# Tegu Vivarium



## Tegudude (May 22, 2014)

Hey guys,
I realize a tegu is not a dart frog or an amphibian of any sort, but this board has the most active discussion about vivariums in general and I am currently working on my first one. 

Started last month. I built a 4X8X4 Ft wooden enclosure with a 3' by 6' glass pane on the front. The access door is on one side. All wood has been covered in a thick clear epoxy like you see on bar counters. I still need to finish coating it. I will also seal all the edges with silicone. Since the tank is bigger than my doors, I have designed it to be modular and break down into 8-9 pieces/panels in case i ever move. 
Here is the cage as of now. I don't have the glass yet so the front is still off. 









Here is the front panel. The glass will slide into this 1/4" channel. The cabinet portion detaches for the glass to slide in. 


















The top of the cage has recessed lights for a cleaner look. I will admit they are not rated for high wattage like i am using, but they will be open to the air, and after multiple test runs of 12+ hours, they didn't get above a temperature I couldn't touch comfortably. I rewire the insides with heavier gage wire too. 

















The lights used are 375 watt infrared heating lamps (non -red) and a megaray Uv bulb 275 watt. Since my enclosure ceiling will be 3 feet above the substrate, I needed to find bulbs that could project at distances longer than the usual 18". The megaray UV is effective from 2-3 feet for my tegus needs, and the 375 watt heat bulbs hit target 100-110 on a black rock at 2-3 feet as well. I will have to finalize testing when everything is set up. 

















Will also have a lunar light cycle and a lightning bulb in the recessed cans. 

I will be using a 6 nozzle mistaking system along with a 5 head ultrasonic fogger I got from house of hydro for humidity control. 








I have a 5 gallon bucket with a bulkhead. the mister will be ran off of it, and the fogger head will sit on a float in the bucket too. I will use a small inline duct fan and 2-3" tubing to blow air/fog from the bucket into the terrarium. Ventilation will also be done via a 8” inline duct fan. 

All devices will be controlled by a ecozone vivarium 500 controller. This company is amazing and they are dedicated to their customers. Very quick responses. I was playing with the controller and it has TONS of options and customization available. 










I will be using three sensors. Two temperatures and one humidity/temp combo. This will let me know temps in my basking spot, middle of tank and cool end as well as humidity in the cool end. I plan on keeping it from 75% to 90% depending on season. 

I have also been working on a buttress root tree. i used 2" construction foam with great stuff, then coated it in a resurfacing concrete that has acrylic and is fiber reinforced. Tree is 3 feet high by 3.5 by 3.5'



















Also have been making Great stuff rocks. I drop real a real rock into slightly wet sand then take it out. This leaves a negative cavity. Then I fill the void with great stuff and remove the final piece. I saw off the excess and voila! 
Not a great pic but you get the idea. 










I plan on having 1.5 feet of substrate in the cage as Tegus love to burrow. 

I plan on putting my rocks on a foam background surrounding the buttress root tree with moss, vines and other rainforest items. There are also plans for a water feature but i need your guys input on how to do false bottoms or set up water cycle/ drainage for something like this.

Lastly, I have created a storm mode. I created a storm soundtrack from various rainforest sound effects. This goes on a sd card which plugs into a computer chip. This chip is triggered by a relay whenever my Mistking pump is activated. The sound plays for three minutes over computer speakers with a subwoofer. The sound is picked up by a Perfect Storm Controller that flashes a LED bulb in one of the recessed cans. Plans are to have every light in the terrarium go to 0% whenever the misters go off. This storm function will be toggle controlled in case I don't want a thunder storm 2-3 times a day. 

The black and white wires lead to the relay. These will be spliced into the pumps lines. Whenever the ecozone vivarium tells the pump to go off, it triggers the sound/ lights. There is also a manual push switch for triggering it on the spot. 









Here is a video 
CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO 

Questions
1.)	How do I go about building this If I want live plants? False bottom? Gravel, sand, soil? I do not want mulch for the top.
2.)	Will moss grow on my buttress root tree if it has drylok paint on it?
3.)	What about micro organisms and rolly polly bugs? What animals/insects can I use to help keep things cleaned up. What decomposers are good? 
4.)	What is a list of plants that are typically in a vivarium for regions like Columbia/Argentina?
5.)	Also, is the false bottom always supposed to have a few inches of water in it? Do people use a sump pump to pump that water back up for water falls? Are there any critters that could live under the false bottom, in the water and keep it clean or would I just filter it? Also, could I use some waterproof fixtures with sterilizing UV bulbs in the false bottom to prevent mold/ algae build up? 
6.)	What other animals (if any) could live along side a tegu? I was thinking a few anoles could be cool. If they get eaten it would suck but wouldn’t be the end of the world. 


Thanks guys! Updates as I go!


