Lightweight Enclosure for traveling

sarac · Dec 17, 2020

Hi everyone! I'm new to the forum and would really like to get a bearded dragon soon. Unfortunately I recently had bought a chameleon who came with a respiratory infection and I could not help her enough

. I have worked with a lot of beardies before since I worked at a wildlife refuge, but I have never owned one.

I heard beardies are good with travel. I travel back and forth from my university every few months and am wondering what a good permanent enclosure would be for this. I would need to be able to bring my enclosure back and forth from home and school. I also live on the fifth floor of my apartment. On top of all of this, I am really a poor college student lol. I've seen a lot of nice enclosures that are like $400... I definitely don't have that right now especially after the Chameleon emergency vet bills... If anyone could recommend anything, I would really appreciate it! DIY projects could work as well!! (but they would probably need to be relatively simple.... I've used a drill once in my life and I am extremely not creative lol)

I thought this was good, but it looks really small and i'm not sure if it is suitable. I would appreciate some feedback! Thanks!

https://www.petsmart.com/reptile/habitats-and-decor/terrariums/exo-terra-natural-terrarium-reptile-habitat-5147552.html?lsft=utm_source%3Agoogle%2Cutm_term%3A5147552%2Cutm_medium%3APLA%2Cutm_content%3AGSC%20-%20Medium%20-%20Specialty%20-%20Reptile%20-%20LIA%20Only%20%7C%20*Catch%20All%2Cutm_campaign%3AGSC%20-%20Medium%20-%20Specialty%20-%20Reptile%20-%20LIA%20Only&utm_id=432%7Cpg1050561881%7C768756802538&utm_source=google&utm_medium=PLA&gclid=CjwKCAiAoOz-BRBdEiwAyuvA61QTOhf80QCLroEfE0ZRJbE26vryK6SpsXJc4_S1VGJI0H5N0kyVqxoCloQQAvD_BwE

CooperDragon · Dec 17, 2020

How long will you be in each location? I travel with my guy a lot and have a pen for him, but also let him be fairly free range like he is at home. I know that isn't an option for a lot of folks though, and isn't great for long term. For the car rides (and as a sleeping space during travel) I have this carrier which clips onto a seatbelt to keep it in place. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EW2WKZU/

As a travel pen and often an outdoor play area I have this https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SFA8KBS/ which you can leave the top off of and set up a basking light on an adjustable lamp stand to overhang it.

For long stays in each location you'll probably want a full enclosure. I have that 36x18x18 exo terra as my main enclosure, and it is kind of bare minimum size for an adult dragon but it is all glass and fairly large and awkward to move. I wouldn't recommend trying to move it very often, and it will take up a ton of space in a car. You'd be better off in the long run investing in something that you can take apart and pack somewhat flat like a zen habitat.

sarac · Dec 17, 2020

CooperDragon":18kgzxy6 said:
How long will you be in each location? I travel with my guy a lot and have a pen for him, but also let him be fairly free range like he is at home. I know that isn't an option for a lot of folks though, and isn't great for long term. For the car rides (and as a sleeping space during travel) I have this carrier which clips onto a seatbelt to keep it in place. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EW2WKZU/

As a travel pen and often an outdoor play area I have this https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SFA8KBS/ which you can leave the top off of and set up a basking light on an adjustable lamp stand to overhang it.

For long stays in each location you'll probably want a full enclosure. I have that 36x18x18 exo terra as my main enclosure, and it is kind of bare minimum size for an adult dragon but it is all glass and fairly large and awkward to move. I wouldn't recommend trying to move it very often, and it will take up a ton of space in a car. You'd be better off in the long run investing in something that you can take apart and pack somewhat flat like a zen habitat.

Awesome! So I'm about to graduate and will only be at my school for one semester. They took away our spring break and now that I think about it... that means I have 0 days to go home lol. I may go home for a few days so I would say I'm mostly at school and twice in the semester I would go home for a few days. Then it's summer and im getting ready for vet school. I'm thinking that I could get a permanent (and less easy to travel with) enclosure, but get a temporary enclosure for when I do decide to travel... like a bin or something that I can DIY with mesh maybe???? Does that sound like good? I would have to eventually pack it though with all of my things in a little car when I move out... are you unable to break down your exoterra? I was looking at that enclosure.

