hey guys. first build thread. meet clyde (on the left) and bonnie (on the right) thats me with the tinkerbell tattoo
for a while, they were sharing a 20 gallon long enclosure. my gf and i noticed that bonnie wasnt letting clyde eat. we decided to put our plans on fast forward. i designed a stackable 5x3x2 enclosure for my beardies. just finished up the first one, and have access to a comp to make a build thread. first, i framed up a 5x3 frame out of 2x2 boards.
after that, i framed up the sides, back, front, and top. each side has its own frame. designed it this way to have maximum strength. after i got all the frames built, i cut plywood for each frame.
next step was to start assembling the walls.
right now, the top was left open to access lights, and the front frame isnt installed. at this point, i still needed to cut channels for the two pieces of plexiglass to slide in.
finally, time to start the lights.
in this pic, you can see all the lights installed in their final spot. basking on far left, two regular household bulbs, followed by a repti-sun 10.0 tube. you cant see it, but i have a metal bar going across the top that the lights are mounted too. the floor tiles you see in this pic are not the final floor. they are there just in case my beardie digs to the bottom and scratches at the wood. dont want him to get splinters lol.
here are the switches, i have the basking light on a dimmer, the rest are on regular switches.
here you can see my wall. i used 2" foam insulation. cut to size and glued to the plywood walls. i then carved it all by hand. looks like the foam rock inserts you can get at pet stores.
i decided to see what it would look like with the decorations inside. the rock on the left is the basking platform. i have a foam post holding it up, and a cork round leaning against it. the rock on the right is cut into the foam wall, with another rock helping to hold it up.
i dont have pics of the next step, by my gf and i painted on a grout/morter mix to all the foam to make it rock hard. its as hard as stone. after this, the construction was done. my buddie and i carried it up from my basement to my room on my second floor. its pretty heavy, and sturdy.
finally time to decorate it and move in the beardie. i let it sit for a few days to air out any fumes.
since we feed our beardies in a different enclosure than where they live, we decided to use sand as a substrate. then found out we needed about 250 pounds of sand. haha no. we decided to go with zoo med's coconut fiber eco earth. one of the guys at petsmart, who has 5 beardies himself, uses it and has for a few years. he loves it. we bought two 3 brick packs, used all but one. would have been all six, but we used the 10 pound bag of vita-sand we had. we got all the decorations in it, and turned on the lights to see what temps we have. with the basking bulb on the dimmer switch, and it turned up all the way, our basking spot reached 135 degrees. way too hot. turned it down halfway, and the temps are now steady around 108-112. around the middle of the enclosure, temps are around 80-90. on the far right, temps range from 75-85. im gonna tweak with the lights for a little till i get them all with a little smaller range.
i think thats everything. what do yall think. before i forget, i do have some holes cut in the sides with screens on them for ventilation, just dont have pics of them. clyde loves it. when we put him in, he ran around eploring for about 4 hours lol. i think the basking spot may be a little too hot for him, he lays on the cork log and not the stone.
well, thats it for now. cant wait to build the second one for bonnie, but first, im building a drawer/cabinet for all the beardie food/accessories we have. let me know if you guys have any questions about it.
for a while, they were sharing a 20 gallon long enclosure. my gf and i noticed that bonnie wasnt letting clyde eat. we decided to put our plans on fast forward. i designed a stackable 5x3x2 enclosure for my beardies. just finished up the first one, and have access to a comp to make a build thread. first, i framed up a 5x3 frame out of 2x2 boards.
after that, i framed up the sides, back, front, and top. each side has its own frame. designed it this way to have maximum strength. after i got all the frames built, i cut plywood for each frame.
next step was to start assembling the walls.
right now, the top was left open to access lights, and the front frame isnt installed. at this point, i still needed to cut channels for the two pieces of plexiglass to slide in.
finally, time to start the lights.
in this pic, you can see all the lights installed in their final spot. basking on far left, two regular household bulbs, followed by a repti-sun 10.0 tube. you cant see it, but i have a metal bar going across the top that the lights are mounted too. the floor tiles you see in this pic are not the final floor. they are there just in case my beardie digs to the bottom and scratches at the wood. dont want him to get splinters lol.
here are the switches, i have the basking light on a dimmer, the rest are on regular switches.
here you can see my wall. i used 2" foam insulation. cut to size and glued to the plywood walls. i then carved it all by hand. looks like the foam rock inserts you can get at pet stores.
i decided to see what it would look like with the decorations inside. the rock on the left is the basking platform. i have a foam post holding it up, and a cork round leaning against it. the rock on the right is cut into the foam wall, with another rock helping to hold it up.
i dont have pics of the next step, by my gf and i painted on a grout/morter mix to all the foam to make it rock hard. its as hard as stone. after this, the construction was done. my buddie and i carried it up from my basement to my room on my second floor. its pretty heavy, and sturdy.
finally time to decorate it and move in the beardie. i let it sit for a few days to air out any fumes.
since we feed our beardies in a different enclosure than where they live, we decided to use sand as a substrate. then found out we needed about 250 pounds of sand. haha no. we decided to go with zoo med's coconut fiber eco earth. one of the guys at petsmart, who has 5 beardies himself, uses it and has for a few years. he loves it. we bought two 3 brick packs, used all but one. would have been all six, but we used the 10 pound bag of vita-sand we had. we got all the decorations in it, and turned on the lights to see what temps we have. with the basking bulb on the dimmer switch, and it turned up all the way, our basking spot reached 135 degrees. way too hot. turned it down halfway, and the temps are now steady around 108-112. around the middle of the enclosure, temps are around 80-90. on the far right, temps range from 75-85. im gonna tweak with the lights for a little till i get them all with a little smaller range.
i think thats everything. what do yall think. before i forget, i do have some holes cut in the sides with screens on them for ventilation, just dont have pics of them. clyde loves it. when we put him in, he ran around eploring for about 4 hours lol. i think the basking spot may be a little too hot for him, he lays on the cork log and not the stone.
well, thats it for now. cant wait to build the second one for bonnie, but first, im building a drawer/cabinet for all the beardie food/accessories we have. let me know if you guys have any questions about it.
