Building two vivariums, thoughts on size...???

I have two baby beardies in a 40 gallon breeder aquarium. I want to make two custom enclosures. I know they need at least a 40 gallon enclosure. I want to stack the new enclosures one on top of the other. My question is, should I go with two 4'x2'x2' enclosures or make them like 5'x18"x18"? Do they need the height of the cage or just 40 gallons....

How do you plant to heat and light the tanks? Your heat light will be the biggest limit since you are planing to stack the bulbs will be inside the tanks, So take into consideration the socket, the bulbs and 6" min distance to the heat source for safety from the ceiling to your dragons back. If you plan to use T8 lighting it is difficult to keep 6-8" from the UVB and keep far enough from the basking bulb if both are overhead as recomended. T5 lights are a better option and will help brighten the cage more too but the fixtures are expensive. You will not be able to use MVB lights in either size tank. If you want to use climbable furniture, like a branch or anything plan for that too, I found it's pretty easy to use up 24" of height especially with a grown dragon who needs bigger furniture.

I wouldn't go smaller than a 4x2 foot print personally, and the 4x2x2 is pretty easy to make with a little more than one 8x4 sheet of plywood. Lots of people stack them too.

Just my thoughts, there are plenty of ways to do it.

Very good move to build custom enclosures for each.

Standard size here (in Australia - as specified by NATIONAL PARKS AND WILDLIFE - wildlife licencing - we must have a special licence to keep any native animals here and comply with the specified husbandry and animal welfare guidelines) , for an adult central bearded dragons the MINIMUM footprint specified is 4'x2' with a minimum of 400mm tall (mostly to allow for available MVBs and to provide suitable basking perch / rock temperatures and a suitable temperature gradient in the enclosure).

I think that's a pretty good guide. Of cause if you want to and can provide an enclosure with a larger footprint that's at least 2' wide , even better.

Note that this specifically for a single ADULT beardie - it not recommended that 2 beardies be kept together in an enclosure long term (and only be kept together for brief periods for breeding purposes)./

(Below is a warning for others not the OP who has already decided to separate his little beardies).
You WILL NEED to separate your 2 ASAP (so you need to consider building a 2 bay (double-decker style) beardie enclosure with a separate enclosure for each built in) to ensure both thrive and to avoid dominance issues (which will put the submissive enclosure mate under constant stress and it is not unknown for the dominant beardie to attack the submissive (often much smaller and weaker) dragon and injure or even kill it.
Yes I know people often buy 2 or more beardies as hatchies and when they see them together in their shared enclosure they look cute and can even appear to love each other , even curling up together at night. This all comes apart soon when one will appear very shy and retiring and will not be growing as fast as the other (because it's "friend" is dominant and a much more voracious feeder and is using subtile dominance body language to take the lions share of the food, the best basking spot, the best hide and best place to sleep).
Pet shops wont tell the buyer this will happen. But IT WILL happen.

Bearded dragons with the exception of Rankin's Dragons (Pygmie Bearded Dragons) are not generally social reptiles and do their best and thrive best if kept in their own enclosures.

Yes I also know some people they have had 2 females living happily together their entire lives. Personally I'd not risk it.

Taterbug":1hm9ejp4 said:

How do you plant to heat and light the tanks? Your heat light will be the biggest limit since you are planing to stack the bulbs will be inside the tanks, So take into consideration the socket, the bulbs and 6" min distance to the heat source for safety from the ceiling to your dragons back. If you plan to use T8 lighting it is difficult to keep 6-8" from the UVB and keep far enough from the basking bulb if both are overhead as recomended. T5 lights are a better option and will help brighten the cage more too but the fixtures are expensive. You will not be able to use MVB lights in either size tank. If you want to use climbable furniture, like a branch or anything plan for that too, I found it's pretty easy to use up 24" of height especially with a grown dragon who needs bigger furniture.

I wouldn't go smaller than a 4x2 foot print personally, and the 4x2x2 is pretty easy to make with a little more than one 8x4 sheet of plywood. Lots of people stack them too.

Just my thoughts, there are plenty of ways to do it.

Click to expand...

Not correct : an 80W MVB ( such as an Arcadia D3 MVB ) will work a treat in an enclosure that's 18" tall. See http://arcadia-reptile.com/d3-uv-basking-lamp/

That's what I did until I decided to go to Phillps P38 spot lamps to provide heat and sunlike lighting.

My beardie and bluetongue skink enclosures are stacked (double deckers). My Water Skink enclosure sits on an old coffee table.

I'll give a tip, put casters on the bottom of the enclosure bank with a kick rail with about 1/4" clearance from the floor - will make things SO MUCH EASIER when you moving the enclosures to clean under and behind them and recapture rogue insects. An enclosure bank is pretty big heavy awkward to move about once fitted out and furnished and occupied unless you put casters on the bottom of the bank.

kingofnobbys":28246ets said:

Taterbug":28246ets said:

How do you plant to heat and light the tanks? Your heat light will be the biggest limit since you are planing to stack the bulbs will be inside the tanks, So take into consideration the socket, the bulbs and 6" min distance to the heat source for safety from the ceiling to your dragons back. If you plan to use T8 lighting it is difficult to keep 6-8" from the UVB and keep far enough from the basking bulb if both are overhead as recomended. T5 lights are a better option and will help brighten the cage more too but the fixtures are expensive. You will not be able to use MVB lights in either size tank. If you want to use climbable furniture, like a branch or anything plan for that too, I found it's pretty easy to use up 24" of height especially with a grown dragon who needs bigger furniture.

I wouldn't go smaller than a 4x2 foot print personally, and the 4x2x2 is pretty easy to make with a little more than one 8x4 sheet of plywood. Lots of people stack them too.

Just my thoughts, there are plenty of ways to do it.

Click to expand...

Not correct : an 80W MVB ( such as an Arcadia D3 MVB ) will work a treat in an enclosure that's 18" tall. See http://arcadia-reptile.com/d3-uv-basking-lamp/

That's what I did until I decided to go to Phillps P38 spot lamps to provide heat and sunlike lighting.

My beardie and bluetongue skink enclosures are stacked (double deckers). My Water Skink enclosure sits on an old coffee table.

I'll give a tip, put casters on the bottom of the enclosure bank with a kick rail with about 1/4" clearance from the floor - will make things SO MUCH EASIER when you moving the enclosures to clean under and behind them and recapture rogue insects. An enclosure bank is pretty big heavy awkward to move about once fitted out and furnished and occupied unless you put casters on the bottom of the bank.

Click to expand...

I still don't see how that would work, let's say you go with the 8 - 11 inch space that particular bulb suggests, and the bulb is about 4 inches long with another 1 inch for the socket. If the enclosure was only 18 inches high that would only leave 2 - 5 inches of recommended space from the bulb. About 5 inches for bulb and socket, + 8 - 11 inches from the MVB = 13 - 16". So the basking platform could only be 2 - 5" inches high, doesn't seem to allow much room for error. You also cannot use a dimmer on MVB's so it would be hard to adjust the temperature if it wasn't right.

I would personally prefer more height, leaves more room for error and a lot more climbing space.

EDIT: Haha, and I just realized he responded to a really old post! So it probably doesn't matter anymore.