My daughter has a Chinese Water Dragon and a Green Tree Frog. She had both of them in a small aquarium. The frog was OK but the Water Dragon was really cramped and could barely move around. I built them this cage.
The cage is made from ¾ pine plywood with a solid pine face frame. It is 4 wide, 6 high with the cage part being 4 High, and 2 deep. I finished it with some leftover stain I had and three coats of water based poly. I think I like the oil based poly better.
The top flips up to get at the lights. There is a heat lamp on a dimmer to control the temperature of the cage. There is also a florescent fixture with special bulbs and an incandescent sunning lamp on a timer. The timer is a digital timer. I must not have set the date correctly because it automatically adjusts for daylight savings time, but not on the correct dates. I can’t figure out how to change it so I leave it alone.
The water fall was a great idea but was a little noisy. So, I added a slide for the water to follow made out of Plexiglas. This caused leaks on the backside of the tank and water got behind the tank where it was hard to clean up.
The water tank is a ten gallon aquarium. It kept getting dirty so I added a small catfish in the tank. At first I thought the lizard or the frog would eat it but it is still there as of this writing and it has been a couple of months. The only problem is the water level goes down quickly and you have to add water at least once a month
At first I left the bottom of the cage unprotected except for five coats of poly. The lizard likes to dive in the tank and when he gets out he drags a bunch of water out with him. I placed pond liner under the wood chips to protect the wood. I caulked the liner to the tank side.
