Digging a cave

[Chris.]

So right when I started ramping the lights back up, Luis decided to get to town on his new substrate and built himself a nice little brumation cave right in the back of the tank.
He hasn't come out of it for a week and he's at 10.5 daylight hours right now with the cool side heated to 85°F.
Lets see how long he decides to continue his sleep from here on

 

[xp29]

He looks sleepy in that pic too.

 

[Claudiusx]

Mighty fine cave! 10/10

-Brandon

 

[Chris.]

Mighty fine cave! 10/10

-Brandon

I'm so proud, I tried a long time to build the tank in way that he's able to build one safely and this looks really good.
Downside, there is literally no way to get him out of there if he doesn't come out on his own

 

[NickAVD]

Great job! You chose a great substrate and Luis is a good builder. This is a great workout for his leg muscles and a great place for brumation. May I know? How thick is your substrate layer and what does it consist of? it's very similar to Australian soil.

 

[Chris.]

Packaging says it is granite based sand but it's from a local shop that puts his own branding on it. It gets delivered wet and needs some time to dry out. After that it gets quite solid and holds burrows really well. It can be reused also if needed.

Thickness varies a bit. It looks massive on the picture but I made it probably 7 inches or so high so he can dig in but doesn't have too much material on top that could brake down an crush him. I also buried lots of rocks to make sure his caves can't spread too far around the tank.

Lights are already off right now (it's 9pm here) but I can get you some more pictures tomorrow if you like.

 

[AHBD]

I'm so proud, I tried a long time to build the tank in way that he's able to build one safely and this looks really good.
Downside, there is literally no way to get him out of there if he doesn't come out on his own

Just roll a blueberry past the door.

 

[NickAVD]

Packaging says it is granite based sand but it's from a local shop that puts his own branding on it. It gets delivered wet and needs some time to dry out. After that it gets quite solid and holds burrows really well. It can be reused also if needed.

Thickness varies a bit. It looks massive on the picture but I made it probably 7 inches or so high so he can dig in but doesn't have too much material on top that could brake down an crush him. I also buried lots of rocks to make sure his caves can't spread too far around the tank.

Lights are already off right now (it's 9pm here) but I can get you some more pictures tomorrow if you like.

Yes, I really want to see how you arranged a new apartment for Luis!

 

[xp29]

Just roll a blueberry past the door.

Looks like Scooby Doo taking off

 

[AHBD]

Or you could have a corgi pull him out.

JK, I don't think I'd trust any dog in this type of scenario ]

 

[Chris.]

Yes, I really want to see how you arranged a new apartment for Luis!

So I tried to get good pics with some measurements. Keep in mind that's cm (1 inch would be 2,2cm if i remember correctly)
The rear with the cave is about 7ish inches deep of the sand.

As you can see, he was nit happy about me taking those measurements

I don't worry about geting him out. It is supposed to be a place for him to take shelter from everything and if he needs something he will come out on his own

 

[NickAVD]

This is very cool! Usually under such photo it is written: “Find the dragon.”
You did a great job, thank you for the dimensions and explanations, they will help me in planning my terrarium. I also live in the metric system and I’m more accustomed to seeing sizes in centimeters. If inches are important to someone, then they can be converted by dividing centimeters by a factor of 2.54. And my apologies to Luis for having to endure all these measurements.
It’s good that Luis has a place in which he is confident and he knows that they can’t take him if he doesn’t want it, Foxy also has this and everyone in my family knows that they can’t take him from there.
I admire Luis and his talent for construction, he was able to dig such a large niche in such hard ground!
By the way, does he use branches to climb as high as possible?

 

[xp29]

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So I tried to get good pics with some measurements. Keep in mind that's cm (1 inch would be 2,2cm if i remember correctly)
The rear with the cave is about 7ish inches deep of the sand.

As you can see, he was nit happy about me taking those measurements

I don't worry about geting him out. It is supposed to be a place for him to take shelter from everything and if he needs something he will come out on his own

Man that is an awesome setup. Now I feel bad for my guys, I guess I gotta rethink my setups now lol

 

[Chris.]

This is very cool! Usually under such photo it is written: “Find the dragon.”
You did a great job, thank you for the dimensions and explanations, they will help me in planning my terrarium. I also live in the metric system and I’m more accustomed to seeing sizes in centimeters. If inches are important to someone, then they can be converted by dividing centimeters by a factor of 2.54. And my apologies to Luis for having to endure all these measurements.
It’s good that Luis has a place in which he is confident and he knows that they can’t take him if he doesn’t want it, Foxy also has this and everyone in my family knows that they can’t take him from there.
I admire Luis and his talent for construction, he was able to dig such a large niche in such hard ground!
By the way, does he use branches to climb as high as possible?

It is a piece of work and I can tell you there isn't a lot of claw left on the front but it doesn't seem to bother him.
He does use literally all of the branches he has, which is why I tried very hard to have a way for him to get down from every peak safely.
He doesn't care anyways and sometimes climbs up the foam backwall or the sidewalls as well
Don't you have a really nice tank for Foxy as well?!

 

[Chris.]

Man that is an awesome setup. Now I feel bad for my guys, I guess I gotta rethink my setups now lol

Thank you but I also took some inspiration from some of your setups
Also the laws in Germany are quite harsh, so we have to use quite big tanks for our animals compared to the rest of the world (this is 210GAL or 150x80x80cm)