Hello again, my dear friends!

To get you up to speed... the original thread has been removed but here are the images from the beginning: m3ki - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Here's original text of the first post.
"I am a happy new owner of a 10 month old Chinese Water Dragon looking of an inspirations and suggestions from the community

I have been lurking around the site and very glad to have finally become a member!

I am planning on starting building a new home for my Chinese Water Dragon since the one I purchaced from Exoterra (45cmx45cm) seems to be too small.

1. I will use Pooka's project as a model except it will be 5 feet wide by 2 feet deep by 4 feet tall. (a bit smaller). Most likely I will use white melamine as material.
2. My first question is: I was told that melamine will absorb the humnidity over time. Should I apply 1 coat of Epoxy Resine to seal the insides? If so Could you please suggest Brand name? Where to get it? (I am in Montreal Canada) and How do you use Epoxy Resine properly ?

3. I am VERY inspired by kriminaal's fake background from 'Dwarf monitor enclosure'

4. kriminaal could you please give me an insight on how will the background like that behave under very high humidity conditions? such as Chinese Water Dragon ?


5. I will be integrating a misting sytem and automatic heating systems as well I will keep everybody posted with pix later.

I am planning on starting this project in couple of weeks.

PS
I am very concerned with building the Background it will be used on all 3.5 walls of the enclosure. Could anybody help out with steps on how to apply the coats properly so they would not break down under high humidity and claws ?"

I really encourage everybody to read the original thread to get up to speed with the project... there are TONNS of pix to see .


So once you are done reading the post check these out:
I have finally started making the background of the enclosure.
it will be as high as it is shown on the picture.
right above the background there will be two shelves on the left and right sides of the cage and sinse the lighting will be installed inside of the enclosure ii want to avoid dragons actually climbing up and burning themselves. This is the main reason there will be no climbable wall on the second "floor" of the enclosure.

The background is being made out of styrofoam....

it took me a while to realize that I should use a torch and a heated knife to carve through the foam


This is the waterfall to be made















Let's get this thread going again.

nice! I like how you used foam to make the waterfall. I may steal that when constructing my fire belly toad enclosure.

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

You should check out the original thread.... you may learn a lot of interesting things from my mistakes it also has all materials and things I used to make this enclosure!

Cool! I will be very interested to see the finished project!

__________________
Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Hey Meki where you been man? Looks like you took some time off--slacker(just kidding). Looks like your a pro at it already. Good stuff.

__________________
Mike
"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you." - Mother Teresa

Hehe....

I have been a bit busy with some other issues + i was trying to figure out how to make the background.

I may need some suggestions on lighting, and humidifying system.

I had some hard time with finding the tubes to use for sprinklers. I may use the humidifier after all.

So my questions are
1. How many Lamps do I need ? I am thinking 2 Baskin lights, 1 Heat Lamp + UVB Tube.

2. What humidifier can I attach to 2 inch plastic tube to get the steam to the enclosure?

Igor.

PS

I ll try not to slack off anymore

my water dragon cage is about the same size and we have,
4' repo 5 uvb stripe light
1 ceramic bulb 100w
1 infered bulb 70w
pics are in VIV PICS

I'm actually glad you're not rushing through it. Take your time and do it right. If you use a mvb you'll be able to incorporate a uv tube light and a basking light into one. As far as the humidifier hookups. You can use any of them. You'll just have to use your head to silicone an outlet onto it. Keep up the good work Igor. It's looking good.

__________________
Mike
"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you." - Mother Teresa

Allright....

Another weekend - another update !


I had a chance to install a pipe for the humidifier make some additions to the background and make couple of shelves above the background for basking.

Here's the view of the background, a little house/cave for retreat,(it is positioned over the digbox) and you can also see the pipe that you can close which is used for the humidification later.


Here you can see the entire background. Should I make the basking shelves larger?


Right side/right shelf.


Better view of waterfall and the right side.


Left Shelf and the humidifier pipe.


Some more of the cave.


More



What do you think???

Also, should I make basking shelves larger?

PS
The shelves will be accessible either by climbing the wall or 2 huge branches in the middle.

That's going to be one awesome enclosure! I would suggest making shelves into corner shelves. It won't take up much more room but will give more surface area.

__________________
Mike
"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you." - Mother Teresa