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Hamalicious

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G'day guys

My male EWD is in need of an enclosure upgrade. I was originally thinking an aviary but i realised that we have an old sand pit, 2.1m x 2.4m. I have decided to remove all the old sand, get fresh new substrate, plants, logs and a pond and build up the walls and build a mesh lid for it.

On paper i think all this will work well but i'd love to hear from other people and see pictures of their set ups and experiences. Any good ideas or things that didn't work would be great to hear.

The area is under cover so it will need a heat lamp and UV light as well. This is an important part so i want to hear how other people set this up.

Any help would be great, thanks

Hamish
 
I have mine in an outdoor pit but don't have a lid just open air. It's 5 meters by 5 meters with a huge three meter hollow log with holes cut in it covered in soil and rocks and a dead tree rising up two meters above ground for the ewd to climb and in with the ewds I have blueys, beardies, jackie jackies cunninghams etc. I have a large wood covered area with heat globes under so if its raining etc they can still get warmth and winter warming area. It has a three tiered water fountain in the middle. The sides are made of corrugated iron buried 300mm into the ground and stand 1200mm high across the front I have Perspex sheeting 800mm high so the kids can see in without straining there necks. The whole thing is planted out with strawberries and tall grasses etc. I have electric fence around the bottom outside and around the top of the iron to deter predators and I have made sure there is heaps of hiding spots.you should see them run when its feeding time
 
I have mine in an outdoor pit but don't have a lid just open air. It's 5 meters by 5 meters with a huge three meter hollow log with holes cut in it covered in soil and rocks and a dead tree rising up two meters above ground for the ewd to climb and in with the ewds I have blueys, beardies, jackie jackies cunninghams etc. I have a large wood covered area with heat globes under so if its raining etc they can still get warmth and winter warming area. It has a three tiered water fountain in the middle. The sides are made of corrugated iron buried 300mm into the ground and stand 1200mm high across the front I have Perspex sheeting 800mm high so the kids can see in without straining there necks. The whole thing is planted out with strawberries and tall grasses etc. I have electric fence around the bottom outside and around the top of the iron to deter predators and I have made sure there is heaps of hiding spots.you should see them run when its feeding time


That sounds incredible!

Im not constructing anything quite that elaborate but i would like to set up a nice home for my EWD, ill also put some Blueys in there and maybe some other lizards but i'm not sure what species yet.

I'm worried about cats so i am kind of leaning towards a mesh lid, although i would love for it to be open. Have you made any mistakes or had any problems that i can learn from?

Thanks for the reply
 
Only problem I had was a few kookaburras harassed some baby blueys , since scaring off the kookaburras and putting a couple of cats in my yard I haven't had any trouble, dogs are worse than cats on the larger lizards
 
A colorbond raised garden bed about 5m tall or taller will help keep him in and other things out add some steel wire mesh overtop , and that'll keep the big birds and cats and dogs out.
 
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A colorbond raised garden bed about 5m tall or taller will help keep him in and other things out add some steel wire mesh overtop , and that'll keep the big birds and cats and dogs out.

5m tall? The giants usually leave my lizards alone, it's the cats and foxes i'm worried about haha :)
 
I have mine in an outdoor pit but don't have a lid just open air. It's 5 meters by 5 meters with a huge three meter hollow log with holes cut in it covered in soil and rocks and a dead tree rising up two meters above ground for the ewd to climb and in with the ewds I have blueys, beardies, jackie jackies cunninghams etc. I have a large wood covered area with heat globes under so if its raining etc they can still get warmth and winter warming area. It has a three tiered water fountain in the middle. The sides are made of corrugated iron buried 300mm into the ground and stand 1200mm high across the front I have Perspex sheeting 800mm high so the kids can see in without straining there necks. The whole thing is planted out with strawberries and tall grasses etc. I have electric fence around the bottom outside and around the top of the iron to deter predators and I have made sure there is heaps of hiding spots.you should see them run when its feeding time


Need pics of it
 
that should read 0.5m tall - silly me.

Haha all good mate, i was going to make mine around .8m tall so i think that will work. Im worried about not have a mesh lid on top that my EWD could escape, do you think if i used corrugated iron on the inside that he wouldn't be able to climb the sides and i could have the top open? or Should i still have a mesh top? I have two dogs so after thinking about it, i doubt cats or foxes will be a problem.
 
[
And here I was thinking you had half an idea after describing your enclosure. Whilst I'm not opposed to recreational hunting of feral vermin (one of my favourite hobbies) kookaburras don't fit into that category. Some bird mesh strung across the enclosure suspended by some 2metre high posts would have stopped the kookaburra issue and if you have gone to the trouble of electric wire would have not been too big a task. I have no idea if you are being legitimate about the dogs,

This post edited by moderator to remove quote of previous post
 
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a3a9yde6.jpg

7are4yze.jpg

yhetehus.jpg

I built this for my Frill Neck Lizard... I built in an existing garden... He's been in there for 12 months... Cats & birds were my biggest concern too... All materials were purchased from bunnings & cost me around $480 to put together... Please share some pics with us when your done...
 
