Thanks all. Zhaodi is doing quite well and we've made numerous changes to his habitat. That reptile carpet is great, I have an air intake source that also adds humidity, and I'm now flipping between a heat rock for when it's a little chilly and a UNIHeat custom pad we made (no electricity involved). My little one sits on me and is just the most magnificent creature. The skin under his chin...sorry for the ignorance, but whatever it's called, he stretches it out and sits there happy as a lizard could be. Hates going back to his housing.

About a month ago, I was driving home and saw someone tossed a 4 drawer dresser. Freecycling! That was fun getting into a Cavalier. Looks like a mouse made a home in it and chewed...and peed...in the bottom drawer. I'm not using the drawer and the rest is perfectly fine. Woo hoo! So that's my project now. I've checked out some of the other hosing y'all have and if I had another room, I'd convert it. I'm even considering converting my half bath (it has enough room for a tub, so it has enough room for a dragon house).

so, thank you everyone.

great find. I love converting old furniture into an enclosure. Saves lots of work and it usually looks neat.

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

Cant wait to see pics

__________________
MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

sounds cool. good luck!

__________________

yes i am a she ^_^

~My Babies~

1 Rosy Boa (male) Chaos
1 Snow Corn (male) Blizzard
1 Anertherystic Corn (male) Bullet
1 Senegal Parrot (male) Shadow
2 dogs (male) Spot and Bear

Do NOT use a heat rock!
They are notorious for malfunctioning and causing serious burns on animals. They also do nothing for heating the environment and so force the lizard to stay on it to be warm increasing the danger of a burn.
If the enclosure itself is not kept sufficiently warm the lizard will become ill.

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

yeah, I stopped using the heat rock. It was never in the enclosure all day, nor was it on all day. I was erked how the outside box said it was ok for dry AND humid environments, but the info inside the box said it was strictly for dry environments. Ummm. Ok???? It would take a dingdong to submerge it in water, which I know better. And I had tubing around the cord in the event the little one tried to bite the wire. Was a pain in the arse turning it on and turning it off, taking it out. Blech, wasn't worth the hassle. I'm struggling here because the incadescent bulbs dry the heck out of the enclosure hence dropping the humidity. I'm using some external humidity source to pump in humid air and I mist, and I cover, and I plant until the bugs become an issue. No more dirt for substrate. We've gone to paper towels and switch off to that reptile carpet. This weekend begins the work on the 4 drawer dresser and I'm building ventilation so hopefully I can keep it warm, humid (yet not too wet to keep the fungus in control) and dry.

BTW, Zhaodi was getting patchy spots and it turned up being crickets I let loose in his enclosure. Ok, lesson learned....they bite/try to eat your lizard.

Hats off to you guys for making this seem so simple. I have all sorts of animals, have taken in baby wild birds and tended to ill wildlife, but this little guy by far has been the toughest!

Before anyone gets freaked out about the lighting, he does have a UVB/UVA light source, by incadescent, I'm refering to the incadescent day bulb for heat, alternated with the infared heat lamp and the basking spot lamp.

But you would be amazed how many people would do things like that and never think about it!
Indeed! I worked at a wholesale pet supply and we had a big bin of crickets. Occassionally they would have a lizard get loose and find its way into the bin. Next morning there was nothing but a lizard skeleton! Thats why we tell folks to never just keep a bunch of crickets in the enclosure for "free feeding"!
We were all new at one time! Once you get all the details ironed out it gets easier!

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