E.Shell
Active member
I have four bearded dragons now, and am relatively experienced at keeping a fairly wide variety of reptiles, amphibians and both freshwater and saltwater fish/inverts.
I need ideas for a soon to be spare terrarium with interior dimensions of 36" wide x 22" front-to-back x 30" tall.
There is currently a juvenile 19" bearded dragon in it, but he is outgrowing the usable floor space and I want to transfer him to an area with more floor/horizontal space, since that's where he spends most of his time.
The terrarium has a solid floor & back, plate glass sides, sliding plate glass front doors and a 1/4" mesh false ceiling, above which I have several fluorescent fixtures that accept 24" tubes. There is a solid ceiling about 4" above the mesh.
It has wall vents low in the back, and ceiling vents in the top, and so flow-through ventilation can be regulated, and thus heat and humidity loss regulated to a certain extent. With the vents clear/open, I get very good convection flow.
A modestly sized basking light can be placed in the space above the ceiling mesh, but there can be heat issues for a lizard that would climb across the ceiling, since any light hot enough to provide sufficient basking heat will also make the mesh too hot for safety. I can also place a basking lamp outside one of the glass sides to shine in, but prefer not to hang stuff on the outside of the enclosure if I can avoid it.
I'd like to get another lizard to occupy this space that would make more use of the vertical space.
Because the doors slide open to the full height of the cage, and I'm not as young as I used to be, I really don't want anything too speedy or especially agile that may get past me.
A very small (tree?) monitor might be OK, but I don't want something that gets too big to be happy in the space I have. While I do think monitors are very cool, I don't know if I'm ready to handle a monitor, even a small one, due to the risk of injury to myself. From what I see, even small ones tend to stay feisty/defensive/aggressive - definitely part of their charm, but I don't think I'm up to it anymore. In addition to being in my mid-50s, I am also on some meds that seem to make my skin very fragile and relatively easily damaged.
I'm interested in the chameleons, and there are very cool ones out there, but I see they are regarded as a specimen for advanced keepers, probably more advanced than I am. I also see they require a lot of ventilation and would prefer a screen enclosure both for the fresh air and for the climbing substrate. So, chameleons seem to be out for my situation for several reasons.
The geckos are interesting, but most are rather small and it would seem they would be lost in the enclosure unless I had several, which would be cool too, but likely unworkable. Looking into the various gecko species, and actually lizards in general, everything seems solitary and should be kept in separate enclosures until breeding is intended, which I do NOT want to do.
I don't know what else would stay small enough to no eventually outgrow the cage, but would be interesting to look at/watch.
I am not driven to handle them, though I do fool with the beardies once or twice a day. I'd be perfectly fine with something I can just observe.
I raise B. Dubia, and have a two-tub colony that is finally sustaining enough to keep my four BDs fats and happy.
Ideally (fantasy), I would have a couple small, colorful, active lizards that could eat B.Dubia and/or greens I have anyway, and can co-exist without stressing or injuring each other. To be able to use natural vegetation in with them would be a bonus.
BTW, I DO realize that this idea is probably impractical, but feel that I should ask anyway.
I'm not really adverse to having a male/female pair of something if that's what it takes for a peaceful co-existence, but really don't want to breed anything "on purpose", if that makes sense.
I'd appreciate any suggestions and comments.
Thank you in advance,
Ed
I need ideas for a soon to be spare terrarium with interior dimensions of 36" wide x 22" front-to-back x 30" tall.
There is currently a juvenile 19" bearded dragon in it, but he is outgrowing the usable floor space and I want to transfer him to an area with more floor/horizontal space, since that's where he spends most of his time.
The terrarium has a solid floor & back, plate glass sides, sliding plate glass front doors and a 1/4" mesh false ceiling, above which I have several fluorescent fixtures that accept 24" tubes. There is a solid ceiling about 4" above the mesh.
It has wall vents low in the back, and ceiling vents in the top, and so flow-through ventilation can be regulated, and thus heat and humidity loss regulated to a certain extent. With the vents clear/open, I get very good convection flow.
A modestly sized basking light can be placed in the space above the ceiling mesh, but there can be heat issues for a lizard that would climb across the ceiling, since any light hot enough to provide sufficient basking heat will also make the mesh too hot for safety. I can also place a basking lamp outside one of the glass sides to shine in, but prefer not to hang stuff on the outside of the enclosure if I can avoid it.
I'd like to get another lizard to occupy this space that would make more use of the vertical space.
Because the doors slide open to the full height of the cage, and I'm not as young as I used to be, I really don't want anything too speedy or especially agile that may get past me.
A very small (tree?) monitor might be OK, but I don't want something that gets too big to be happy in the space I have. While I do think monitors are very cool, I don't know if I'm ready to handle a monitor, even a small one, due to the risk of injury to myself. From what I see, even small ones tend to stay feisty/defensive/aggressive - definitely part of their charm, but I don't think I'm up to it anymore. In addition to being in my mid-50s, I am also on some meds that seem to make my skin very fragile and relatively easily damaged.
I'm interested in the chameleons, and there are very cool ones out there, but I see they are regarded as a specimen for advanced keepers, probably more advanced than I am. I also see they require a lot of ventilation and would prefer a screen enclosure both for the fresh air and for the climbing substrate. So, chameleons seem to be out for my situation for several reasons.
The geckos are interesting, but most are rather small and it would seem they would be lost in the enclosure unless I had several, which would be cool too, but likely unworkable. Looking into the various gecko species, and actually lizards in general, everything seems solitary and should be kept in separate enclosures until breeding is intended, which I do NOT want to do.
I don't know what else would stay small enough to no eventually outgrow the cage, but would be interesting to look at/watch.
I am not driven to handle them, though I do fool with the beardies once or twice a day. I'd be perfectly fine with something I can just observe.
I raise B. Dubia, and have a two-tub colony that is finally sustaining enough to keep my four BDs fats and happy.
Ideally (fantasy), I would have a couple small, colorful, active lizards that could eat B.Dubia and/or greens I have anyway, and can co-exist without stressing or injuring each other. To be able to use natural vegetation in with them would be a bonus.
BTW, I DO realize that this idea is probably impractical, but feel that I should ask anyway.
I'm not really adverse to having a male/female pair of something if that's what it takes for a peaceful co-existence, but really don't want to breed anything "on purpose", if that makes sense.
I'd appreciate any suggestions and comments.
Thank you in advance,
Ed