This thread subject is about lizard pits NOT about feral animals. Keep on topic !
 
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a3a9yde6.jpg

7are4yze.jpg

yhetehus.jpg

I built this for my Frill Neck Lizard... I built in an existing garden... He's been in there for 12 months... Cats & birds were my biggest concern too... All materials were purchased from bunnings & cost me around $480 to put together... Please share some pics with us when your done...


Looks really nice mate, i love the living trees and natural look about it.

I started working today. Basically just dug down about 500mm and layed some wire mesh with small holes to stop anyone burrowing their way out.

The next step will be to lay the pond under lay and pond lining, then fill the area up with dirt to the desired ground level. Im going to buy a nice substrate for the top 100mm so any recommendations on that would be great and some pictures so we can all see how it looks.

I already have heaps of logs and branches at my place but i found some "bush rocks" at my local landscape and hardware store. They look really nice and natural, covered in all sorts of moss and they're really weathered. You can buy a pallet for around $100 and they come in all different sizes. Im going for a nice natural landscape look.

Thank you to all the people who have contributed positively so far, i appreciate it. I'm going to turn this thread into a build thread for the pit so everyone stay tuned for plenty of pics!

Hamish
 
IMG_7010.jpg

This is my progress for today just so everyone can see what i'm starting with. It used to be a sandpit, 2.1m x 2.4m.

Today i put in the cross bar. the smaller triangle will be the pond, the rest will be built up to the level of the timber and be the ground area. Once everything is finished and built, i will build the walls up to a desired height, probably around 800mm with a timber sleeper laid flat on top to make a nice boarder/seat for me to sit on while i watch all my lizards.

I am planning on having an area at one end (against the wall of the house) with a timber roof area to support heat and UV lights.

I am a carpenter by trade so if anyone has some pretty detailed or complicated ideas, please don't hesitate to suggest them.

Hamish
 
View attachment 294098

This is my progress for today just so everyone can see what i'm starting with. It used to be a sandpit, 2.1m x 2.4m.

Today i put in the cross bar. the smaller triangle will be the pond, the rest will be built up to the level of the timber and be the ground area. Once everything is finished and built, i will build the walls up to a desired height, probably around 800mm with a timber sleeper laid flat on top to make a nice boarder/seat for me to sit on while i watch all my lizards.

I am planning on having an area at one end (against the wall of the house) with a timber roof area to support heat and UV lights.

I am a carpenter by trade so if anyone has some pretty detailed or complicated ideas, please don't hesitate to suggest them.

Hamish

Looking good mate. Make sure you have a pretty deep layer over the wire as your EWD will dig down for brumation.

I would allow a height of at least 1500 to allow some climbing, they absolutely love to get up high.

As for heat and UVB, maybe a MVB will be the best to use, that way you know he will have ample UVB.


Rick
 
Looking good mate. Make sure you have a pretty deep layer over the wire as your EWD will dig down for brumation.

I would allow a height of at least 1500 to allow some climbing, they absolutely love to get up high.

As for heat and UVB, maybe a MVB will be the best to use, that way you know he will have ample UVB.


Rick

That's not a bad idea. I haven't used the MVB bulbs before. What size bulb/distance do you recommend? do you run them on a thermostat or is it not important because it's such a large area and i can put as much space between the basking spot and the bulb as i want?
 
That's not a bad idea. I haven't used the MVB bulbs before. What size bulb/distance do you recommend? do you run them on a thermostat or is it not important because it's such a large area and i can put as much space between the basking spot and the bulb as i want?

Can't use a thermostat with a MVB and probably wouldn't for outside. A 160w you would probably get away with around 30-45cm away from basking spot depending on ambient temps.


Rick
 
Im in Brisbane so it can get cool in winter at night but it's not that cold. We have water dragons all over the place and i see them in my yard pretty regularly so i have no doubt the ambient temps are fine haha.

Ill set up an MVB bulb and just adjust the height depending on what the thermometer says.
 
Im in Brisbane so it can get cool in winter at night but it's not that cold. We have water dragons all over the place and i see them in my yard pretty regularly so i have no doubt the ambient temps are fine haha.

Ill set up an MVB bulb and just adjust the height depending on what the thermometer says.

Charts of the exo terra MVB's
120w
hyhu3eme.jpg

160w
ygyrena6.jpg

I would assume a EWD would need 3 stars as opposed to a beardie that needs 5.


Rick
 
Im in Brisbane so it can get cool in winter at night but it's not that cold. We have water dragons all over the place and i see them in my yard pretty regularly so i have no doubt the ambient temps are fine haha.

Ill set up an MVB bulb and just adjust the height depending on what the thermometer says.

Nice one... I'm in Brissy too & I don't use any external heat/lighting but the enclosure gets 6 hours of sun during winter & 8+ hours during summer... My frilly has been brumating on & off...

I like your concept & I think it will work well... Thx for sharing those pics :)
 
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