New enclosure- should I seal branches??

[chels1983]

Hello all! I got a new viv recently, it is pretty enormous! It is approximately 100 gallons, but is fairly tall. Yesterday, I cleaned it with a probably 1:15 bleach, water mix and then rinsed it with warm water. Today we are putting tile in, and tommorow my MVB light should be arrived from Petmountain, and I was planning to move Odin in. Right now he is in a 10 gallon tank with no UV

I have a few concerns, one is that the tank may be too big for him and could overwhelm him. He is about 7 inches long, not sure how old. I dont know if its best to just try it out and then see if I should section it off, or go ahead and section it off beforehand. I am planning to use his current 10 gallon as a feeding tank. I would imagine it would be pretty hard for him to hunt in his new tank.

There are 2 branches which came with the tank (I got it from craigslist), but I am not sure what kind of wood they are. They are in the picture, but it may be hard to tell from that. I have already cleaned them, but I heard some types of wood are not good for a beardies cage. Is it possible to seal wood which may be unsuitable for a beardie to make it usable?

Thanks in advance for the advice!

 

[zimbabwepegasus]

Awwww
what a cute little bugger!

It's basically cedar you want to avoid, when exposed to heat, it releases harmful fumes. I wouldn't put it in my tank even sealed- just for the "what if" factor.

Also, if you are feeding in a 10g don't worry about blocking off part of the tank. He'll do just fine hanging out. It's really only for feeding concerns that we recommend the smaller tanks.

 

[chels1983]

Sorry, I don't think my post was very clear. He is in a 10 gallon now but I am moving him to an approx 100 gallon tomorrow.

Darn, my pic didn't show up! I have had that problem before. It looked fine in Preview :x :x

Here's a link, I will try and figure out how to post the pic
http://picasaweb.google.com/ccurl2/BrakAndOdin#5268189374808515922

I dont think the wood is cedar, one is lighter and one is dark.

 

[zimbabwepegasus]

I understood that; I just thought you were saying that you were going to keep feeding in the 10 g?

 

[chels1983]

Oh ok, I meant that I was thinking of blocking off a portion of the bigger tank. I have heard that a move to a large tank like that can stress out a baby. What do you think??

He is a cute guy isn't he I am not allowed any more pets lol, but how could I resist him?

 

[midnight_962002]

I would probably block it off for a month or two. Then I would gradually give him more space. The main concern is not that he is going to be overwhelmed but, that he is not going to be utilizing his enclosure properly. Basking and cooling himself. Some do it right at that age some don't. By gradually increasing the size of it you are going to give him the slow training of where he should be when he needs to heat up and where he can go to cool off.

Ernie

 

[chels1983]

Thanks for the reply. I may block off the tank, although the darn thing is so tall, I don't know how to do it functionally. We bought some tile last night, and unfortunately they don't fit in perfectly (I guess I was a little too optimistic lol). Today we have to figure out how we are gonna cut them and get them in, because my MVB light is coming in the mail today! The poor guy needs some UV light