Designing a new Habitat to build at home, need advice

[Bryce Anthony]

Hey everyone. I'm new to the forum. I've had my bearded dragon (my first time owning one) since a little before christmas and so far, it's been great. I've had very little problems taking care of her. But she is starting to grow quite a bit and I want to start working on a new home for her. Right now she's in a tank that's two feet long, probably a foot wide and a foot tall (I'm away from home typing this so I can't check). I figured I should just go ahead and build her something that she'll be comfortable in even at full size. So I've been working the whole week on creating a 3d model using Google SketchUp. I was hoping for some feedback from some of the veteran caretakers here. This is what I've come up with. It consists of two pieces, the actual vivarium and the base. It won't necessarily have this cherry finish on it. That's just what I happened to do while modeling it. I might just paint it black so I can save money on wood.

The vivarium is 2' tall, 4' long, 4' wide and is built in a sort of diamond shape from above.

The issue of lighting is one that I need the most advice on. With a habitat this size, I was unsure of how to heat it properly. This plan (subject to change) allows me to place one large UV lamp with two bulbs toward the back of the vivarium and three heating lamps toward the front, offering her multiple basking locations. I was thinking perhaps a ceramic heat emitter in the front circle, a day lamp in the left and a night lamp in the right, assuming that two at a time would be enough. Does this sound like it would work?

This is a view of the back of the model which would be up against the wall. Notice the vents in the vivarium back walls. There are also two holes near the bottom of the base where the wires from the lamps would be run and plugged into a power bar (likely one with a timer).

This image shows the sliding plexiglass doors up close. I've mostly worked out how to build them. You can also see the desert background which I may or may not include in the final product. The floor is going to be tile beneath the sand to make cleaning easier. There is also a hole in the tile that can be seen through the window. This is for cleaning and will normally be plugged. I decided when it comes time to exchange the sand for fresh sand, I could sweep all the sand into this hole in the floor and into a container in the cabinet of the base. There is also a funnel I'll get to later that will make this easier.

In order to make cleaning easier, the lid will be hinged and supports will be placed into small holes to hold it up. Or I may find some locking hinges to use if this is doable.

Here are the shelves in the base. I figured I could put everything I need to take care of her here so it is easy to get to.

Here is the full base section. The back walls are raised so the entire vivarium piece can simply be slid to the back, easily aligning the holes in the vivarium floor and base lid.

This is the base without the lid, showing how it is supported. It rests upon a groove in the walls of the base. The walls may end up each being two separate pieces of wood as I now realize the planned cut may be too difficult to accomplish.

Here is the open cabinet with a view of the funnel that will be attached on the bottom of the hole in the base lid. This cabinet is where a plastic tub will be placed to sweep the sand into. I may also store my tub of crickets in this cabinet as well.


So that's the plan so far (it's already been altered so many times that I'm expecting it will still have to be tweaked a bit, but hopefully I'm close). If anyone has any advice that would help me out, I'd love to hear it. My biggest priority is making sure this will be somewhere my dragon will live out a very happy life.

looking forward to your feedback,
Bryce Anthony

 

[Germ]

Looks like a hell of a plan, quite well thought out. The only flaw I see in it is - How do you intend on having the Heat & UVB to cover the basking spot? Not going to work as planned ... The UVB & the Heat bulb for the basking spot must be adjacent to each other for both to cover the basking spot. I would think that you may have to rethink your Bulb placement, or use good quality, proper strength MVB bulbs. If you are going to offer multiple basking spots, all must be provided with effective UVB.

By the way, Night heat is not necessary or even wanted, unless your ambient room temps drop below the mid to low 60sF at night. BDs should be allowed to cool at night, slows the metabolism down for a good nights sleep. Night lights of any color will bother most BDs sleep.

Just love the enclosure concept, though.

 

[Jp]

Welcome to the Forum. That looks like a fun project, definitely a cool design.

 

[Aleena]

That's awesome!

