Greetings and Salutations!

Just call me Garrus. I've done research on what lizard would work best for me as a pet, and after a competition between Ackie monitors, blue-tongued skinks, and bearded dragons, the bearded dragon beat out the Ackie monitor for the #1 spot. I'm in the process of looking at breeders, and above all want a big, healthy animal- nice coloration would be a bonus, and I am avoiding leatherback and silkies.

More importantly, I am in the beginning stages of planning the enclosure, and have already read through all 177 pages of the vivarium picture thread. I'll definitely be asking around as to what techniques to use to achieve the effects I want, since I want the vivarium to be stimulating for the dragon as well as nice to look at. Naturally, I want the vivarium to be complete before I purchase the dragon. I will shortly have a spare tarantula cage I could keep a hatchling in, but I think that is no substitute for a life-long home ready to go.

Idea 1: Ghost Town; simple idea setup with tile floor, brick or faux-brick (styrofoam) backdrop, and decor to be determined. Initial idea.

Idea 2: Smaug's lair; foam backdrop, custom basking spot/hide combination made to look like gold, slate floors, cavern decor.

Idea 3: Nature; Full foam decor meant to represent a naturalistic setting; reptile-safe plants. Not looking forward to cleaning... alternately, a desert variation of the same setup, or mixed with Idea 1 to create the feeling of a long-abandoned town from the days of the Wild West.

... Either way, I have work (and learning) to do.

Welcome to the forum! I'm glad to see you're doing so much research ahead of time and will have a nice big enclosure ready to go. That will make a big difference. It sounds like you have a good handle on things and some fun ideas for an enclosure. My main advice is not to skimp on lighting. Invest in high quality T5 UVB lighting and consider placement of your basking light and perhaps get a dimming thermostat if it's in your budget. Good lighting makes a huge difference in their overall wellbeing so I usually advise keeping that as the priority portion of the budget when planning. I'll be quite interested to see photos of your tank when it's all done as well as your new buddy when he/she arrives. =)

Gracias! I will certainly have my fair share of questions- such as what to look for in UVB lighting aside from a straight tube- but first, I need to actually get the tank. There's still some clutter where I want to put it, and I need to take measurements. I know have more than 36" of length and 12" of width available, but I need to get the exact numbers before I buy anything.

And I probably will have to buy a whole tank, because as much as I want to create the whole thing from the ground up, I have never done that before and I do not want to make a screw up and find out later through a sick or missing dragon. I have no intention of leaving flaws that could be exploited by an inquisitive dragon, so I will probably buy the "shell" of the enclosure and then work around that, unless I find a way to build an enclosure with reliably water-tight seams. Thankfully, a friend who loves herps pointed me at the Animal Plastics terrestrial line of enclosures, but I'll be shopping around and looking for advice.

This is a pretty popular build to base an enclosure from. I'd build it taller and use a T5 UVB fixture right next to the basking bulb though https://beardies.dreamwidth.org/2145.html