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Post by Diane on Aug 15, 2005 17:06:42 GMT -8
My personal experience with Narcy's cage has made me wish that i had not made his top shelf quite so tall. If i want to get to him when he is up there, i have to stand on a small step stool and even then he is still up higher than me. When he is in this 'superior position' he is of course most uncooperative! He has a tendancy to want to resist me and be more aggressive when he is up higher than me. . . .which i believe is very normal.
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Post by Merlin on Aug 15, 2005 17:22:43 GMT -8
I would make the back angled piece just solid and put the windows in the front angle and the front itself. This will give the basking shelf a bit more seclusion if the ig wants a little privacy. You have to keep in mind that the more glass or plexi you have the more snalt splatters you are going to have to clean or the cage will quickly look nasty. In a completly enclosed habitat like this you need to put in a couple of air vents on each side. Also I would not put the shelf higher than you can see into. As you said you don't want to have to blindly stick your hand up there trying to find the lizard only to have the lizard find YOU! Some of us tend to forget that everyone isn't 6 ft tall! My wife is 5'2" so I get reminded of it... CONSTANTLY!
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Post by IguanaKing on Aug 15, 2005 18:09:20 GMT -8
I don't know that being higher than you is a position of superiority as much as it is a position of safety. An iguana will have a natural tendancy toward resisting being moved from a position in which he feels safe. But, I guess every ig has their own, individual personality. When Hercules is higher than me, he definitely puts up a fight against being moved, but I wouldn't really call it aggression. At these times, he never tries to bite OR tail whip. If I'm higher than him, on the other hand, he will sometimes do either or both of these things. What Merlin and LP say about shelf height is absolutely correct though, no matter how much you trust your iguana, you should NEVER blindly reach to find them. I'm sorry I wasn't clear on that before, but, even with Audrey, I ALWAYS establish mutual visual contact first. That way I know where she is (and where her teeth are ), and, more importantly, she knows where I am so I don't surprise her and trigger a defensive response.
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Post by LotharsPeople on Aug 16, 2005 2:56:48 GMT -8
Viva, Another thought about help keeping the cost down. I am using recycled tempered glass in my habitat, it sure was a lot cheaper than buying new and it also helps the environment. In my case I picked up some old sliding patio doors (cedar framed) and removed the frames. Up here, in Canada, they are made with double pain insulated glass. I simply separated the panes from the insulated edge with a razor knife and ended up with 8 pieces of 32" x 74" glass. I picked them up for $30.00, if purchased new it would have been $1000.00. Not a bad deal for a couple of hours work. P.S. Make sure you use tempered glass and not just ordinary glass. Tempered is much stronger and if it does break, it breaks into small cubes which are much safer for your Ig and any people around the area.
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Post by kevman on Aug 16, 2005 3:26:27 GMT -8
I would suggest using tempered glass. I've notice since I built my cage that plexiglass scratches over the weakest things.
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Post by Diane on Aug 16, 2005 3:55:32 GMT -8
Ok, maybe superior was the wrong word to use IK! ;D he is just harder to get control of as you stated with Hercules when he is up higher than me. And Narcy being Narcy, he's big, mean and nasty tempered no matter what shelf he is on!! Although (prior to vacation) I think he was actually getting the idea that if he went to his lower shelf and waited patiently i would come over and pet him for a long time. . . .then he would scamper directly back up to the top shelf! Nice and safe from big bad mommy!
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Post by Diane on Aug 16, 2005 3:57:27 GMT -8
Thank you for recycling!
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Post by Diane on Aug 16, 2005 3:58:58 GMT -8
both plexiglas and acrylic will stratch very easily. Plexi will yellow over time where as acrylic will not.
