# Plans for new beardie enclosure...



## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

I plan to have a footprint of 48"x24". I'm not sure about the height as of yet.

For the bottom I am planning to do a tile. However, I was thinking this over, and I want to install the same stuff used in heating ceramic tiles in the house. This way I would keep a good ambient temp in the tank. I want this controlled by a rheostat of some sort, to make sure that in the summer, for instance, it doesn't get too hot. I also want a basking area for intense heat when he wants it. I am going to incorporate large pieces of wood into the set up as well for climbing and an area where there will be sand for him to root around in. I plan on building in a double fluorescent strip light in order to provide the necessary uvb through that method.

Not sure how I'm going to do the front doors yet, but we'll see soon enough.

Any suggestions/comments/ideas are more than welcome.


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## dark FrOsT (Sep 23, 2006)

that sounds good, my dragon is in a encloser 49x20. it uses a under tank heater and a basking area under a piece of wood. i made him a pool too ... siliconed a piece of plexi-glass creating a divider in the tank with is 3 inches high easy for him to hoop right over and take a swim, i find that he loves it, he will sit there for hours soak right up and then climb up to the top of his basking area to dry up. i change the water every 2 days or daily cause sometimes he goes to the bathroom in it. but it looks great and he enjoys taking a little dip to cool off.

what are these tiles you speak of? im planning on building a new home for my ball python and i am debating one how to make the floor, either glass with a under tank heater or a solid surface with a stronger bulb in my heat lamp. would these tiles work for me ??


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## KINGofKINGS (Jul 24, 2006)

i want to also build a bigger enclosure for my girls.... can someone give me something to follow??? im struggling to find anything!


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

The tiles I was referring to are ceramic tiles that you can buy at the store. People typically use them on their floor. They come in a variety of different materials and aren't really all ceramic. And different designs. I found some really nice looking ones I'd love to use.


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## dark FrOsT (Sep 23, 2006)

what do they do absorb heat?


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## CrocKeeper (Dec 26, 2003)

Keep away from heating them from the bottom.

Lizards are geared to be heated from the top down....and the biological mechanisms that tell the when they are too warm are located dorsally so when heating from below lizards are seriously prone to burning and excessive heating that is not good for them internally.

I use natural substrate in the bottom of our enclosures...a quality topsoil that has been cooked in my oven (it is best to do this when the wife is not home..as she generally reacts poorly to her cookie sheets and oven being used) to kill potential parasites and ova.

I helped a friend build one for his living room...the bottom was 3/4 ply wood as were the walls...however, the walls were cut to remove their centers and in the vacancy was placed 1/4 inch tempered glass. (he is an awesome carpenter and their was outers involved and then framing the glass "window" etc...it was placed on top of a pedestall and the floor is 4 feet by 6 feet (he wanted to use the entire plywood but didn't have room) the sides are 2 feet tall. the glass windows are 18 inches tall and 20 inches long.

The wood was painted with a marine epoxy paint to seal it away from moisture and urates. He used a mixture of substrates...larger gravels, sand and topsoil.....then he decorated it with sandstone "outcroppings" and planted Snasiveria in it. His lighting is suspended over it from the ceiling much like a fine reef tank.

It is quite the show piece and houses one male and three female Inland Beardeds, which reproduce constantly for him.(water by the way is offered in a commercial resin water bowl that looks like sandstone.)

I will try to get by and get some pictures for you guys. and I would offer schematics..but I already have to get other schematics off in the mail for another member and about 100 other things..but as soon as my schedule slows down to allow me to breathe I will see if I can get someone to load schematics into a viewable platform to be posted here.....


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## KINGofKINGS (Jul 24, 2006)

schematics..... schamatics.... cmon crock hook us up!


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## dark FrOsT (Sep 23, 2006)

that would be awesome, thanks so much


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

CK... The bottom heating was not meant to be the sole source for heat. It was meant to help keep ambient air temps at an acceptable level without always having a heat lamp on. Also part of the reason I wanted to keep it controllable so I could nudge it up or down or turn it off completely if needed.

I would be using the same materials/principles that people use when installing this in their homes. And that certainly isn't enough to burn.

In the wild I'm sure the ground becomes warm as well.


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## CrocKeeper (Dec 26, 2003)

..Great idea, wonderful question...

Yes if you are only using it to buffer low ambient...then you are fine.

Yes in the wild the ground gets heated by the sun......but when the ground is already warmed the lizards are not out basking, they are out head bobbing, chasing down food, running off other males, looking for females..etc...and in the early mornings when they are basking the ground underneath them directly does not warm as they are catching the suns radiation........and in the early evenings when basking the heat beneath them dissapates quickly as again their bodies absorb the radiant heating...much like putting your hand on a hetaed rock in the summer.....how quickly the rock loses its heat when you get your hand on it....(we are not talking midday midsummer cook an egg on it)

Anyway I have carried on too long as usual.


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

I always appreciate it when you carry on too long!









It is just to buffer ambient temps. Especially in the winter. Given my current locale it's not a bad idea. The more climate control the better, right?

I would also wager to guess that the ground retains a certain level of ambient heat and that even if they beardie is over a certain spot that the ground is not altogether cold. That's really just what I'm trying to mimic here... Like I said, it would be using the same technology used to heat bathroom and kitchen floors so they're not icy cold. But at the same time it's not going to make them 'heat rock' hot or anything of the sort. The primary basking area will still be heated from above.

In regards to your friend with the mixed substrate... How often does he clean out his entire enclosure? I'm curious because it seems like a rather large task to do that with a natural substrate. And I would imagine it can't go _too_ long without cleaning.


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## CrocKeeper (Dec 26, 2003)

I am going to get some pics...but the entire thing is completely "landscaped"...so that there are islands of the gravel and soil here and there with the sansiveria in a "sea" of sand..and the rock outcroppings are big "islands" jutting out of that "sea" as well.....

He sifts the soiled sand every day when he visually sees any solids.....and he has yet to do a complete clean out....just sections of sand so far....as the dragons tend to use one specific area the most when defecating.......

I already warned him I have to get over with my daughters digicam...LOL


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