Buying an enclosure off Craigslist; safe?

[beardo721]

Good morning all,
Got a sweet deal on a bearded dragon 55 gallon enclosure. Comes with a ton of stuff inside (fake plants for decoration, twigs, basking rockss (no, not the heated ones), food and water bowls, etc). My question is, is it safe? The last thing I want is for my beardie to pick up a parasite or something from this new cage. Once I got it home before I put him in i was going to take out the woodchip/mulch substrate and replace it with repti-carpet, as well as clean the cage and everything in it with a chemical i got from the local lizard store called something like chlorahexadron. Kills 99% of stuff on the cage, but doesn't harm the animal. Any other precautions I should keep in mind? Or is this a general "no-no"? Thanks for the help!

 

[Gail]

As long as you thoroughly disinfect everything then it should be fine. I'd soak all rocks/dish/plants in bleach water just be safe.

 

[beardo721]

What concentration of bleach water should I use?

 

[Gail]

1 part bleach, 3 parts water. Make sure to rinse very well and if possible, let dry in the hot sun for a day or 2 to get rid of all residue.

 

[need2nogurl]

I have bought both of my tanks from craigslist, one new and one used. For the used one I just emptied out the sand that was in it and then cleaned it with bleach water. It came with a bunch of beardie furniture but I wanted to my little one to have brand new stuff so I just tossed the old stuff and actually put some of it in my garden for decor lol. I mainly kept the light fixtures and the tank. So far so good

 

[beardo721]

Thanks for the advice! I ended up purchasing the tank yesterday. It has some wear/tear around the top (almost looks like gnaw marks from a dog or something; kind of odd), but outside of that it's a fully functional 50 gallon tank! The previous owner housed a snake in it, so now it's time to get that snake smell off the driftwood yuck.

Found out my beardie wont even be able to move in to his new home until he's about 5 months old, so it looks like I still have time to either fix this one up or look for another!

 

[kimmie]

Thanks for the advice! I ended up purchasing the tank yesterday. It has some wear/tear around the top (almost looks like gnaw marks from a dog or something; kind of odd), but outside of that it's a fully functional 50 gallon tank! The previous owner housed a snake in it, so now it's time to get that snake smell off the driftwood yuck.

Found out my beardie wont even be able to move in to his new home until he's about 5 months old, so it looks like I still have time to either fix this one up or look for another!

I'm curious as to why he can't move in until he's 5 months old! I moved Angus into his huge viv before then!

 

[jennixpxp]

i bought my cage off of craigs list and the top was the same thing!! looks like someone killed the top. i got no lights with it or anything. but some rocks. and a stand. its not too bad. my boyfriend made a lid it works very well even though its not perfect.... lol they used it for fish i think but i just bleeched it out and got the bleech smell offf. then innnn he went. how big is your beardie. id love to see pictures of his new setup when its ready!!!!!!!

 

[beardo721]

In regards to the five-months-old statement, I went to my local reptile shop where I purchase all of my supplies from, and they told me it'd probably be good to wait until 5 months so that there wouldn't be any hunting difficulties and he wouldn't be overwhelmed. Is that a safe precaution or am I just too worried?

And Jenni, I have tons of pictures of my bearded dragon and his setup! I'll make sure to upload them and post them sometime today!

 

[jennixpxp]

GREAT!!!

id move your bd into his/her new place. it changed mines mood completely!!!!!!

cant wait to see picturesssss!!!

 

[Hellstrom]

He could easily get overwhelmed as far as feeding goes. I recommend to feed in a rubbermaid container or small tank. You can see exactly how much he eats and there's no digging out leftovers at night. I think he'd be fine if you did that though!! Yay for pictures!!

 

[beardo721]

Okay! I finally got the tank disinfected and all set up, and put Puff in! As promised, here are some pictures!

Oh by the way, I just got myself a baby crested gecko. Anyone know of any good websites similar to this one for geckos? Thanks!

Full shot of tank (50 gallon tall)

King of the Castle

Close-up

Lounging out by the heat lamp

 

[Hellstrom]

He looks really happy! And he is chilling like crazy in that last picture! I love it.

I've visited geckoforums.net before...it looks pretty neat, but I think it's definitely like your average forum as compared to BD.org. I don't think it's regulated as wonderfully as this one, such as cuss words and being "not so nice". I'd give it a try if I were you and see what's up with it!