My temporary/emergency cage. Input?

[GTSLOW]

So I rescued a male veiled from Craigslist yesterday. Please bear with me because he was living in a 10G aquarium. This disaster also had some type of dark reptile night light as his primary source of UVA/UVB, there was no water source period, and the cage was filled with lawn mulch.

I ordered a large cage from a vendor on here as well as all the other essentials. But of course they wont arrive until Friday/Saturday. Was planning on cleaning out the 10G aquarium and trying to make it as good as possible. Well at 830PM last night I couldn't take it. So I made a quick trip to Lowes and came up with this $20 cage. It's 24" tall and has a 16" diameter. The pan on the bottom is a clear tray used for outdoor plants and holds up to 2 gallons. The plant on the bottom was on the FLChams safe list (has river rock around the soil and was well rinsed). The branches were from my back yard and were correctly sanitized, baked, and all that fun stuff. I think I went to bed around 3AM to a very happy looking Ziggy!

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Nicely done! That's an excellent temporary setup.

 

[GTSLOW]

Gonna swing by CVS at lunch time to pickup a cool mist humidifier.

 

[spottea]

Wow, great job! Plus, thank you for rescuing him from an awful environment. I'm sure your slept well after all that. Please send more pics when your new cage comes in. Love seeing the little rescues get better and better.

 

[MelissaB]

I love how you improvised, and got him out of that fish tank. Great job on his temp set up. I can't wait to see how you do his permanent home.

 

[carol5208]

So glad you rescued him! Is your light a combo uva/uvb? Seeing that he was not exposed to uvb properly are you sure he does not have any MBD? Can you post some close up pics of him?

 

[GTSLOW]

So glad you rescued him! Is your light a combo uva/uvb? Seeing that he was not exposed to uvb properly are you sure he does not have any MBD? Can you post some close up pics of him?

Yes I will absolutely get some pics of him up when I get home from work. I'm not sure what MBD but considering he's never had a real light, cage, etc... it's a high possibility. Also that light is just a heat/UVA. I pulled my UVB light from one of my turtle tanks to help him out today (those lazy bums sit under it so much they wont miss it). His 18" UVB fixture/light is on the way along with the rest of his stuff.



Also on a more heartbreaking side there were 3 other female veiled there in the same conditions. The malnutrition was so bad that their mid sections were actually skinnier than their shoulders!!!! I picked him because fortunately he was a male and the healthiest/highest chance of survival.

 

[Marshmallows mom]

So happy that you rescued the lil guy! Im sure he will be happier with you. You did a great job on the ER cage! Keep up the awesome work!

 

[modernjamie]

I really like your temporary setup. It's very clever that you used the plant pot saucer as a base! Honestly I like your cage more than the rectangular screen cage. It would be perfect if it had a door attached! Really impressive job you did...with the temporary cage and also rescuing a chameleon.

 

[GTSLOW]

Almost forgot:

BEFORE:

Temp AFTER:

 

[GTSLOW]

I really like your temporary setup. It's very clever that you used the plant pot saucer as a base! Honestly I like your cage more than the rectangular screen cage. It would be perfect if it had a door attached! Really impressive job you did...with the temporary cage and also rescuing a chameleon.

I wish I could find this stuff with smaller holes. I think with this you'd always have to hand/cup feed or the crickets would possibly escape. They have 36" tall stuff as well.

 

[Djturna4thakidz]

Great job! I bet he is much happier.

 

[GTSLOW]

So glad you rescued him! Is your light a combo uva/uvb? Seeing that he was not exposed to uvb properly are you sure he does not have any MBD? Can you post some close up pics of him?

Ok I searched around on MBD. Looks like a severe lack of calcium/UVB causes the bones to go soft or break easily? The pictures I saw were of very bad looking limbs. He's good in that regards or at least everything is straight, no swelling, or anything like that.

 

[melble68]

GT you keep up the good work. I can see your rescued veiled smiling ear to ear now that he's in your care. Keep up your research and you both will do just fine. You are going to find yourself messing, adding, and tweeking your enclosure(s) on a regular basis. I'm a huge live plant fan. the more the merrier. There are tons of great pinned threads here showing some great enclosures, drainage systems, and drip systems. Get creative and have fun. Welcome to the forum.