Abandoned Bearded Dragon Gets Mansion Vivarium (Giant Bioactive Build)

Sadly, this

bearded

dragon

was

abandoned

. Let me explain. A few weeks ago I was running errands and buying crickets for my animals. When I entered the store, there was a commotion out front that I ignored because I was on a mission. While one employee was buying crickets from me, another approached me with a huge

bearded

dragon

in his hand. What he said took me by surprise: "Do you want it?" At first I thought he was joking, but he proceeded to tell me that a family dropped him off in a fully stocked tank a few minutes earlier.

That's what all the commotion was about. They supposedly had him for just over a year and no longer had time for him. They left him at the store and now he needed a new home. I asked if he could hold it for me, so I could properly review it and assess the situation. It was immediately obvious that it was large, to say the least. I also noticed a slight kink on the tip of his tail, which could be an indicator of a calcium deficiency, and he is missing the tip of one of his toes. Despite all this, he seemed very alert and to be honest, the moment I saw that little reptilian face looking at me, it was love at first sight.

This is the sad reality for many reptiles, as I'm sure you know. People get these animals on a whim while at the store or get inspired by a YouTube video. It's no secret that I'm an advocate for responsible animal husbandry, but doing so is a commitment. Most reptiles live a long time, even in suboptimal conditions. We are talking about more than twenty years or more. And although it is not the same as a dog or a cat, it needs a lot of love. People often get bored with their pets and this happens. Now I'm not here looking for rescues, but they keep finding their way to me.

Cynthia, for example, had no human interaction for five years in her previous situation. While the family that stayed with Henry didn't know how to properly care for him. There are also a lot of colorful fish that someone gave me who no longer wanted his pond. These are not unique scenarios and there is a common thread. Either the animals were no longer needed or the means to care for them were not available. Anyway, I agreed to take the dragon formerly known as Lizaard. Our lives were about to change forever. And by the way, we call him Big Tony.

I mean, he's big and looks like a Tony, right? Here is the setup that Tone came in. I'm not here to hate on the previous owners by any means, but it's a scenario we see often. It is due to bad research and bad products. We now have the internet, so there's really no excuse in the research department, but why do we still market nut shells as a suitable substrate or hot stones as a good solution? Not to mention the reptile carpet, which I found under the nuts or the small enclosure? They are usually marked for adult animals, which misleads consumers.

Sorry for the micro rant, but this is something that frustrates me greatly and it seemed like a good opportunity to talk about it. Anyway, after dismantling and sanitizing the enclosure, I made a temporary setup for Tony. As for the new one, I wanted to do it big and at the same time keep it fairly profitable. PVC board seemed like the best material for the job. I bought two pieces from Home Depot and did the math. I determined how to optimize the material and make the enclosure as large as possible, with minimal cuts. Fortunately, no special tools are needed to do this.

Anything used for wood works well. After cutting everything out, I drilled holes along the edges where the boards meet. Since it is PVC, I used cement to join the pieces together. I applied it along the appropriate edges and secured them with the screws. Otherwise I would have had to use clamps and all that, and I just didn't want to deal with that. I went to the substrate tray first, followed by one side, then the back, and the other side. At the top, I created a canopy using several strips I cut out earlier. I also made some aluminum window screens.

I simply built the frames, secured the screen with slots and that was it. I simply applied silicone to create a gasket and screwed them together. Instead of using another PVC board on top, I decided to use a sheet of corrugated plastic, which I stapled together. However, there was a problem. The canopy boards are really special, which caused it to lean at the top. To fix this I simply screwed a different board on top. I also used cement to fix glass rails to the front and took into account side ventilation. I cut holes and stapled a screen over them.

Plus, I wanted a better aesthetic than a white box. I simply cut thin plywood to perfectly match the exterior, which was glued, stained, and polyscribed for a finished look. Along the edges of the interior, I applied silicone designed for plastics just in case. It probably would have held water as is, but I wanted to be sure. It held water perfectly. I also assembled a stand using various techniques and dimensional wood. At this point I was finally able to get to the fun part, the escape. I measured the tank and cut the foam accordingly. Next, I applied silicone dots and glued them to the inside of the enclosure.

This gave me a good foundation to

build

on. I broke off the remaining pieces and siliconed them together into stacked formations. I wanted the stones to have a stacked slate look and these base pieces allowed me to do exactly that. I cut it several times to create a direction to follow. Then, I used a knife to cut along these lines and tear off sections. This took almost nine hours to achieve, but the results looked good. I simply did a quick pass with the heat gun and covered the outside with a thick consistency grout. This will help strengthen and preserve the foam.

Once dry, I applied several coats of Drylok, starting with black, to fill in the gaps and create a base coat. In addition to this, I added some dry brush layers of brown. The result looks good, but I'll do a lot more with them later. Before adding them to the tank, I took into account a

giant

piece of driftwood. This was actually wood that we used in the Aquashella tank from a few years ago. I've been saving it for the perfect project and this seemed like the time. To keep it at the proper elevation, I stacked some bricks underneath.

