Clay's Giant Enclosure Build!

[etclement]

Thursday, July 6th
Tomorrow is my last day until I leave for a week. Unfortunately, the hydroponics store I was planning in getting soil from closed for good, so now I have no clue where to get it! Today I finished the cage build by installing the drainage.

 

[etclement]

Saturday, July 8th
On my way to Colorado!

 

[Longhorn1234]

How is this coming along? Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?

What are the dimensions of the lumber you used to build the frame?
Also, what polywall did you use?

 

[etclement]

It is done, just got it done a day or so ago. The dimensions for framing are 3x1 and the rest is 2x1.

 

[etclement]

Here are some photos

 

[Longhorn1234]

I saw you put plywood for the bottom of the cage. Did you also use plywood for the frame of the cage and then the polywall on top of the plywood? Or did you just use polywall?

It looks great!

 

[etclement]

Thanks, for the back I just used polywall because it is pretty rigid but plywood couldn't hurt. For the bottom I used pond liner and used the plywood for support.

 

[Longhorn1234]

Where did you buy the polywall?
Also, I see that you have some screen/mesh on the sides of the enclosure on top of the polywall? Is there a particular reason for this?

 

[etclement]

The polywall was from Home Depot, and the mesh is stapled to the boards behind the polywall, I used it to zip tie things to

 

[Longhorn1234]

Nice. Do you have any problems with ventilation? Do the screen doors and top provide enough ventilation for the chameleon and the soil? I've read that the soil could stink if not provided with enough ventilation so I'm just wondering what your experience is so far. I'm fairly new to this so I'm just trying to learn as much as I can haha

 

[etclement]

I'm sure this cage has more ventilation than most reptile enclosures out there, and this will be bioactive, so hopefully no stink.

 

[Longhorn1234]

Awesome. Thanks for answering the questions!

 

[Longhorn1234]

Sorry to bother you again, but would you mind sharing a picture of your lights?

 

[etclement]

Kinda hard to get a good picture of lights but I have 1 4ft 4 bulb T8 fixture w/ 5000 kelvin led bulbs, 2 22" desert UVB T5HO bulbs by lightyourreptiles, and a 100w Megaray Uvb/Heat flood light.

 

[Longhorn1234]

I understand.
I've seen that 6500K is recommended for grow bulbs, but you're using 5000K. Is this because you're using 4 bulbs? I would assume that 6500K is recommended because most keepers would only be using 1 grow bulb, if any, in addition to a UVB and basking light. Please correct if I'm wrong haha.

Also, did you not end up using the Jungle Dawn LEDs?

 

[Nibbz]

Looks really good! Great job!

 

[etclement]

It really doesn't matter as long as it's between 5000-7000 or something like that. I used 5000k by suggestion of someone who knows a lot more than me about large cages, but anywhere in sunlight temp should work.