Cage you say read on . Please add anything I missed .

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Posted by Travis on March 22, 2001 at 23:28:10:

In Reply to: A question for those who take in Iguanas. Regarding housing posted by Lindsay on March 22, 2001 at 15:52:01:

Ok as far as all these expensive cages the cage does not have to be that expensive . Go to the hardware store get 8 3 way elbows for 1 inch PVC ( you can use bigger but don't go any smaller ) these will run you about 3 dollars each the get your pipe for a 4 * 4 * 7 foot cage you need 8 10 footers 4 dollars each The go to you garden store and get PVC coated hardware cloth this will vary in price the one I got last month was 42 $ for 50 feet . 4 elbows and 2 tee's for the door 8$ . 2 hinges 2 $ . ta da cage .

PVC pipe 8* 10 ' 32.00
PVC joints 34.00
PVC coated Mesh 50' 42.00 I have seen this as high as 75 $ a roll
hinges and latch 6.00

114.00

My iguana room has a vinyl floor so I do not put this in nor are shelves and such . A 4*4 piece of melamine could be had for around 15 dollars and makes a good bottom . I also like to use wire shelving 14 buck each and a snap to keep clean and they love to climb them .
Ok this is where you get the huge hole in your pocket .

Ok now comes the hard stuff . unless you have a room for iguanas heating and humidity is a pain in the A__ . The extras you need are .
1 UVB lights Repti sun 5.o is my fav and I have found no equal . 18.99 each in bulk up to 25 each .
2 Basking area I use flood lights Cheap easy to get and they last ( as long as you don't move them allot . 2 to 5 dollars each . Depending on the room your cage is in 1 might do or you may need more I use two over a nice piece of driftwood hanging from the roof .
3 Toys and climbing this is often overlooked but I think it is very important . Drift wood cat trees big ropes are great for this . Living on the water I get driftwood for free and I get the big rope from work ( rope aint cheap ) But the small rope around the 2*4 works great to . Also the above cage gives climbing area on all sides . Toys for one figure at least 50 bucks but 100 or more is more likely .
4 Water bowl I have always used rubbermaid dish buckets these are cheap around 5 bucks and very sturdy ( although I just bout a pond with fountain for 150.00 at Sams club although it is not together yet it is about 3*4*2 deep and comes with a BIG waterfall pumps and all in the box will post pictures when I get my card reader for my new Digital camera ) .
5 Humidity this to can be a pain depending on weather or not you have a room or not You can get a humidify anywhere from 10 to 100 bucks DONT GET THE STEAM ONES you can guess why .
6 Night heat again this comes under the do you have a room to spare or not . If you have a room on its own thermostat this is easy . If not well we need a heat source ( I have to add we DO NOT use kerosene heaters ( except in emergency winter outages ) gas heaters heat rocks candles or ANYTHING with a flame ) a CHE radiant heater are fine KEEPING in mind to keep all heaters out of direct contact with your iguana . this one ca go from 30 for a CHE to a few hundred for other . I would also like to add that you should NOT use any night time heat source that puts out visible light black blue green red or whatever .
7 This is the one that can sneak up and bite you in the A#$ . we call this the electric bill My wife says allot of bad words when we get ours .

So after that we got around 300 worth of stuff in the cage and 50to 100 for the electric co .
So we got 500 before anything is in the cage all this for a 10 dollar green lizard ? Are we nut's or what ?

I am sure I have missed something vets and food where left out because this was about cages .
I hope this help you in some way but it can go a long way to explain why people that do this never seem to have extra money . LOL

Travis

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: Ok as far as all these expensive cages the cage does not have to be that expensive . Go to the hardware store get 8 3 way elbows for 1 inch PVC ( you can use bigger but don't go any smaller ) these will run you about 3 dollars each the get your pipe for a 4 * 4 * 7 foot cage you need 8 10 footers 4 dollars each The go to you garden store and get PVC coated hardware cloth this will vary in price the one I got last month was 42 $ for 50 feet . 4 elbows and 2 tee's for the door 8$ . 2 hinges 2 $ . ta da cage . : PVC pipe 8* 10 ' 32.00 : PVC joints 34.00 : PVC coated Mesh 50' 42.00 I have seen this as high as 75 $ a roll : hinges and latch 6.00 : 114.00 : My iguana room has a vinyl floor so I do not put this in nor are shelves and such . A 4*4 piece of melamine could be had for around 15 dollars and makes a good bottom . I also like to use wire shelving 14 buck each and a snap to keep clean and they love to climb them . : Ok this is where you get the huge hole in your pocket . : Ok now comes the hard stuff . unless you have a room for iguanas heating and humidity is a pain in the A__ . The extras you need are . : 1 UVB lights Repti sun 5.o is my fav and I have found no equal . 18.99 each in bulk up to 25 each . : 2 Basking area I use flood lights Cheap easy to get and they last ( as long as you don't move them allot . 2 to 5 dollars each . Depending on the room your cage is in 1 might do or you may need more I use two over a nice piece of driftwood hanging from the roof . : 3 Toys and climbing this is often overlooked but I think it is very important . Drift wood cat trees big ropes are great for this . Living on the water I get driftwood for free and I get the big rope from work ( rope aint cheap ) But the small rope around the 2*4 works great to . Also the above cage gives climbing area on all sides . Toys for one figure at least 50 bucks but 100 or more is more likely . : 4 Water bowl I have always used rubbermaid dish buckets these are cheap around 5 bucks and very sturdy ( although I just bout a pond with fountain for 150.00 at Sams club although it is not together yet it is about 3*4*2 deep and comes with a BIG waterfall pumps and all in the box will post pictures when I get my card reader for my new Digital camera ) . : 5 Humidity this to can be a pain depending on weather or not you have a room or not You can get a humidify anywhere from 10 to 100 bucks DONT GET THE STEAM ONES you can guess why . : 6 Night heat again this comes under the do you have a room to spare or not . If you have a room on its own thermostat this is easy . If not well we need a heat source ( I have to add we DO NOT use kerosene heaters ( except in emergency winter outages ) gas heaters heat rocks candles or ANYTHING with a flame ) a CHE radiant heater are fine KEEPING in mind to keep all heaters out of direct contact with your iguana . this one ca go from 30 for a CHE to a few hundred for other . I would also like to add that you should NOT use any night time heat source that puts out visible light black blue green red or whatever . : 7 This is the one that can sneak up and bite you in the A#$ . we call this the electric bill My wife says allot of bad words when we get ours . : So after that we got around 300 worth of stuff in the cage and 50to 100 for the electric co . : So we got 500 before anything is in the cage all this for a 10 dollar green lizard ? Are we nut's or what ? : I am sure I have missed something vets and food where left out because this was about cages . : I hope this help you in some way but it can go a long way to explain why people that do this never seem to have extra money . LOL : : Travis

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