 

[Bryce Anthony]

I've been giving it a lot of thought today trying to figure out how to solve this UV lighting problem. I thought maybe I could find a way to mount the UV bulbs on the underside of the lid like so:

That's two 1' 6" bulbs and one 3' bulb. Or if two would be enough (don't want to spend a fortune on bulbs), something like this :

This is two 2' long bulbs. I figured mounting on the roof would mean better UV exposure. But if this is a bad idea, I could just purchase slim fixtures and cut holes in the roof. I would just have to space out the basking areas a little more. Which would be no big deal. Is this sounding like there's a solution in here somewhere?

 

[Germ]

Either would work very well. I mount all my UVB tubes inside my enclosures so as not to have any screen filtration/blockage & get full intended life from the bulbs. And the type of fixture is easily found. 18"-24" under the cabinet fixtures of the old 'Bright Stick' style would work very well for either bulb setup & the UVB bulb length is more readily available.

 

[Bryce Anthony]

Okay great! I was thinking up all kinds of weird ideas all day before mounting within the habitat finally came to me.
So as for the heating then. I'm in southern california so it would very rarely get colder than mid-60's at night here. (I'll keep an eye on it in the colder months and just plan on buying a heat emitter if I have to)
If I don't need heat at night most of the time, that leaves me with three possible basking areas during the day. Is there a certain distance apart I should keep the basking areas to avoid it getting too hot with three heating bulbs? What else should I keep in mind when planning out how to heat the enclosure?

Thanks so much for the help, by the way.

 

[Jp]

That really is a bad@ss design

 

[Germ]

It may very well pick one that it likes & only bask on it, but offering choice of different heights & temperatures is a nice idea. As far as heat goes. you will have to Play with bulbs & basking heights once it is built. You have to also remember that a cool area of 80F-85F needs to be provided. The way that it is setup, would likely be the back corner area.

I am just about embarrassed to post this, after looking at that, but I will because the area to heat is similar & may help give you an idea or 2 as far as heating.

The Fluorescent fixture in the top 90 Gal enclosure is the type you will likely be using. The top of the larger, lower enclosure is wide open for half of it, so I have much more heat escaping. 53"Wx36"Dx26"H giving a similar cubic foot area to heat as your design. The divider in the middle is a plastic 'Eggcrate' flourescent light cover, so very little air flow restriction between the 2 sides. Below ...

My ambient room temps are fairly constant at 72F-75F without the enclosure lights on. The 2 Heat fixtures on either side are holding 75W Philips Halogen Flood Lamps which give me temps of 105F, give or take a couple degrees, at the Basking spots 15"-16" away & 80F a the front of the enclosure. I am thinking that in your design with three raised basking spots, that if you chose to use similar 50W-75W Halogen floods (Brighter/Whiter light, more heat per watt, very good heat penetration, less power consumption) or a combination there of, that it would do the job for you, but you will likely have to play with that.

An idea for the screens in the holes under the heat lamps that you may want to consider is Fine Expanded Metal which has fairly big holes, so as not to restrict much heat & very strong. Example below ...

I would also suggest having a circle vent or two low on the sides. Just some ideas, good luck on your project, I am impressed.

 

[Bryce Anthony]

Yes, I had planned on the back corner being the designated cool spot. Thought I could put her food and water bowls back there somewhere (though decor is still unplanned mostly). But I will just play around with different bulb combinations when I get there like you suggest. Is there any benefit to purchasing bulbs from brands like ZooMed that are specifically marketed as basking bulbs? Or do the halogen flood lamp bulbs do the trick just as well?

And don't be too impressed yet. I still have to actually accomplish the building process. For all I know everything's going to fall apart when I have to pick up the power tools haha

 

[Germ]

Is there any benefit to purchasing bulbs from brands like ZooMed that are specifically marketed as basking bulbs? Or do the halogen flood lamp bulbs do the trick just as well?

