Enclosures continued, and new project...7/21/2020 No more minimums say I... So before I continue with the enclosure discussion I thought I'd take a few minutes to show you just one example of what going beyond the minimums can look like. The enclosure below was initially built for ackies which I no longer have. I've been wanting to put something new in this enclosure for a good while now, and while I would've loved to put a pair of rock monitors or more ackies in this enclosure that is simply not in the cards for me right now. But I thought to my self, what else could fit comfortably inside this enclosure that I would enjoy keeping? I considered several species initially; frilled dragons, rock monitors, storrs or ackie monitors, green keeled belly lizards, tree skinks, and even Nicaraguan spiny tailed iguanas, but in the end I could not afford rock or storrs monitors, I have very little knowledge of keeled belly lizards, spiny tailed iguanas and frilled dragons are just too flighty, and I kept coming back to an old favorite. I've wanted for years to do a sem-arboreal set up for bearded dragons as I feel most keepers don't give their dragons room to climb as they assume they won't use it. In the wild beardies are often found on fallen trees or in the lower branches of trees and shrubs. I think it'll be interesting to see how they do in an enclosure with more climbing opportunities. So as I started to look I came across these two beautiful dragons produced by Kevin Dunne at Dragons Den Herpetoculture. I quickly inquired about their availability as surely they'd be promised to someone else already, but not they were not, score! I had some remodeling to do to the enclosure since it's last use such as replacing the old UVB bulb with a new one, cleaning the substrate to a reasonable degree, rearranging the cage decor so that it made sense for a bearded dragon, etc. So arrangements were made to have the animals shipped next Monday for overnight Tuesday July 27th arrival. I made the orders I needed to make for the supplies I needed to get and went today to Lowes to grab some rocks and an LED for ambient light in the enclosure..... Surprise... Well as I'm leaving lowes with some plants and rocks and the light I get a text message from FedEx stating my package from Oceanside, Ca is ready for pickup at the main hub? The only person shipping me any thing from Oceanside that I'm aware of isn't supposed to do so for another full week. Needless to say I was caught a little off guard and after a couple of phone calls to Kevin we sort out what happened and it was an honest mistake, but they are in fact here in Las Vegas and ready to be picked up. So today was a flight of the bumblebee mad dash to get the enclosure liveable (at least for a few days), and now I have 2 wonderful new dragons. It'll do for now... As stated this enclosure isn't finished as I have new basking and UVB bulbs from Arcadia being shipped in, but you get the gist of it from these photos I'm sure. By the way, Arcadia produces the absolute best reptile light and heating products on the market. The light you see in the center is just a 150 watt equivalent Led light to brighten the enclosure for both the dragons and the plants; it provides a very minor amount of ambient heat. I do this because bearded dragons do best in very well-lit enclosures. It'll get a little brighter still when the arcadia lights come in. The plants are elephant bush which is a non-toxic edible succulent, and yes that is sand at the bottom. It's actually a mix of different sands and other soils about 20 inches deep with a red clay/sand combination for the top layer which stays crusty. The bottom two dragons are mine and the top one belongs to a friend. We agreed to split the shipping cost ordering these from Dragons Den at the same time, and she'll be taking hers home next week after her enclosure arrives. The mercury vapor bulb is getting swapped for an arcadia basking flood and t5 high output 14% dragon bulb. As of right now the basking spot surface temp is about 120 degrees F; the coolest spot is about 85 during the day, and ambient temps vary between the two throughout the enclosure depending on the height and shade. Yes your bearded dragons will climb if you give them the opportunity, and this cage is what I would consider adequate for an adult pair at 48"x30"x30" sitting ontop of a 70 gallon trough for substrate (trough optional). There is a third fixture on the right that I can use to stick a second light in for an additional basking spot or for a night time heat lamp during the winter if it becomes necessary. I used the white landscaping deco rock (after rinsing thouroughly) around the edge of the tub first to keep them kicking sand into the glass tracks, and second to give them something to file their nails on. I'm looking for a good grass type plant to put in the bottom but I haven't found a suitable species yet.
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