Our **new** enclosure

[lovinglewis]

Needless to say I have been at work making Chance's new enclosure. It is done and cost me nothing!! How?? I now use my rug as a closet. I knocked down my old one, and ta- da turned it iguana-friendly!!!! Have a look!!!




And here's "Chance" trying it out (please keep in mind he is recovering from MBD, fungus, and a broken limb, his treatment seems to be going SPECTACULAR, however he may not seem up to par)

[IguanaKing]

Wow!!! That habitat looks great! Chance looks like he's recovering really well...and yes, Chance DEFINITELY looks like a "he".

P.S. About the second pic: I thought the song went "Chance is waiting at the bottom of the stairs", not the top, hehe.

[prism_wolf]

I am seriously impressed!! Kinda hard to hang clothes off the carpet though...

That is one very lucky ig!

[EsotericComposer]

Wow indeed. I hope that in a year I'll be able to build something as beautiful andi mpressive. Just buy one of those roller closets. And use dressers =P

[lovinglewis]

Thanks guys!!!

Oh my goodness i should have snapped a photo of what my room looks like now...... there is junk everywhere!!! A billion clothes (I'm a girl so you can only imagine!!) But it was way worth it Chance is eating after his first day in the new enviroment, that's a good sign!! LOL Chance is ALWAYS at the top of the stairs around here! The climbing logs were easy, I found em around the neighborhood and bleached them with clorox and sun bathed them. Like the kitty blanket LOL I guarentee I will find poop on it!!!!! And the iguana beenie is an added bonus

Hey iguana king thanks for re assuring me. I honeslty can't tell one way from another, but his previous "owner" said he was a boy!!

[mar]

Looks good but I am going to have to be negative and point out a few electrical problems.

Those wires hanging there are an invitation to climb which will start to pull plugs out and lamps down. You have his clamp lamp unprotected and sitting on the same shelf as he basks on -- burn and breakage issues.

(why am I writing this without my glasses, I cant read it without leaning forward drastically)

Few solutions.
1) switch to using a spring loaded arm type desk lamp for the incandescent light bulbs. Screw the base into the wall and swing it so it is above a spot on the shelf.

2) use wire holders to fasten the cables to the wall -- a bag of the plastic ones which have two nails that go into the wall is less than $1 or I use a black binder clip which I fasten to the wall with a screw and washer.

3) I am a big fan of black plastic coil type wire wrap. It wraps around wires to make them a single cord. 10 feet of it is $3 at Radio Shack.

---- edited, I decided to get some coffee, put glasses on, and run this through spell check

[Merlin]

Very impressive! Its amazing how inventive ig owners can be!
I have to agree with Mark. Those cords can present a hazard.
Over all though its a great job!

[prism_wolf]

I am going to have to be negative

It's called "offering constructive criticism"... ;D. And very good points I might add! I'm surprised the rest of us didn't catch those hazards....

[WillemsMom]

LovingLewis, I'm glad to see you back, too and what a great creative idea! You are very generous to give Chance your closet and you made him a beautiful home. I've been wanting to give Willie some more big logs, but couldn't figure out how to do it. Thanks for the tip.

[lovinglewis]

I definitely knew the lamps causing hazrds. I snapped the photo 2 seconds after completion. At the time I didn't have any materials and wanted to keep him warm. To tell you the thruth, that lamp is warm to the touch, not hot like the silver metal ones. My main concern are the hanging wires. I will definitely fix the issues. As of right now everything is smoothly. He has 3 basking areas. of course he chose the shelf with the clamp lamp.

Mark,

I am writing down the supplies you just suggested and will purchase them tonight if the store is still open. Thank you for helping me. The problem with the spring loaders is that some of my bulbs are high watt some infared , i don't think it would hold 150 watt but maybe!! I will look into that. What you are seeing are two cords and two vines. The vines do look like cords though. Anywho, when I finish making the home safe, I will snap a photo. Thanks for all your input and hello to merlin and willems mommy :-)

[mar]

I would not go any higher than 75W in the desk lamp but I have taken a liking to them as white light sources.

I mounted mine on a wall and was able to cast light where ever I wanted. Do not put it in a place where it can be climbed on. My first one I had over my desk and Bob jumped on it one too many times and it, the lamp hinge not the bulb, broke.

The IR bulb SHOULD ONLY BE IN A CERAMIC BASE and then only placed in a position where it can't be touched. Is there an over head light in the closet? You could easily replace the lamp base of the over head light with a ceramic giving you a solid mounting place for a heat source.

Using a spring lamp allows you to easily point light where ever in the cage then be able to expect it to stay there.

How do you have UV setup in there?

[lovinglewis]

Tonight was duck tape night

I couldn't get to a store on time so I went duck and electrical tape crazy to move the wires out of the way by sticking on walls and doors. I also have some mounting tape that mounts up to 2 pounds, maybe I'll play with that tonight too.The lamp itself I am still temporarily having issues with to get it away from him. I only saw him near it once. But still I am aware of the hazards there.

I have 3 hoods with ceramic (bases?) I alternate. I have a day glo, sun glo, powerSun, night glo. I also use a plug in box heater outside his enclosure at night (for me too because its cheaper than radiators I just recently burned out my Pearlco cermaic heat emmitter which lasted a year. Lewis mostly used that. I also have a vicks humidifier I use to humidify the enclosure a twice a day which I am impressed with. 15 bucks for a steamy humid jungle happy iguana. Beats the humidifers or foggers you pick up for twice as much just because theres a picture of a reptile on the box. I do not have an over head light source, but I am thinking about making it that way.

Taking care of iguanas? A cinch $$$$

[mar]

There are instances where I think a space heater is a great heat source. If it is fully located in the cage and caged off from the iguana it can be great. It has the thermostat integrated to it and does not need to be in close proximity to the iguana.

If your power sun is the 150 W model it should be fine as the basking heat source while the space heater maintains ambient and night time temps, nothing else necessary.

With the hot steam humidifier: I found mine only have a life of about 18 months and needed a vinegar bath weekly. After killing three I moved to a pump sprayer, but you are right don't waste money shopping at a pet store.

Now a confession of an engineering college student: I hate duct tape. Expect it to fail soon as it was never meant to be used and it is a very poor tool/solution. Nothing can be fixed well and in a manner that lasts with Duct Tape.