Custom enclosure

[misskatie]

I am looking to have a custom enclosure built for my bearded dragon. I have some ideas as far as what I want but I was curious as to what are some things I should add to it and what some good dimensions would be. It would be for 1 bearded dragon and I would like it to be something she can have for the rest if her life or at least a very long time. I was thinking if something made out of melamine with a vent on either side with mesh backing so crickets and what not don't escape. Holes in the top for the lighting and sliding glass front doors. Something like this....

any more ideas of what features to add would be much appreciated

 

[timbalan]

That is the one that i made. I used the measurments they had. For lights i just went to wal mart and got an indoor/outdoor halogen light fixture with spots for 2 lights. A cheap fixture for a tube style uvb light and a halogen light for the basking spot and a regular light bulb for the cool side. Heres a couple pics of what mine turned out like

 

[misskatie]

How much did yours cost you to make I have a quote from someone for $450 which seems extremely crazy high to me but maybe they really are that expensive

 

[timbalan]

Well the glass for 2 25"x12" pieces it was $55 i only had to use 1 8'x4' board of melomine it was about $40 each light fixture was about $10 the halogen was about $8 and uvb was about $30. plus a box of screws. Then time i guess but 450 for an empty cage is a lot i would say. But if it comes with stuff inside like maybe shelfs or something, maybe.
Now as for the background i made that myself also which wasnt to much but its real time consuming. I worked on that for almost 2 weeks with all the drytime you have to wait for inbetween coats.

 

[DanielE]

Most contractors I know that make things charge you for the cost of the material x2 for the final product. So id estimate if they are asking 450 the probably got 225-250 in it. But there is really no way of knowing unless you ask.

 

[misskatie]

Yeah it's just a empty tank nothing that fancy or crazy I was just kind of surprised when he quoted me $450

 

[julescoffman]

We made ours for bout 180$ most expensive part was sliding front doors..

 

[julescoffman]

And everything is built in,except few extras,and fake plants.we made him a rock climbing wall on the back,which he loves!

 

[DanielE]

@julescoffman
Id like to see pics

 

[timbalan]

And everything is built in,except few extras,and fake plants.we made him a rock climbing wall on the back,which he loves!

I agree the glass sliding doors cost the most.

 

[julescoffman]

@DanielE I posted a couple on the enclosure site couple days ago

 

[misskatie]

I was thinking about doing plexi glass but I figured with replacing them eventually i would be better off using glass from the start

 

[timbalan]

Ya i used glass because they glass dance so i figured their sharp nails would have it scratched in no time. And plexi glass isnt much cheaper where im at. And i have a 10 month old that like to play with it so i got 1/4 thick glass so it wont break as easy if something were to happen

 

[ilovebeardies]

I have a custom wood enclose the whole enclosure is line with plexi class and the view windows are plexi glass. The plexi glass sucks because it is not as clear and nice looking as regular glass and every scratch shows! Mine opens from the top of the enclosure