather strip. the finish work with the 1x4s alternate to come together and hide the seam as well. to add to it all i have to do is build a new center section as wide as i want which will probably be 3 feet next time giving the enclosure a total floor area of 7x8. once thats not enough ill mod one side of the center insert and build a ramp for him to be able to go up to the top of the enclosure which will be the same dimensions as the bottom but only about 3 feet high.

[BrandX]

oh and cleaing the aquarium is easy. i just use a fluval v3 or whatever its called as a filter in between cleanings and then i just use an auto water changer like you would with an aquarium.

[John1982]

Looks like you gave him decent substrate depth too, awesome enclosure!