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## InvertaHerp (Mar 4, 2013)

I'd imagine a tegu would eat any cage-mate you gave it. It is my understanding that they are living trash compactors. Isopods and springtails are useful because they consume detritus and wastes


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## harrisbt (Feb 19, 2013)

I think crayfish could actually live under the false bottom and help clean up some waste, though you might have to feed them (and good luck finding bug-free crayfish). You might just want to get a big pond pump/filter system and circulate it that way.

Regions like Colombia/Argentina? That's half of South America. I'd look at others' (hobbyists, museums, zoos, etc.) enclosures to see what they've done and what plants they use. Go from there or get more specific with your geography rather than find a plant list for an entire continent (not to mention, the continent with the Amazon rainforest . . . )


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

FYI, your going to want to use something much sturdier than expanding foam and drylock for the structure of the cage. A tegu can shred it pretty easily via digging. I would highly suggest using some form of morter or concrete covering over the foam. 

Also you want the surfaces to be able to handle being able to be wire brushed as otherwise the urates can bind to the surface and be unremovable. 

Some comments 

Ed


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## Tegudude (May 22, 2014)

Just got back with the glass and got it put in. As far as Isopods and springtails go, do you ever need to worry about them overpopulating? The tree has Fiber reinforced acrylic concrete about a 1/4" coat all the way around. Should I do a second coat? If I paint dry lock on top of that, do you still think it would shred it? What would you recommend to coat concrete and give it color? maybe an epoxy?
Thanks Guys!

Front panel viewed from the back


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## harrisbt (Feb 19, 2013)

Depends on what you mean by "overpopulating". If they have food and space, they will eat and make babies. Find out what your limiting factor is (temperature? moisture? space? food? predation?) and use that to control population. 

If you add anoles like you said earlier, they could help curb population growth a little bit, or at least cull out the old and weak.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Tegudude said:


> Just got back with the glass and got it put in. As far as Isopods and springtails go, do you ever need to worry about them overpopulating? The tree has Fiber reinforced acrylic concrete about a 1/4" coat all the way around. Should I do a second coat? If I paint dry lock on top of that, do you still think it would shred it? What would you recommend to coat concrete and give it color? maybe an epoxy?


The background has to also be covered in something like concrete as it is also susceptiable to damage. 

I would strongly suggest really sealing the tree... painted on concrete can wear off fairly quickly particularly if you have to scrub it. Tinted concrete works much better than painted surfaces. Otherwise you'll really need to heavily seal. 

Some comments 

Ed


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## Styx (Oct 25, 2008)

What a cool topic.


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## Tegudude (May 22, 2014)

If I have foam rocks glued on a foam board covered in 1/4" concrete for my background, would that be sufficient? @ Ed, Would you use an epoxy or dedicated concrete sealant for the tree and background? @ harrisbt, I basically don't want to see undulating mounds of insects one day lol.

Here it is minus the front panel. 









Tinypic keeps flipping these for some reason :/


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

working with zoo exhibits and large lizards (monitors (at least 5 different species I can think of off hand)), the covering with the concrete would prevent the damage. Sealing it with an epoxy is best but that causes everything to have a shiny artificial look so you need to decide on the best look for yourself. 

IT would take a lot before you could get that huge of a population of isopods and springtails. I'm not sure I would include them in a tegu enclosure as the fecal material is going to be too large for the isopods etc to be able to do much about it. Now an infestation of one of the cockroach species is a different story. You'd be better off removing and replacing the top 3-5 inches of mulch instead on a regular basis and a total removal and replacement once-twice a year. If you let it sit too long the bottom decomposes to dirt which can be a lot harder to remove. 
You might want to consider a couple of drains so you can wash down the cage if needed and not have to shop vac any extra water out. 

Some comments 

Ed


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## Tegudude (May 22, 2014)

Ed, Thats awesome! Thanks for the advice.


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## Tegudude (May 22, 2014)

Update: Started piecing together a few of the electronics systems. Now has a ducted heater and started wiring the mistking and storm system. I plan on finding a chip that will be able to trigger the mistking via the Ecozone in random second intervals. This way all I do is press a trigger, the enclosure lights shut off, the storm sounds start, the LED bulb flashes in sync to the thunder claps, the mister will go off randomly throughout the whole 3 minute period and the ultrasonic fogger will go off the whole time. Im seeing if the guys at ecozone can work any mods for me or I will attempt to do all this via relays and timer circuits. Fun stuff!!


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## Mohlerbear (Feb 20, 2014)

Tegudude said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> I realize a tegu is not a dart frog or an amphibian of any sort, but this board has the most active discussion about vivariums in general and I am currently working on my first one.
> 
> ...



How do you like the ultrasonic fogger?? I am about to order the five head from house of hydro as well. Would you recommend a aquarium heater inside the reservoir? I want to hook this up to 2 40 breeders, 2 20's and 3 10's. Does it work awesome?! Any information would be greatly appreciated, I'm basically dead set on it, I'm just curious to know what you think since you own one. 
Thanks man


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