How to Build a Reptile Cage

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Updated 11-29-11

It's fun to build your own reptile terrarium. Creating an environment that you and your pet can enjoy can be very easy. Research your reptile's needs in order to understand how to make him or her feel at home. It is important to replicate his or her natural habitat. To start with, get an enclosure of the appropriate size. If you are good at carpentry you can build one out of wood. Be sure to put vinyl on the bottom to keep the wood from absorbing moisture from food,water and excrement. A glass aquarium is easiest to clean and see through. use a screen top so you can put the lighting on it and not worry about the heat melting anything. The substrate; coconut bark for a tropical animal, calcium sand or slate tile for a desert reptile, etc.; should be put in first. Then put in a hiding place such as a rock cave or a hollow log. Give them some rocks or sticks to clime on. If you collect these from outside make sure to soak them in bleach water. I usually put them in the bath tub with a half cup of bleach for a couple of hours. Then I rinse them and set them out in the sun to dry. I put the lighting above where I put the rocks and sticks to climb on to make a basking spot. Use a basking light for heat and a UVB light. Beware of the coiled compact bulbs as they can cause blindness from too much UV exposure. Putting all of this on one side allows space on the other side to place food and water, and also allows the reptile to thermal regulate by having different temps in different parts of the cage. An easy way to control your pets photo period is to have all of this on a timer.

To increase humidity if necessary a fogger will work. Some reptiles such as chameleons require water drippers to drink from because they won't drink from water that isn't moving. They also like vines with leaves to climb on and hide amongst. Once you've taken care of all of this then you can add some scenery. Some plastic or live plants, depending on what is suitable for your pet, more rocks, sticks or some fake vines. These will ad aesthetics as well as make your reptile feel more at home in it's environment.

To start out with it will be simplest to use a ten gallon aquarium for a baby dragon. The ten gallon makes it easier for the baby to catch it's live food. I use a forty breeder for an adult. I have found that the best substrate is slate tile that you can pick up at a hardware store. This is easy to clean and the dragons can't ingest it like they can sand. You'll typically put a half hollow log or build a rock cave on one side. If you use rocks from outside be sure to bleach them. When you stack them to make a cave be sure the dragon isn't able to knock them over. Above this I would put a stick big enough for the dragon to rest comfortably on. Above these I put the screen lid and lighting. You'll want to adjust the distance from the lighting to the basking spot and the wattage of the bulbs to get the right temperatures 100-110 degrees F for the basking spot 80-90 for the cool side. Night time temps can get into the 60's. On the cool side put the water and food bowls. Dragons don't always drink from bowls so daily misting and or an occasional bath in luke warm water is a good idea.