CooperDragon · Dec 18, 2020

Using that mesh pen I linked might be a good idea for traveling since it breaks down flat. They can climb mesh easily, but the fabric panels are large enough to keep them inside. Being able to unzip the top and/or bottom is helpful too since you can hang lights over it or allow access to grass or dirt underneath. It does not hold heat though, so the room would need to be kept above 65-70 or so overnight (they are OK at room temps during the day as long as they have a UVB and heat light to return to.

The Exo terra does not break down. It's all glass. Thinner/lighter than an aquarium, but just as awkward to move. I think of it as being somewhat fragile. You can remove the mesh top from it, but that's about it. The size of it takes up the whole space in the trunk of my mazda. It would be better in the long run to spend a bit more for a Zen Habitat that breaks down (and is a big larger when put together).

sarac · Dec 22, 2020

@cooperdragon just to let you know, I ended up buying the exoterra. I figure one trip up the elevator and one trip down cant be that bad. I’ll buy your suggestions for when I do travel that way I won’t always need to bring around this huge bulky thing. Thanks!

Here’s some pics of the cutie! Don’t know the gender yet. Hopefully those pics went through I’m not sure if I did it right lol.

CooperDragon · Dec 22, 2020

Looks good! A few suggestions I have with that enclosure are that bugs (Crickets in particular) can get into the little wire canals in the foam background and hide behind it. Young dragons often climb the foam too. I wound up just removing it completely and installing a photo background. It frees up a bit more space that way too.

I don't have any other animals in the house (nothing will get in to attack), so I usually leave the mesh top off (you can easily just twist the plastic locks and pull it up and away). That way the mesh doesn't intercept any UVB. I have adjustable lamp stands holding the dome fixture (one basking one overnight heat projector) over the enclosure and set the UVB light across the front of the enclosure to create a gradient moving backwards.

If your dragon has trouble running around due to lack of traction on the tile, try using something with a bit of grip to it like shelf liner or fleece over the top of the tile. It will add traction and a bit of cushioning.

These are not really rules or suggestions, just things to look out for that I've noticed using my enclosure. There are lots of great ways to have it set up and you'll find out what works best for you over time. Let me know how the move goes and feel free to ask any questions you have going forward.

sarac · Dec 23, 2020

CooperDragon":15mokezw said:
Looks good! A few suggestions I have with that enclosure are that bugs (Crickets in particular) can get into the little wire canals in the foam background and hide behind it. Young dragons often climb the foam too. I wound up just removing it completely and installing a photo background. It frees up a bit more space that way too.

I don't have any other animals in the house (nothing will get in to attack), so I usually leave the mesh top off (you can easily just twist the plastic locks and pull it up and away). That way the mesh doesn't intercept any UVB. I have adjustable lamp stands holding the dome fixture (one basking one overnight heat projector) over the enclosure and set the UVB light across the front of the enclosure to create a gradient moving backwards.

If your dragon has trouble running around due to lack of traction on the tile, try using something with a bit of grip to it like shelf liner or fleece over the top of the tile. It will add traction and a bit of cushioning.

These are not really rules or suggestions, just things to look out for that I've noticed using my enclosure. There are lots of great ways to have it set up and you'll find out what works best for you over time. Let me know how the move goes and feel free to ask any questions you have going forward.

My beardie has been climbing the foam and getting to the mesh at the top and climbing upside down!!!! Idk if that’s normal but..... definitely need to make some changes

CooperDragon · Dec 24, 2020

Yeah they'll do that. It can be dangerous if they lose their grip and fall from the top of the enclosure though. Especially if the substrate is hard. Probably best to remove the foam and instead provide some driftwood branches or maybe some grapewood to climb around on. It's good to give them a place to climb, just need to design it so they aren't likely to fall (or if they do, it's not far and it's onto a soft surface).

sarac · Dec 24, 2020

CooperDragon":33qpi7wc said:
Yeah they'll do that. It can be dangerous if they lose their grip and fall from the top of the enclosure though. Especially if the substrate is hard. Probably best to remove the foam and instead provide some driftwood branches or maybe some grapewood to climb around on. It's good to give them a place to climb, just need to design it so they aren't likely to fall (or if they do, it's not far and it's onto a soft surface).

Yea he just did it again. Good to know. I’ve been trying to look for some good driftwood/grapewood but the ones around me are overpriced and horrible lol

Lightweight Enclosure for traveling

sarac

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