# Housing small goannas



## spongebob (Apr 3, 2011)

I've had a few enquiries lately about how I house my small goannas, so I thought I'd post up some pictures. These enclosures are fine for V.brevicauda and storrri and for raising V.acanthurus, gilleni and tristis. They can also be used for adult gillens, but larger individuals probably need something a bit bigger. 

My basic design is based on the 52 litre starmaid tub. Washed sand or red desert sand is used for substrate and a line of fluon is painted around the top of the tub to stop too many woodies escaping.







A large window is cut in the lid and aluminium flyscreen is glued in place, and a 240v Halogen is attached to the lid with a 35w globe. These are GU10 fittings. They generally come with a 50w globe with is too powerful. The 35w globe gives a really good localised hotspot of around 60 -70C, which is what goannas need. The globes are on a thermostat that switches the lights off only on hot days when the ambient temperature of the room gets to around the mid 30's. There is no other source of heat.






The tubs fit nicely in rows of 3 on those flat pack shelf systems available in Bunnings.






To give extra useable space I use rile racks and hides made from terracotta flower pot saucers. Cable tidy makes a great hide also and it's easy to extract the inhabitant. 






For adult gillens I use slightly different set up -a standard enclosure with a 40w spot globe on a dimming thermostat.






Please feel free to add pics of your set ups

Bob


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## -Katana- (Apr 3, 2011)

Awesome pics and explanations, Bob!

May I ask what you use for UVB?
and...
How do you attach the lamps to the lids of the tub and do you need the services of an electrician?


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## Snakeluvver2 (Apr 3, 2011)

Nice. 
I like your rack, the only thing is I would cut out the front and add glass to it. Cause we all know how entertaining monitors are


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## spongebob (Apr 3, 2011)

Akwendi said:


> Awesome pics and explanations, Bob!
> 
> May I ask what you use for UVB?
> and...
> How do you attach the lamps to the lids of the tub and do you need the services of an electrician?



General consensus is they dont need UVB.

The lamps have a bracket which is attached through the lid to a piece of wood -see bottom row of rack. Of course all electrical work needs to be done by a sparky


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## sesa-sayin (Apr 3, 2011)

Terrific, Bob, and so good of you to give ur time to explain it all to us.....is Selley.s Kwik Grip Gel still the best glue to glue the fly-screen to the plastic box ?


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## Moreliavridis (Apr 3, 2011)

Great stuff mate!


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## viridis (Apr 3, 2011)

Thanks for sharing Bob,

The Goanna's that I bought from you arrived today and they are awesome mate.

To any future buyers, Bob was one of the easiest blokes to deal with that I have ever bought animals from.

Cheers,
Nick


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## Laghairt (Apr 3, 2011)

Agreed Bob is fantastic to deal with and a great bloke. I'm in the process of replicating his setup at the moment.


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## -Matt- (Apr 3, 2011)

Excellent thread. 

Also have to agree that Bob is a great guy to deal with and the little monitors that I got off him are top notch! Couldn't be happier!


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## spongebob (Apr 3, 2011)

Aww shucks.....


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## abnrmal91 (Apr 3, 2011)

Awesome thread and by the looks of it your breeding some awesome reps. Well at least from the look of Sax's Tristis. Looks good


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## saximus (Apr 3, 2011)

-Matt- said:


> Excellent thread.
> 
> Also have to agree that Bob is a great guy to deal with and the little monitors that I got off him are top notch! Couldn't be happier!


 +1


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## Kenno (Apr 3, 2011)

Great thread Bob! 

Let's see more pic's of your other enclosures please, this is the type of great info that's more needed on this site. 

Thumbs up!


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## GeckoJosh (Apr 4, 2011)

Great thread Bob, 
I would also like to add that he (Bob) is a great person to do business with


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## Robo1 (Apr 4, 2011)

Great thread Bob! Awesome to see your setups.
Do you ever have any problems with the inhabitants climbing onto the lights?


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## gillsy (Apr 4, 2011)

sesa-sayin said:


> Terrific, Bob, and so good of you to give ur time to explain it all to us.....is Selley.s Kwik Grip Gel still the best glue to glue the fly-screen to the plastic box ?


 
I usually just melt the flyscreen onto the plastic using a soldering iron


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## sesa-sayin (Apr 4, 2011)

gillsy said:


> I usually just melt the flyscreen onto the plastic using a soldering iron



GILLSY!!!!!!!!!!! ! thx 4 ur suggestion. appreciated.. have heard of this. will investigate further....the glue is terrific. one of those qasi-magic-glues, but oh! sooo difficult to apply.. in the meantime, if anyone knows of a simpler glue ????????????????


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## saximus (Apr 4, 2011)

I use clear liquid nails. I run a bead all the way around the edge then smoosh the flyscreen onto it with my finger. It's a little messy but I get a really good strong seal the whole way around. You could use a scrap bit of something (wood, cardboard, plastic etc) to do the smooshing as well if you don't want to get it on your fingers


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## Snakeluvver2 (Apr 4, 2011)

Your both complicating it too much. 
Just use the melted plastic from the soldering iron. 
It will hold like crazy once it solidifies.


