Help with an enclosure?

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BrdDrag333

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I'm planning on getting two enclosures-- one for a a baby bearded dragon that I currently have and one for a baby Northern blue tongue skink that will be arriving soon. My thought was to get a pair that may be able to stack and to have it look fairly nice because they will be in the living room. I'd be very interested in your thoughts regarding a bearded dragon and also a BTS, if possible.

My two current finalists are:

Showcase cages (5 ft):
Pros: They look very nice, you can get them right away, different colors are available
Cons: They are very expensive (and shipping is quite high), seem to have some quality control issues (some seem to like them a lot, others have issues and have a difficult time dealing with the owner, not a great BBB rating), some say that the metal grill is difficult for the UVB light

Animal Plastics (either 4' or 6' and either 18" or 24" high)

Pros: Looks nice (but less like nice furniture than Showcase), less expensive than Showcase, I see only positive things about the company
Cons: There is some lead time to get them (not a deal breaker because I have smaller temporary enclosures for the babies)

Questions:
-It looks like if you want to stack them, then the lights need to be inside the enclosure-- is there any worry about reptiles burning themselves on the lights and is it more difficult to regulate things?
-It also looks like they can make it so that you can have lights on the top of the enclosure-- I suppose I could have that on the top one and stack them, or on both and figure out a different way to have them stack (suggestions?)
-Do you have any thoughts about the size of the enclosure? The height may depend on the location of the lights?

I would greatly appreciate any suggestions or tips that you may have. Thank you very much.
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
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I don't have first hand experience with those enclosures but can give you some general advice. I would get a tank that is at least 4'x2'x2'. If you can get one that is taller, that's probably better. They like to climb so being able to provide some climbing branches while still having room for the lighting is beneficial.

It's OK to have a fixed solid roof and this will help if you want a stackable setup. You could also put two enclosures on a bakers rack or similar. You'll want a 22'' T5 UVB light mounted over the basking area about 12'' up from the main basking surface. The basking light should be right next to it and have at least 12'' of clearance for safety. You can put the basking light on a lamp dimmer or dimming thermostat so it will adjust automatically based on the temperature readings which is a great thing to have.

The shipping costs on an enclosure can be quite high, especially if it isn't a flat pack design. Have you considered building your own? That's the most cost effective solution. Or perhaps you can have someone work with you on it locally. This is a walkthrough of a popular model. https://beardies.dreamwidth.org/2145.html I'd make some tweaks to it, but it's a good general guide to building one.
 
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