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Post by IguanaKing on Aug 16, 2005 5:07:02 GMT -8
Yup...I'm using Lucite at the moment and it scratches very easily. Unfortunately, the usual reason for cleaning it is what scratches it. Dried up snalt makes a very good abrasive. ;D If you do use a material like Lucite, either double-up the sheets, or see if you can find some that is at least 1/4" thick. This might become an important factor when the ig gets bigger. Hercules already broke a Lucite window in his habitat. Heh...it almost looked like he was TRYING to break the window before he actually did. He was hanging from the top ledge of his cage by his hands, and swinging back and forth, kicking the window. Well...he finally broke it, and I went in there to find him with half his body sticking out of the hole he made with a look on his face like "Hey dad...look what I did!!!" ;D Diane, Herc was acting big and bad yesterday when he was on the floor. I guess he thought I was chasing him or something because he inflated, cocked his tail, and started hatchet-walking toward me. Whew...I'm glad I was able to talk him out of it since he has actually made a couple of holes in hollow core doors with his tail whips.
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Post by LotharsPeople on Aug 16, 2005 9:52:11 GMT -8
Both Lucite and Plexiglass scratch easily as mentioned, it's also a heck of a lot pricier than recycled tempered glass. The only real downside to tempered glass is you better make sure you find the glass first and build to accommodate it as it cannot be cut to fit your existing openings. With a little planning and foresight, the build will go a lot smoother.
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Post by viva4eternity on Aug 16, 2005 18:56:36 GMT -8
Well I really don't know the difference between the glasses, but this will make sense to my dad. I'll tell him about the types your guys recomend. Thanks for that too everyone by the way! We hope to be starting Iggy's cage soon, but as my dad works a full-time job, and is an on-call firefighter, AND I start school next week, time will be limited, so it might take a bit to finish. We've got the cage pretty much planed out now, with the imput you guys have gave as well. One question though, what do you seal the wood with that's ig-safe? LothersPeople, As for the personality and style bit, hey, I'm a teenager. That's a given.
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Post by LotharsPeople on Aug 17, 2005 2:41:47 GMT -8
Viva, I am well aware of teenagers personality and style, I have a teenage niece. Oh ya, I guess I was one a while back. As for sealing the wood, you have a few options available.You can use a kid safe bathroom & kitchen paint (resists humidity & is scrub-able) or a water-based Urethane (also resists humidity & is scrub-able), it really depends whether you want a clear finish to show the wood or some color. There are also a number of different epoxies on the market, kind of overkill though. Good luck with the enclosure and the new school year.
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Post by viva4eternity on Aug 17, 2005 8:07:23 GMT -8
Thanks. I'll post pictures along the way.
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Post by SurvivorSteph on Aug 17, 2005 9:04:42 GMT -8
My husband found a "safety" glass at our local glass shop that was able to be cut, plus it was just $7 a square foot. Now that's not as cheap as $30 for a whole door, but at least you can cut it to fit. I'm not sure if it's a new glass or what, but he got it for a side window in our son's '57 Ranchero. So you may need to ask for flat automotive glass. Could I have made that ANY more confusing?? Here's my two cents on the shelf height issue: If your ig is male (sorry, I don't remember) then do NOT allow him to be higher than your head. He may be fine most of the time... but that horrible, I'm-gonna-eat-you-alive-breeding-season attitude will happen at some point, and having him comfortably in a position of "perceived" dominance will not be good. IMO, it's just better to continually and subtly (sometimes overtly) let our males know who's dominant... and it's NOT them! BTW... I really like Merlin's idea. And I'm very impressed with your parents for "allowing" the ig in the living room.
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Post by viva4eternity on Aug 17, 2005 12:56:15 GMT -8
My ig is too young to tell if he's male or female, so I have to prepare for the worse. Yeah, my dad is getting pretty attached to him. He actually was able to get him out of his cage the other day. (Well, before iggy croc-rolled and took off across the carpet.) Mom still doesn't like him much though, but she'll get use to him eventually. My dad just can't stand for any animal to be stuck up in a cage all day. We use to have this huge Blue and Gold Macaw, and even though the Alex (his name) hated males, my dad would still pick him up, get bit, put him back down, yell at him a bit, then pick him back up.
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