# Bearded dragon enclosure



## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

5'x2'x2'

3 glo lights and 1 36" dual t5

Sliding glass doors to come



















All I have left is spray foam background, edge banding, and silicone


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## Reptiles&Fish (Apr 22, 2012)

Looks very good, and give's him a very good amount of room! I wish I had gotten into the more desert reptiles, as the enclosures are much easier to build for them. Tropical not so much :/. I will be starting working on my Basilisk enclosure today, going to build a nice false bottom. Will be all live plants(Vivarium style) with running water and water falls oh my!


Only main suggestion I'd make for a beardie is have some more ventilation. Maybe on each end of the enclosure with some mesh. Or if you have a few computer fans or something, hook those up to the top of it with some mesh covered holes.


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

ReptileGuy said:


> Looks very good, and give's him a very good amount of room! I wish I had gotten into the more desert reptiles, as the enclosures are much easier to build for them. Tropical not so much :/. I will be starting working on my Basilisk enclosure today, going to build a nice false bottom. Will be all live plants(Vivarium style) with running water and water falls oh my!
> 
> Only main suggestion I'd make for a beardie is have some more ventilation. Maybe on each end of the enclosure with some mesh. Or if you have a few computer fans or something, hook those up to the top of it with some mesh covered holes.


Ya I was thinking 2 3x8 vents, one on each end of the enclosure with a "floor vent" style cover on them

I'm also planning on putting spots in the background for some live plants even though they'll get eaten (aloe)

The only thing I'm not sure of yet is if I should coat the background in sand, concrete, or just leave it bare foam.


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## Reptiles&Fish (Apr 22, 2012)

Yea those floor vent things work perfectly. For the plants I suggest when making your background you build it around the small round plant pots. Then you can replace them easy every time they get eaten. Just waste the roots off and put organic soil before anything.


For the background I'm wondering on the same thing right now, and just about to go to Home hardware in the next hour. But seeing your beardie doesn't need humidity or any moisture, you'd be safe with that great stuff foam. Cover the glass with a layer of silicone, then the foam with stones and the plant pots worked into it. Let it dry and remove the plant pots. Then just silicone the hell out of the outside of it covering it with something to texture it. But honestly if you have the concrete I'd do that! Cause he'd end up ripping the foam apart. So instead of top layer of silicone cement it with a nice think layer. For tropical I'm kinda lost as there is a lot of moisture. Cant wait to see what you decide.


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Personally I'd put sand all over the great stuff. That'd totally look desert like!


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

ReptileGuy said:


> Yea those floor vent things work perfectly. For the plants I suggest when making your background you build it around the small round plant pots. Then you can replace them easy every time they get eaten. Just waste the roots off and put organic soil before anything.
> 
> For the background I'm wondering on the same thing right now, and just about to go to Home hardware in the next hour. But seeing your beardie doesn't need humidity or any moisture, you'd be safe with that great stuff foam. Cover the glass with a layer of silicone, then the foam with stones and the plant pots worked into it. Let it dry and remove the plant pots. Then just silicone the hell out of the outside of it covering it with something to texture it. But honestly if you have the concrete I'd do that! Cause he'd end up ripping the foam apart. So instead of top layer of silicone cement it with a nice think layer. For tropical I'm kinda lost as there is a lot of moisture. Cant wait to see what you decide.


Foam should be fine with the moisture, maybe black sand glued to it? Or you can get the Laguna pond foam which comes in black


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## Reptiles&Fish (Apr 22, 2012)

Hmm I'm not really sure, I've always heard the great stuff foam will soak up water like a sponge. Thats why you got to coat in completely in silicone. But anything big will just pierce that anyways.

I'd like to hear more about this laguna pond foam, where can I get it?

I was thinking of just getting a large piece of foam board and carving it out, then covering it with silicone and moss.. So I can replace it anytime I need to.


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

Great stuff foam is polyurethane which is a closed cell foam therefore doesn't absorb moisture. My brother inlaw owns a sprayfoam company so I'm tempted to bring the terrarium to him and get him to spray the back wall because he can tint it any color. Also the stuff he uses is soy based so its "animal friendly"


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## Reptiles&Fish (Apr 22, 2012)

That is awesome, definitely do that. But for all the vents and lamp holes, for sure put mesh. Crickets are so annoying unless you got some hunting kitties like mine.


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

Edge banding mostly complete, I really hate doing self adhesive edge banding, it's too sticky :s

The color of the edge banding isn't a perfect match because I'm cheap and used leftovers from when I used to install kitchens

Next step is to find some vents I like and figure out how I'm going to fasten the rails for the sliding glass, I'm thinking pl400 and staples


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

As far as the crickets go ill take your advise on the screen haha, my wife's retarded chihuahua would find them eventually although he would probably lose a fight with a cricket


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)




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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

so i decided to go with a fan instead of the vents because well... i looked on the floor of my garage and there just happened to be a bunch of computer fans laying around

Also figured i should give credit to sliver as he has been assisting me (playing with my dremel and holding stuff in place while i fasten it) throughout the whole build
oh and making improvements to my design 

Siliconed it all yesterday, routered out the 3rd hole for the last heat lamp, got the header and footer put back on, finished the edge banding, pulled ALL the screws out so i could countersink all the holes because i couldnt find my countersink when i first started assembling it, mounted the fan, and drank lots of cappuccinos


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## Reptiles&Fish (Apr 22, 2012)

If putting fans, make sure to put one as a exhaust on on side and on the other side the intake. And I'd still put mesh where those fans are and where the heat lamps go. Crazy crickets -.-


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## AcidFear (Aug 19, 2012)

Any updates on this enclosure? Thinking about getting a bearded dragon and building one for myself


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

Only thing I've done since I last posted was put the rails on for the glass and cut all the tile for the bottom


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