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## saximus (Apr 4, 2011)

Yeah I didn't think of doing it that way but the glue method didn't take much effort


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## Laghairt (Apr 4, 2011)

Just make sure you get a good soldering iron. It makes a huge difference when you have one that gets really hot. I use an 85w one from Bunnings that cuts straight through plastic so I don't even use a jigsaw anymore.


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## zulu (Apr 4, 2011)

*re Housing*

Very efficient setup sponge bob,when i had little monitors i was using the spot bulbs and they run into lots of dollars to run. Your system looks way cheaper to run,thanks for showing.


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## Laghairt (Apr 4, 2011)

Now I can finish a tub in around 10 mins. With the el cheapo soldering iron I had before it took forever.


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## Snakeluvver2 (Apr 4, 2011)

I use a 150watt flood light which gets the temp to more than enough. 
But that much power cost a fair bit, how much are those 35watt halogen bulbs and where did you get them from? 
Bunnings I presume?


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## gillsy (Apr 4, 2011)

Jannico said:


> Your both complicating it too much.
> Just use the melted plastic from the soldering iron.
> It will hold like crazy once it solidifies.



That's what I'm talking about.


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## saximus (Apr 4, 2011)

Jannico said:


> I use a 150watt flood light which gets the temp to more than enough.
> But that much power cost a fair bit, how much are those 35watt halogen bulbs and where did you get them from?
> Bunnings I presume?


 They're pretty cheap. The fittings like the one in the second pic was about $16 or $17 and a globe is 5-10 I think

And yes from Bunnings


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## Snakeluvver2 (Apr 4, 2011)

That's great might just give them a go! 
Can you use any fitting?


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## saximus (Apr 4, 2011)

They use a GU10 fitting so it's kinda specialised. Also they need to be wired up because they don't come with a cord attached so that may prove annoying for some.


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## sesa-sayin (Apr 4, 2011)

thanks for your suggestions, Guys...all my questions will be answered in those helpful comments. you have made......much easier than the way i have been doing it.......simply can,t thank you enough.


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## Kenno (Apr 4, 2011)

Let's see some other enclosures!


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## SamNabz (Apr 4, 2011)

^^


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## viridis (Apr 4, 2011)

These are not as user friendly as Bob's good idea but they do the job.

This is what I use for small monitors like Gillens & Caudos







V. gilleni bred by Spongebob







These larger cages are good for V. tristis and V. scalaris.


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## Snakeluvver2 (Apr 4, 2011)

I'm loving that outside enclosure. 
Building a monitor shed atm.


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## nathancl (Apr 4, 2011)

I use these glass type enclosures for Juvenile Lace Monitors and Juvenile Mitchells Water Monitors they are 3ft long




these are used for smaller tristis, gilleni etc, 75cm high 60cm deep and 60cm wide in banks of six (3 bottom 3 top)




This one is one of the enclosures used for juvenile rainforest scalaris






FAIL lol dunno how to upload pics


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## ron_peters (Apr 4, 2011)

hi all, um i got a kit from bunnings which runs the dichroic halogen bulbs and its got a little converter that is wired up for 240 power but they actually run at 12v is this the same thing cos the kit was quite cheap and easy


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## GeckoJosh (Apr 5, 2011)

Hey just curious Viridis with your outdoor enclosure, wouldnt a monitor (even a small one) be able to make short work of the flyscreen mesh? or is something else you have used?


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## mrhoyo (Apr 5, 2011)

Great idea for little monitors. I reckon they could be the answer for me if I come to breeding in the future.
How many do you put in each box?


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## spongebob (Apr 5, 2011)

ron_peters said:


> hi all, um i got a kit from bunnings which runs the dichroic halogen bulbs and its got a little converter that is wired up for 240 power but they actually run at 12v is this the same thing cos the kit was quite cheap and easy


These are great where a more gentle basking light is required. I use them a lot for skinks etc. The 240v halogens dont have the transformer and are the ones I use to create the high heat that goannas need. They are GU10 fittings whereas the 12v ones are something else


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## viridis (Apr 5, 2011)

Nope,

It is wire not flyscreen mesh.


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## SamNabz (May 24, 2011)

Bump...

Here's my attempt...




Although for some reason I kept getting a hot spot of 85C+ with the 35W, so I purchased a 20W (smallest around) and got a much better 60-70C.

Thanks for posting this thread Bob.


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## killimike (May 24, 2011)

Looking great Sam!

I know it's not really the coolest part of your setup in that pic, but how did you make the entrance hole in your terracotta hide?


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## SamNabz (May 24, 2011)

Cheers mate.

I just tap them lightly with a hammer and they gradually start to crack off, that way you get an idea of the amount that is breaking off.


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## killimike (May 24, 2011)

SamNabz said:


> Cheers mate.
> 
> I just tap them lightly with a hammer and they gradually start to crack off, that way you get an idea of the amount that is breaking off.



Cool. Similar to my way... Only I tend to get over-enthusiastic, and end up with several smaller hides


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