Looking for tips/advice/ suggestions for a two story vivarium

[Jess92]

Hi all!

I'm new to bearded dragon life. I've had a bearded dragon since December. He's about 8 months old and has a lovely temperament. He's very confident and friendly and likes to come out of his vivarium to roam around. I've noticed he likes climbing and seems to enjoy having lots of space. He's currently in a 4ft x 2ft x2ft vivarium which seems a pretty normal size but I can't help feel like he'd like a bit more space. He does seem happy in there and he has a basking spot and a cool shaded area/ hiding spot but I just think he would like more room. I've been looking at vivariums that are 6ft x 2ft x 2ft and then I thought - could I put his current 4x2x2 on the top of a new 6x2x2 and then make a hole between the two so that he has a two story house? I'm pretty confident in terms of DIY/woodwork but I'm not confident in my knowledge of bearded dragons and I wouldn't want to do anything that would make him unwell or mess with his vivarium temperature and make him unhappy.

So, my plan is:

Make a hole in the top of a 6x2x2ft vivarium that is centre left and about 6 inches x 4 inches and then make an identical hole in the bottom of a 4x2x2ft vivarium and then stack one on top of the other so that the holes match up perfectly. I was going to sand the holes and put some sort of sealant around the holes to make sure they're super smooth. Then make a ladder so that he can climb upstairs. I plan to have a light and a basking light in each vivarium. I also thought about creating some sort of lip around the hole so that the substrate doesn't fall from the top floor into the bottom floor. I cant see any reason why this wouldn't work but I thought I would put it out there incase anyone can think of any issues that I've overlooked.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

I've attached pictures of Jeremy (bearded dragon).

Jess

 

[Beansbanana]

Others will chime in hopefully because I know very little about this. I would imagine it might be harder to get the temperatures right. It seems like they don’t do well sometimes if they fall off something, so make sure the dragon can’t get too high up on something they might fall from.

 

[Jess92]

Others will chime in hopefully because I know very little about this. I would imagine it might be harder to get the temperatures right. It seems like they don’t do well sometimes if they fall off something, so make sure the dragon can’t get too high up on something they might fall from.

Thanks for your reply I imagined like a ramp from the first floor to the second so he should be OK in terms of falling. He seems to be a good climber but ill look into this more - thank you! The temperature thing is a little more complicated and I'm not sure how that will work. I imagined it as if both tanks are fitted with lights and heat lamps individually and function independently from each other and as heat rises, I might need to adjust the heat lamp in the top floor accordingly? Like turn it down slightly? Do you know how that would work? I really want it to work because I want him to have as much space as possible but if I do it and he gets hurt ill be devastated. Any info is welcome x

 

[Beansbanana]

If there is way that you could set it up and work with the temperatures for a while to get them right before you put the dragon in that would be great! Then you would have time to mess around with what bulbs would get the right temps. It sounds really cool!