Critter condo

[ShadowRancher]

So last night I decided it was time to let Levi at his brand new house I figured all the seedlings I planted were pretty tall and would do ok, FALSE. In his old house I switched out trays of grass seedlings and they always lasted awhile fine but apparently veggie seedlings are way tastier and he demolished half of them. So I planted some more things and put up a bit of screen so he can still hang in his new house but the plants get a moment of peace...this time I'll wait until they all have a few true leaves.

Without further ado, the critter condo.

Levi is in the middle, my hedgie is on the top, the bottom is storage and my beardie lives on the floor.

And just for fun, being a couch potato

 

[Ksanroman]

Do you cut out holes for the lights?

 

[Floof]

Very nice arrangement.

Does your beardie have a dedicated habitat? They can get into a lot of trouble if simply allowed to free-roam, plus the floor of your house isn't going to be nearly warm enough for a dragon. It is also incredibly difficult to ensure your reptile is getting the proper UVB lighting if you can't ever even assure he goes under his basking light when you aren't there to watch. And if the cat is allowed in the room... Well, they tend to look at things like bearded dragons as something yummy to eat.

I personally wouldn't ever let my dragon free-roam... With my luck, he'd wind up eating something off the floor, getting impacted, developing a respiratory infection from the cold temperatures, ignore his basking area and consequently have his MBD come back with a vengeance and then some, develop a serious parasitic infection because his body is too stressed and weak to keep some innocuous worm from a cricket subdued... That is if he didn't get trampled/eaten by the mammals first, or knock something over and get smashed.

Maybe I have a bit of an overactive imagination, but all of these are real concerns when letting any reptile pet free-roam. All of these considerations are the same reasons we never recommend letting a tortoise free-roam your house, either. You found your way here, to ensure you're giving your little Levi the best care, so I assume you were as diligent when researching your dragon's care needs when you got him. So I'm curious how and why you decided he should live on your floor?

Sorry for going OT... But, from one doting beardie mommy to another, I'm rather concerned for your dragon's well-fare...

 

[ShadowRancher]

Do you cut out holes for the lights?

Yeah sorry I didn't get a good pic of the top...I'm still fiddling with the light and CHE configuration, those stupid clamps are such a pain, but there is a rectangle cut out of the lid just wide enough for 2 lamps.

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Very nice arrangement.

Does your beardie have a dedicated habitat? They can get into a lot of trouble if simply allowed to free-roam, plus the floor of your house isn't going to be nearly warm enough for a dragon. It is also incredibly difficult to ensure your reptile is getting the proper UVB lighting if you can't ever even assure he goes under his basking light when you aren't there to watch. And if the cat is allowed in the room... Well, they tend to look at things like bearded dragons as something yummy to eat.

I personally wouldn't ever let my dragon free-roam... With my luck, he'd wind up eating something off the floor, getting impacted, developing a respiratory infection from the cold temperatures, ignore his basking area and consequently have his MBD come back with a vengeance and then some, develop a serious parasitic infection because his body is too stressed and weak to keep some innocuous worm from a cricket subdued... That is if he didn't get trampled/eaten by the mammals
first, or knock something over and get smashed.

Maybe I have a bit of an overactive imagination, but all of these are real concerns when letting any reptile pet free-roam. All of these considerations are the same reasons we never recommend letting a tortoise free-roam your house, either. You found your way here, to ensure you're giving your little Levi the best care, so I assume you were as diligent when researching your dragon's care needs when you got him. So I'm curious how and why you decided he should live on your
floor?

Sorry for going OT... But, from one doting beardie mommy to another, I'm rather concerned for your dragon's well-fare...

No worries those were all concerns that I took very seriously when I made the transition. She had a large hommade plexiglass tank for awhile but I had her out so much and let her roam supervised for so long that both of us came to resent it when she went back in...she would do the tail flip thing like mad trying to get away before I would put her back. This was about five years ago that I started her transition to free range. I dragon proofed my room (a different one than my current buti took the same precautions here) basically nothing smaller than a soccer ball is on my floor, ever (I'm a bit OCD so it wasn't much of a change). At first I just took a side off her old house but she would never go in it to warm up or eat or anything so I put cage carpet on a large plastic tub lid and put a heating pad btwn the carpet and the plastic and set up her lights around and I'd say she spends about 60% of her day in her corner under the lights or in her pie plate cum water dish (she love chasing greens around in the water and "catching" them). At my parents when this first started I had a carpeted floor and she was near the warm register since I moved to wood floors I bought a large rug (I was on a cleaning spree when I was taking the above pic so the rug was outside airing and I hadn't put her lights back up yet) with a low pile she cant eat and I put a twin sized heating blanket under that I turn on in the cold, so she has at least some warm floor to roam on. This is in addition to my space heater that has an element and fan that are elevated a foot above the floor so she can't touch them.
As for the cat, he is a rather new development and only allowed in my room rarely and supervised...as an extra precaution I purposely let them in the same room and squirted him whenever he got near her when he was a kitten. Now he is loath to be anywhere near the evil water breathing dragon

Sorry that was a bit of a ramble but I always get a bit side tracked with anecdotes when I talk about my animals But hydra seems happy and healthy, I may have let her bully me into letting her go free range but I don't think I've let it effect her health or wellbeing and your concern is appreciated. I've also discussed my setup with my exotics vet and he said it sounded like it covered her needs (he has actually treated her as well, she had a mouth abscess from a super worm bite, apparently I failed to properly behead the damn thing).

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I just noticed I had put the rug back for the top pic, it just doesn't have the heating blanket under it yet and it's scooted out of the way

 

[lynnedit]

I am no dragon expert, but it sure looks healthy.
I really like your xmas tree boxes and the set up!

 

[dmarcus]

Very nice, job well done...

 

[Floof]

Sounds like a very well-thought-out arrangement. I'm glad. I'm still not a fan of free-roaming beardies, lol, but, if it's going to be done, it looks like you've figured out how to do it right!

(As for the abscess... Just one more thing to add to the list of reasons I hate super worms, lol! I had my own bad experience with them--my baby boy almost got impacted once from eating a few too many... That plus their poor nutrition... Blech! I think I'll stick to my dubia roaches... heh)

By the way, I love the giant feeding/basking tile, and that you gave your sully such a massive water dish! I bet he loves that. I know my Leo is in and out of his water all the time!

 

[ShadowRancher]

Thanks guys! I was pretty proud.

Floof- that was the last superworm she ever ate, never again.