Habitat Layout / Interior Design

[djwang]

We are well on our way to finishing Gonzalo's habitat. It will be a 72 in x 24 in x 26(h) footprint with sliding glass doors in front (pictures in front) for the habitat itself -- there is ~8 inches of enclosed space above for lighting -- pictures to come.

In looking at lots of pictures of habitats here and around the web, there are certainly lots of very impressive interiors with fake rocks/ramps/basking spots. It seems most habitats do not have much in the way of branches/climbing areas. My impression is that bearded dragons are semi-arboreal (and ours in fact, seems to come down from his "basking perch(s)" only to eat, poop, and sometimes sleep (he seems to rotate sleeping spots every week or so.

I'm thinking of essentially filling the floor space of habitat with a number of branches (mopani? ghostwood?) and leaving not too much floor space. With 72 inches of length to work with, I was thinking of hanging a 46" Reptisun bulb, essentially centered. Then, instead of a single basking light, I was going to use 3 basking lights, hung across the habitat, each on a different timer - so that only one would be on at any given time (well, some overlapping periods of time, something like:

far left: 6 am on, 1 pm off
center: 11 am on, 4 pm off
far right: 12:30 pm on, 6 pm off

Any plusses/minuses to doing this?

 

[Taterbug]

Your light strategy might work, but it also sounds complicated without so much benefit. It will be harder to provide a gradient with the "hot" zone changing the thru-out the day. Are you planning different temps for each part of the day? Some folks do day cycles with dawn/dusk and the UVB timed as well.

Little dragons especially seem to love to climb and be up in the branches. The only problem with too much clutter will be cleaning and access. As long as it doesn't impede your dragons ability to get around I think lots of branches would be good, my setup is probably on the more cluttered side, but I see him using almost all of the decor at one point or another. I use dried hardwood from outside - nice mopani and other decorative wood is too expensive for me. I collected small branches for Pepper when he was a baby and have been zippo tiring them together as he grows.

Sounds like a great cage! Can't wait to see pictures!

 

[puaa001]

It is very nice. Really, every detail is described in the best way as far as possible. Can you share some pictures here? Thanks.