I decided on it partly because it looked good but also because of the UV exposure. I made sure to turn on the light before reading to make sure everything was accurate. Now, I didn't really want to use the bricks to support the branch, so I drilled directly through the enclosure and secured it with six structural screws. This allowed me to create the proper cantilever effect I envisioned. I worked the stones around this, maintaining a horizontal configuration as I did so. I used toothpicks to hold them to the foam, while I ran away. Then, I enclosed them with expanding foam.

After it cured, I carved things accordingly. I also used a wire brush on the flat areas to speed up the process. The idea is that the rocks are embedded in a sandy hillside or something like that. That's where the paint really came into play. As always, I painted everything black to get the base coat. My inspiration here was something similar to what you would actually see in the bearded dragon's natural range. Adding several layers of dry brush to this allowed me to do exactly that. I went with the brown first, then worked in the signature sienna tones, followed by accent colors.

I really like the result, but I also wanted to work with more driftwood. This piece fits perfectly on the side. I just had to fix it with epoxy. Once cured, I hid it with super glue and sand. Finally, I rinsed everything to remove excess dirt. Looking at it now, it's a shame I didn't use this for something with a water feature because the waterfall effect was incredible. With the bottom almost full, I mixed the substrate directly into the tank. This mixture consists of a top solid, which I sifted before use to remove twigs and stones, coconut fiber, play sand, and excavator clay.

This mix is ​​great because it will work without a double bottom due to the depth. The clay will also allow it to host burrows, which should be an interesting feature if Tony decides to dig. That depth will work well for plants. I selected some large items that should hold up and be safe if swallowed. The first to appear was the

giant

Bush Elephant. I had to cut the top off to make it fit, but you should be able to start a new plant from the cutting. A spineless cactus also seemed like a good move. After that, I added a few more branches using the techniques from before.

I was finally able to add the boards to the canopy at this point as well. I put a bee knob on each one to give it more detail. As for the tracks, I simply cut the glass to fit. In the substrate, I added some branches, leaf litter, and a variety of botanicals for the cleaning equipment. I sprinkled Australian desert sand on top to better match the background. From there I dug shallow holes for isopod colonies. I hid them later, but doing so allowed them to venture out on their own. While I buried the springtail colonies completely.

Finally, I placed his food bowl right behind the cactus. I've been working feverishly on this for a little over a month now and I'm so excited to have finished it. From top to bottom and everything in between, I tried to make the setup as elaborate and functional as possible. However, this is easier said than done. Take plants, for example. I initially tried adding more, but I think less is more in this case. The hardscape is also very intentional. I used it to create so many climbing spaces, ledges, caves and exploration areas. In other words, things to keep you stimulated.

From the front, it may look messy, but it's actually much more open than it looks. In truth, there is easy access to almost all the features of this setup. Designing the hardscape this way and making it as large as I did also makes it much easier to account for microclimates. Excluding the canopy, the enclosure itself measures 69 inches wide, 28 inches front to back, and 38 inches tall, representing a volume of 318 gallons. For reference, before this he lived in a 40 gallon tank. Of course, I have UVB rays throughout the tank to provide various exposures, as I explained before. I also have LEDs for plants and visibility.

The nice thing is that the Arcadia system allows you to link everything together to keep your cable management clean. I also have a heating device that is connected to a thermostat. All of this allows for multiple hot spots, sunbathing areas, cool spots, etc. Although one thing is still missing. Although he felt a little overwhelmed at first, it didn't take long for Big Tony to feel at home. I thought he was going to go up to the driftwood first, but he tricked me and went down to the cave area. He inspected him for a moment, came back out to see what he was doing and then headed towards the register.

This could be a hiding place, but it also has a hole in the back that you can crawl through. It was awesome to see him use this feature and he confirmed to me that I used this branch in the correct configuration. From there, he crawled down and surveyed the terrain a bit. However, he could not stay outside the cave and returned to take another look. This time he spent about 10 minutes digging. This made me smile hugely. I realized that at no point in his life had he been able to do this correctly. He now has 10 inches of substrate to dig to the bottom.

Once he got tired of that, he came out front with a ball of substrate in his nose. At last, he finally managed to reach the branch. This is what I've wanted to see all along. It looks so majestic in the place and as good as I imagined. After a while, he crossed the bottom and arrived at one of the other sunbathing spots. I expected him to prefer the branch, but I was wrong. This place was what he had been looking for all along. In the few weeks I spent with Tony, I became very attached. I take him outside to get natural UV rays, let him roam freely around my office, and he even takes a nap on the couch while I play video games.

Honestly, I never wanted a bearded dragon, but I knew that if I ever got along, something like this would happen. I try not to anthropomorphize animals, but when he looked at me, I could feel him telling me that he needed help, that he wanted to come with me. Maybe I'm just a fool, but in any case, I could tell that he was happy with me. It didn't take long to

build

trust and I'm happy to finally introduce you to Big Tony and his new nursery.