outdoor pits

[antaresia_boy]

Hi all, I am looking into making a outside encl. for lizards and maybe some birds or something. how do i set it up? i have heard that you just use an aviary, what do you need in it? would it be ok in melb where the temps can get pretty low? would i need to get species that are native to the area? would water dragons be ok? I would LOVE one of them.

thanks in advance, Jamie

P.S any pics of outdoor set-ups would be muchly appreciated...can you keep crocs in melb?? just wondering lol..thanks again

 

[DA_GRIZ]

i've posted some pics of my aviary up in another thread i'll try find it, in a minute.
it is about 3 x 2 x 2 metres getting extended to about 5 x 3 x 2 metres.

it house 3 adult ewd's , 3 adult snake neck turts, 4 adult blueys and a adult eastern beardie.

a water dragon will go well in melbourne

 

[DA_GRIZ]

heres the link http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/general-herps/avairy-pics-for-serpentongue-88946

 

[antaresia_boy]

do they hibernate/burmeate (spelling) during winter? where are ewd's native to? are any crocs on the basic license lol? i havent got the thing to read pdf's on my comp so i can't check list (i neeeed a better comp lol...)

thanks Da Griz. v helpful. do you need to dig anything into the ground to stop them digging out? can i have a small pond in there with blueys? would they drown in it?

thanks, Jamie

 

[antaresia_boy]

thanks griz. thats an awesome set up you've got going... Now to convince the parents....
thanks again, Jamie.

any other set ups anyone?

 

[imalizard]

heres mine

 

[Dave]

heres mine

Wow! That's nice, how much did that cost?

 

[imalizard]

nothing. We had every thing already.

 

[antaresia_boy]

wow, that's awesome imalizard. so sorry to hear about your loss to. did you find any of your little guys? your story is actually what made me want to do this.
i have convinced parents, and I am going to do it in an aviary to keep out my cats. how much would it cost to get an aviary (or build one) and fill it with lizards (ewd's-2 or 3, a few blueys, some shinglebacks... anything else interesting.). atm i don't really know what i want, it would just be really nice to be able to go out and see them.

thanks so uch for the help, Jamie.

 

[antaresia_boy]

also, how big should the pool be if i'm going to have a few ewd's? and how do you feed the different lizards? do they have much different diets? will one lizards food be bad for aother?

thanks, Jamie

 

[antaresia_boy]

...anyone...?

P.S ...BUMP

 

[imalizard]

So your looking to get EWD, bluey and shinglebacks? The bluy and shingleback back are fine to eat the same food but i dont know what EWD eat so i cant help you on that.

None have came back yet. If your making a pit make sure you put it in the ground real deep.

 

[antaresia_boy]

i am jus going to do it as an aviary, but dig wire a foot or two into the ground around the edges so they can't tunnel out, and so there is no holes at the bottom.
hope you find yours, sounds like you've been doing a great job with them.

thanks, Jamie

 

[imalizard]

I just read on your first post about putting birds in with them? This can be done but becareful will bird poop fouling the water.

 

[antaresia_boy]

ok, birds were just and idea, not really serious about that... and i don't much like the idea of captive birds anyway. birds are meant to fly, and they can hardly do that in an aviary the size im going to be using.
thanks, Jamie

 

[Colletts]

my skink pit

You don't need to spend hundrens on an aviary, and keeping birds with reptiles isn't recommended as reptiles carry Salmonella and birds are very suseptable to it.

This is my skink pit- one bluey and Stoke's skink.

It cost nothing for the tank but if you were to by it it would probably cost $50. Try putting a wanted ad up for an old water tank. The weldmesh lid cost about $100 and was cut circular with an angle grinder. Shade cloth for cool section and also is where food bowls sit to prevent spoiling from the sun. Dug it into the ground about 10cm as my choice of skinks don't dig however if you want EWD's you might have to line the bottom with mesh and get a higher one or move them into a new enc' when they reach the size that they'll jump out. It's not the prettiest enc' but it does the job and was cheap.

First pic is of the whole enc

Second pic is of the heating set up i had in for winter. The bucket is water proof and has a hole in the bottom where both the cords enter and then are plugged into each other (extension cord goes to house and grey one is a heat cord) Bucket hung from roof to revent water/condensation entering through hole in bottom.

Third pic is of heater- a small piece of a 3 tier pond set(what i had at the time) with sand in it and it's sunken into the dirt enough so the animals can't get under it and burn themselves on the cord (i've lifted it for the photo). Log on top of sand in pond for shelter and there were leaves/bark for burrowing but they dug it all out.

Fourth pic is under the pond section. An old heatmat (broken, just used it coz it's obviously heat resistant so make sure you use a material that is) is laid on sand only (no leaves/bark because of fire hazard) and heat cord on top of that. Place pond on cord and fill in with sand only and ensure edges aren't easily accessed to prevent them diggging under (might have a prob with EWD's).

My guys didn't figure it out that it's warm under there at night so i eliminated every other tight cosy hide hole in the enc' so they had to use that one, until they realized its warm. Then i gave back the other tight hidey places and most nights they chose to sleep on the heater. Try and put more sand on one side and less on teh other of the pond piece so they can choose to be hotter or colder.

Hope i've helped.

EDITED: i forgot to mention that i've suspended the two joined cords under the lid of the bucket to ensure they weren't close to the hole and possibly be wet from splashed rain. Also put duct tape over the hole after the cords were put in there (just being paranoid now!) Better safe than sorry. You can buy water proof extension cords but they cost a bit and you still should hide the joined section under someting water proof.

 

[antaresia_boy]

thanks collets, that looks great.

Jamie

 

[Colletts]

see my edit.

 

[antaresia_boy]

ok, thanks, very helpful. if i get species native to my are do they still need heat? where are ewd's native to?

thanks, Jamie

 

[imalizard]

If species are native to your area you dont need heating.