New cage ideas

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Posted by iwana on April 25, 2003 at 07:22:40:

In Reply to: What's up with Frasier the Veiled: Continued... posted by iwana on April 24, 2003 at 16:27:54:

Hi everyone,

Thanks again for all your ideas and suggestions, they are greatly appreciated!

I discussed this with my husband and we decided that given how much work would be involved to convert the present terrarium into an arboreal cage, that we may as well just build another cage and we could sell the old one to someone who has a terrestrial lizard.

We already have the lumber to build the frame, clip lamps and two PowerSuns that we could use. We're also going to keep all his branches and plants and will eventually add some real ones. All we would need to buy is the screen, which I think we can handle. :-)

I'm still having a hard time understanding how a tall screen cage will better hold humidity than an enclosed cage. Again, this completely goes against all my logic (and my husband's), but after reading so many caresheets online and realizing that not one of them recommends anything but all-screen cages, then there must be a reason for it. I wonder how that breeder's veiled managed to live so long. I think he actually kept it in a very large aquarium, with sand as a substrate!

Also, there is still the fact that Frasier was happy before and isn't now just because of some cosmetic changes. Logically, putting everything back the way it was before would solve the problem, but since this is a cage that my husband very quickly slapped together in one week-end and readily admits that he did a p*ss-poor job with his carpentry (LOL), the cage is an eyesore and we've been meaning to eventually build a nicer cage anyway.

We also realized that his current set-up uses up over 200 watts of energy, between fluorescent fixtures, ceramic element and basking light. We figure we could just use one of the 160W PowerSuns in the new cage, and we can easily fit it with the current misting system.

Since we will be using the same base (but shorten it a bit), we thought of making this cage 48" high, 48" wide and 18" deep. Do you think one PowerSun would be sufficient, or should we use two for such a large set-up? Or mebbe one PowerSun and one fluorescent?

Thanks again for all your help! Frasier will surely thank you. :-)

Julie

Follow Ups:

New cage ideas charm_paradise 04/25/03 (0)
I feel your pain.... icequeen 04/25/03 (0)