Building a 3-stack enclosure for 2 dragons and snake?

[melissajo]

Hello!

Recently I rescued 2 bearded dragons. They are about 2 years old, one male, one female (I posted about them in the rescue forum). My kids have named them Smaug and Granola (I know, I know :lol: ). Previously they were housed in one 20 gallon tank, but now they are in separate tanks (one 30 and one 25) until I can find bigger homes for them. I also have a 3yr old ball python named Korra in my home (in a separate, much much larger tank!). I was trying to come up with ideas to build a stack of houses for them and saw this on pinterest...

https://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/8620210-post1.html#/topics/724676?page=1&_k=99v0vt

I have a shelf like this in storage and really love this idea!

Do you think it'd be possible to build a viv for my 2 dragons and snake? They have obvious different needs (humidity and light and substrate..., but heat is similar). One thing I'm concerned about is the height -- which on these shelves is about 13". That's fine for my snake -- she just wants to hide in a rock all day. But would it be enough for the beardies?

Any advice for creating a mixed cabinet like this? I'm new to beardies and still learning about their needs...

 

[Claudiusx]

13 inches would be too short. Factor in that you are going to be mounting the heat bulb inside the tank, and you basically won't be able to have a basking spot to climb on, as the bulb would likely be 6 inches from the floor. Ideally you'd want 24 inches in height in a diy viv for a dragon. Although you can get away with 18-22 depending on how you mount your lights. I made one of my vivs 20 inches high, and all the others i've built since have been 24 high, for a reason lol.

I am in the process of making a double stack 4x2x2 you can see it in the DIY section. It wouldn't be too hard to just add a snake enclosure on top of that if you wanted.

-Brandon

 

[melissajo]

You're right. The more I think about it the more I realize it's just too short! Dang it!

Building something from scratch is intimidating, but I have access to a full woodshop/any tools I need, and I am pretty crafty otherwise. I will devise some plans!

Thanks for confirming my suspicions!

 

[kingofnobbys]

I did some assessments when I was considering doing a 3 bay (stacked) enclosure.

I based my assumptions on Arcadia 80W MVBs , and my plan was to have each bay 40cm tall for bearded dragons and bluetongue skinks, with a 10cm tall void between levels each level to allow for airflow and wiring.
Beauty with these particular MVB is they can be mounted with slight dangles (up to 20 degrees from vertical) which helps reduce the height requirement and helps spread the UV out a bit, this was from personal mails with Arcadia Tech Dept engineers..