New home built :)

[Izzy34]

A few trips to te local hardware store later and about 150 bucks I made my new Viv for Izzy today!
Haven't furnished it or put my light setup in but it's almost done!

4' long, 2' wide and 18" tall, simple plywood, a couple 2x2s, a bunch of 1 1/2x3/4 and my baby has got herself a new home! More pics to come once it's completed! Put hinges and latches on the front so I can flip it down for easy access.

So got it finished tonight and got it set up. Still waiting for my reptisun to come in so I can mount my UVB light inside the cage but otherwise it's good! Got a digital thermometer and checked all my temps tonight as well.
Basking: 108f
Hot side: 90f
Cool side:78f

 

[ShannyBeard]

What a happy dragon enjoying his new home! It looks so nice.

 

[Izzy34]

Thanks so much ! She loves it. Im havin a hard time gettin my basking temps down to proper so I think I'm going to get a dimmer switch for bulbs! Otherwise super happy with how it turned out!!

 

[Esther19]

Great job! She's a lucky girl!

 

[jsnsan]

Love it! You did an amazing job!

 

[BotanicalStig]

Looks great! Is that one of the basking branches from bigappleherp?

 

[Izzy34]

I'm not 100% where the branch is from. I got it from my local pet store. Next time I'm in I'll see where they get them from. She seems to love it though. Still waiting for my reptisun bulb to come in so I can set up my new lighting system.

 

[leighmck]

This looks amazing!! What is your flooring and back of the viv?...tile or linoleum?

 

[Izzy34]

It's just lino 1x1 tiles cut to fit. The bottom ones are fit into place for easy removing for cleaning and the back ones are stapled in!

 

[RockHound]

Nice job! I really like that door design. Maybe I'll do something like that instead of going through all the trouble of finding tracks for sliding plexiglass doors...

 

[Izzy34]

It was super easy to build to door like that. I used some 1-1/2x3/4 and built a 48x18inch frame an stapled aluminum mesh to it then built another frame and screwed it together from te back side to sandwich the mesh in. Then built the center supports and used some finishing nails to hold it to the outside frame. It's mostly to support the mesh. Doesn't have any structural support for the frame itself.

 

[Izzy34]

So my reptisun 10 finally came in. Got it at 36" so it covers the whole cage. Mounted a floresent light fixture from home depot for 30 bucks! Finished the rest of the sides of the enclosure with the laminate tiles and got her a lizard hammock which she loves already! Super happy with this set up!!

 

[digi]

Very nice build, I actually spent 2 hours at the hardware store yesterday and I'm going to copy your design, lol. Thanks for sharing 8)

 

[Izzy34]

Haha that's awesome!!

You need:

1x 4x8 3/4" plywood
3x 2x2" 8 foot spruce boards
6x 1-1/2x3/4 boards for the top and the screen front flip door
1x 2x4 8 foot for the light support on the back of the cage and for the legs on the bottom.

I cut the 3/4inch plywood down into one 48inch by 18 inches tall for the back. Cut the base into. 48x24 inches for the base and te sides are 24x18.

I cut the 2x2 into two 18 inch tall corner peices for the back to the side pieces. I made a brace for the base of the tank at the back where the base ad back join out of 2x2. I notched the 2x4 to fit aroun the 2x2 corner braces at the back for the light fixture. I made The front corner braces to 16-5/8ths so I could put a brace from side to side made out of 2x2. Then I made a brace in the middle of the s
Top from the 2x4 to the 2x2 front for extra support on the top.

Then I stapled some aluminum mesh to the top and used the 1-1/2x3/4 to make a frame around the top to sandwhich it in. For the front I made a frame out of 1-1/2 boards and stapled the screen to it an then made a duplicate frame to screw to te other to sandwich the screen again. I used four hinges on the bottom of the front door to hold it on and some latches at the top. I'll put up my "blueprint" in a few min for you.

 

[XtinaBeardieMom]

I just got the same light, but I'm having a seriously hard time finding a fixture for it. Can you please post a link or list the specific brand/type of light fixture you got? Thanks!