So called Pet Store Basking Bulbs are no different than any ordinary bulb. The words Basking Bulb, UVA , etc are just marketing scams so they can charge twice the price by representing them as a 'Specialty' bulb. UVA is basically nothing more than 'White' light. So to answer your question, no there is no benefit. Pretty much any type of white or clear bulb of sufficient wattage to produce the required heat will work just as well.

If it is your intention to eventually use Children's Washed Playsand, you may want to consider a raised feeding platform.

 

[jessica domke]

Hey everyone. I'm new to the forum. I've had my bearded dragon (my first time owning one) since a little before christmas and so far, it's been great. I've had very little problems taking care of her. But she is starting to grow quite a bit and I want to start working on a new home for her. Right now she's in a tank that's two feet long, probably a foot wide and a foot tall (I'm away from home typing this so I can't check). I figured I should just go ahead and build her something that she'll be comfortable in even at full size. So I've been working the whole week on creating a 3d model using Google SketchUp. I was hoping for some feedback from some of the veteran caretakers here. This is what I've come up with. It consists of two pieces, the actual vivarium and the base. It won't necessarily have this cherry finish on it. That's just what I happened to do while modeling it. I might just paint it black so I can save money on wood. View attachment 1541

View attachment 1551
The vivarium is 2' tall, 4' long, 4' wide and is built in a sort of diamond shape from above.

View attachment 1561
The issue of lighting is one that I need the most advice on. With a habitat this size, I was unsure of how to heat it properly. This plan (subject to change) allows me to place one large UV lamp with two bulbs toward the back of the vivarium and three heating lamps toward the front, offering her multiple basking locations. I was thinking perhaps a ceramic heat emitter in the front circle, a day lamp in the left and a night lamp in the right, assuming that two at a time would be enough. Does this sound like it would work?

View attachment 1553
This is a view of the back of the model which would be up against the wall. Notice the vents in the vivarium back walls. There are also two holes near the bottom of the base where the wires from the lamps would be run and plugged into a power bar (likely one with a timer).

View attachment 1554
This image shows the sliding plexiglass doors up close. I've mostly worked out how to build them. You can also see the desert background which I may or may not include in the final product. The floor is going to be tile beneath the sand to make cleaning easier. There is also a hole in the tile that can be seen through the window. This is for cleaning and will normally be plugged. I decided when it comes time to exchange the sand for fresh sand, I could sweep all the sand into this hole in the floor and into a container in the cabinet of the base. There is also a funnel I'll get to later that will make this easier.

View attachment 1559
In order to make cleaning easier, the lid will be hinged and supports will be placed into small holes to hold it up. Or I may find some locking hinges to use if this is doable.

View attachment 1555
Here are the shelves in the base. I figured I could put everything I need to take care of her here so it is easy to get to.

View attachment 1556
Here is the full base section. The back walls are raised so the entire vivarium piece can simply be slid to the back, easily aligning the holes in the vivarium floor and base lid.

View attachment 1557
This is the base without the lid, showing how it is supported. It rests upon a groove in the walls of the base. The walls may end up each being two separate pieces of wood as I now realize the planned cut may be too difficult to accomplish.

View attachment 1560
Here is the open cabinet with a view of the funnel that will be attached on the bottom of the hole in the base lid. This cabinet is where a plastic tub will be placed to sweep the sand into. I may also store my tub of crickets in this cabinet as well.


So that's the plan so far (it's already been altered so many times that I'm expecting it will still have to be tweaked a bit, but hopefully I'm close). If anyone has any advice that would help me out, I'd love to hear it. My biggest priority is making sure this will be somewhere my dragon will live out a very happy life.

looking forward to your feedback,
Bryce Anthony

wooooooowwww ur custom set up looks AMAZING!!!!! love the idea!!!! very cool, glad 2 c how much thought u have put in2 it!!!!

