When we first decided to enter the world of Bearded Dragons we did a lot of research first. Unfortunately we couldnt find a whole lot of info. and step by step instructions on how to properly build a beautiful, comfortable, yet affordable enclosure for our Dragons so we decided to build the best one we could and doccument it as we went. We hope you enjoy!
We first decided we wanted the enclosure to be aprox 48" long X 24" wide X 30"High, this is aprox 150 gallons with 8 square feet of floor space.
First we used 3/4" thick ply wood for the main enclosre cut down to four pieces.
The two sides were 24"long X 30" high,
The bottom was 48"long X 24" wide,
And the back panel was 30"high X 46.5" long
We then decided to use formica to cover all of the inside panels. This would make the wood waterproof and also easy to clean when serviceing the Dragons home. I saw that others painted their enclosures but I felt that formica would be both apealing to look at as well as a durable and more permanent. The down side is, this was the most expensive part of this project.
You will need a good strong adhesive for attaching the formica to the wood. Apply evenly on the wood and the back of the formica. Wait until both surfaces are tacky to the touch. The carefully attach the formica to the wood. One note: Always cut the formica LARGER then the size actually needed. Once you lay down the formica gently slide your hands around the surface to push out any excess adhesive.
Once you have attached your formica to the wood let it dry for at least 12 hours before attempting to trim the excess formica. To trim the famica you will need a router and a flush trim router bit. Set the router depth and let the berring walk around the woods surface, this will give you a perfect cut on the edges of the formica.
Here are my four pieces all trimed and ready to be glued and nailed.
I used liquid nails building adhesive and a brad gun to nail the walls together. Lay a thick bead of adhesive on the edges to be nailed. You may need some help from another person to get this together. Always use glue or adhesive to make sure you have a sturdy joint. Here is our box assembled.
Now it's time to build our shelves and basking spot. For this we used 3/4" plywood and styro foam sheets purchased from Home Depot. We cut mostly triangles out of the wood and built up the first corner and just kind of winged it from there. Then we cut the stryfoam into strips and used liquid nails adhesive to attach the foam to the ply wood.
Once the wood and stryofoam structure was complete we then applied tile grout over all the wood and foam. This part was time consuming
Gettin there!
First coat was applied and when it dried I was very unhappy with the look. The rocks looked good but there was no contrast at all between them. So I went out and got some charcoal colored grout. When I first applied it, it was way to dark and I thought I ruined the entire thing. Then my wife came down and started playing with it. While the dark grout was still wet we mixed up the sand rock grout and just dapped it on. Well because the dark stuff was wet while she padded on the clear it gave a very realistic look. And when it dried it looked even better. They really do look like real rocks now.
Now the background.
Here is the finished tank. I am really not to happy with how it looks in the picture. Once it is moved out of the basement I will take better pics of it.
The final steps included spraying the entire rock set up with poly urathane. This gave the rocks a smmoth shiney look, it also darkened it all up a bit as well. Once that was complete then I got window tracks from Home depot, installed the glass and finished the outside with oak. The last step was applying poly urathane to the entire exterior of the enclosure.
One down one more to go! We will be building another one that will go under this enclosure. This one will house two female dragons and the lower one will house our male. I will begin the next one sometime next week so check back for updates!