 

[Bryce Anthony]

Germ,
Yes I was definitely going to make sure the food dish was raised. I tried putting one in the sand recently and watched in dismay as she filled her food with sand in a matter of about a minute. Won't be doing that again. So it'll be placed up off the ground for her. Where do you purchase your sand? I bought a big bag of desert sand from the reptile store when I got my dragon. Is children's washed play sand a better bet than pet store sand? If it's just that it'll sold to me at a fairer price, then i'll do that from now on. But if there's any reason I should be wary of finishing the bag, i'll go ahead and switch before dumping the rest of into this new enclosure after it's built.

jessica domke,
thanks so much

 

[Aleena]

Germ,
Yes I was definitely going to make sure the food dish was raised. I tried putting one in the sand recently and watched in dismay as she filled her food with sand in a matter of about a minute. Won't be doing that again. So it'll be placed up off the ground for her. Where do you purchase your sand? I bought a big bag of desert sand from the reptile store when I got my dragon. Is children's washed play sand a better bet than pet store sand? If it's just that it'll sold to me at a fairer price, then i'll do that from now on. But if there's any reason I should be wary of finishing the bag, i'll go ahead and switch before dumping the rest of into this new enclosure after it's built.

jessica domke,
thanks so much

The pet store sand is usually what we call calci-sand, it goes by a few different brand names and claims to be completely safe for dragons, while it is absolutely not. Check the front of the bag to see if it has calcium written on it. You can buy children's washed play sand in a 50lb bag from home depot for under $5. What's the brand name of the sand you're using so we can give you a better answer on that?

 

[Bryce Anthony]

It isn't calci-sand. Though I had considered it in the beginning. Glad I didn't now that i've read some of the information on this site and some other sites where I read about it. I think the brand I have is ZooMed's natural red repti-sand. According to their site, it contains no added dyes or chemicals.

 

[Germ]

Pretty much anything available in a Pet Store in the way of particle substrate, from Calci-sand, Vita-Sand (Basically just Calcium sand), crushed Walnut shell, wood chips, cat litter, coconut mulch, etc, etc pose very high impaction risks. Any particle substrate has some level of risk. If a particle substrate is desired, Children's Washed Play Sand is the only one I would recommend, if there are larger pebbles in it when purchased it should be strained into sand not gravel, prior to being used. Optimal husbandry should be observed if used, proper heat, hydration, etc. Any BD under 10" should not be kept on any particle substrate at all, no matter what it is.

I have had 8 BDs keep me over the years since 2002, every one of them have been brought up on Washed Playsand since they were 10"+. Their ages range from 2 -10 years old, all but one are still alive & very healthy. Nitro Passed away February 6, 2010 from unrelated causes, at the age of 19 months, 3 are now housed with family members, the other 4 are still keeping me, the oldest of which is just turning 8. Playsand has always been my choice of substrate. I do not say that anyone has to use it, there are many non particle alternatives out there, I am only saying that it is my choice in substrates.

 

[Germ]

ZooMed's Repti-sand is probably the only exception to my above statement, because it is real sand ground from Quartz rock, so you made a good choice. But it is way over priced, when you can purchase play sand as Aleena said for $4-$5/50 lb bag.

Play sand is available at most larger hardware store or garden centers. Stay clear of any Dyed sands.

 

[Bryce Anthony]

I had no idea there was an alternative that was so much cheaper. Once I've finished off the bag of sand I already have, I'll go ahead and start buying the play sand at home depot. Thanks for the tip there. With the new enclosure having so much floor space, I was concerned about how much money i'd have to be spending on sand. So this is a relief.

 

[Zen ReptileZ]

Beautiful design! I can tell you are not overlooking any detail, I'm confident that you will have that enclosure at perfection when you are done with it! Thank you for being a rockstar caregiver! Your dragon is lucky to have such a resourceful, creative, and knowledge seeking human!

 

[ThDude]

hey if it works you have a future in bearded dragon home design. i would so but one of these tanks.