We've adopted another lizard

Ryūjin

We adopted a new lizard from a local pet store yesterday. This is a female Chinese Water Dragon. We've named her Ryūjin after a sea dragon from Japanese mythology.

From Wikipaedia:

Ryūjin or Ryōjin (龍神 "dragon god"), also known as Ōwatatsumi, was the tutelary deity of the sea in Japanese mythology. This Japanese dragon symbolized the power of the ocean, had a large mouth, and was able to transform into a human shape. Ryūjin lived in Ryūgū-jō, his palace under the sea built out of red and white coral, from where he controlled the tides with magical tide jewels. Sea turtles, fish and jellyfish are often depicted as Ryūjin's servants.

Unfortunately her arm was broken and the pet store took her to a vet several times who put a cast on her arm. She healed up enough for the pet store to send her home but because she was injured they wanted to have her adopted out to someone with experience of taking care of reptiles instead of selling her to someone without experience.

Ryūjin is doing very well. She came home last night and we set up a vivarium with a waterfall for her so she could sit in water (something Chinese Water dragons love doing).

Ryūjin her new vivarium.

For now we're going to keep her in this habitat for a few months to ensure that she can take things easy and let her arm heal (it appears to be mostly healed at this point). Then when she's ready we're going to move her to a much larger vivarium so she can have more room to grow.

Unfortunately broken arms is a somewhat common problem with Chinese Water Dragons, for some reason their arms are very frail. But what they lack in upper arm strength they make up for in intelligence, this creature is smart and observant of her surroundings.

When she was at the pet store they gave her a lot of attention so she is also very socialized.

We'll post more about her later, maybe we'll have to change the name of this blog from Fluffy The Frilled dragon to Fluffy and Friends.

Fluffy the Frilled Dragon Eats a Fuzzy Mouse

Fluffy the Frilled Dragon eats a frozen fuzzy mouse. Slow-motion pounce at the end of the video. For more please visit his YouTube channel FluffyFrilledDragon

Fluffy Playing with Cat Toy Full Video

Fluffy Playing with a Cat Toy (Full Video)

Video - Fluffy and Bo Share Mealworms

Our First Video - Fluffy and Bo Sharing Mealworms

Heating The Habitat

An IR Fusion view of Troy holding fluffy.

One of the most important features of a habitat is heat and lighting. When we built our habitat we originally drilled holes in the top of the cage to allow for the ventilation and dissipation of heat. We realized one serious thing, we built a fire hazard!

Fluke Tis Handheld Infrared Camera

After we built the cage we used a Fluke Tis infrared camera to analyze the buildup of heat in the cage. We were lucky that a family friend who works in building inspection has one for his business. Otherwise there are other cheaper IR thermometers you can buy, or just go to the pet store and pick up a thermometer and place it in areas where you want to monitor heat. Checking the temperature buildup is especially important when you're building your cage out of wood. The point at which wood ignites at about 570° F according to some quick internet research. I was more concerned with the adhesive in the plywood igniting, as glue can ignite at 212° F depending on what kind of glue it is. So depending on what kind of plywood you're using if you allow temperatures to reach past 180° F you're risking a fire. Additionally you want the maximum heat in an animal habitat to be no greater than 100° F. Optimum conditions for desert lizards are to have a dry environment with a gradient of heat across the habitat allowing the animal to retreat to a cooler or warmer area if they so desire. Another behavior to watch for is if your lizard is constantly opening their mouths this can indicate that they're trying to cool off. When a lizard is in a hot environment and opens its mouth for no reason it's somewhat analogous to when a dog pants, they're trying to cool down.

As I was saying we analyzed the output of the lights in the cage and were surprised at how warm not only the lamps were but the materials around the lamps were as well. Here are the results from our initial inspection of the lamps with the infrared camera:

An IR Fusion view of the lamps left to right: Night Heat Lamp, Basking Lamp, Red Heat Lamp, Basking Lamp, Night Heat Lamp.

Infrared view images of Lamps showing a range between 80 and 200° F

It's important to note that the infrared camera has a limit to how hot a temperature it can accurately meeter, this camera's limit is about 220° F.

Here is an image of the wood above the lamps showing the extreme heat that was building up underneath the plywood top of the cage:

An IR Fusion view of the ceiling of the cage before adding insulation. Screen material under the ceiling.

Temperatures were nearly exceeding 150° F which was unacceptable for consideration of fire mitigation. We clearly had to do something about the heat that was building up above the lights.

What we did was to add this bubble foil insulation that we cut down to size and stapled to roof of the cage. Any hardware store sells this material, it usually comes in a roll and can be kind of expensive if you only need a small section of material to insulate. But it's worth being able to sleep at night knowing the cage is protected from the buildup of heat.

Bubble foil insulation available at any hardware store.

Also check the packaging and see what temperature the foil is rated to withstand, in our case the foil could easily withstand up to 225° F.

As you can see below we cut several strips of material and stapled it to the top of the cage:

An view of the ceiling of the cage after adding insulation.

Our lamps are arranged in the following pattern 5 inches below the insulating material: Night Heat Lamp, Basking Lamp, Red Heat Lamp, Basking Lamp, Night Heat Lamp, behind that is a florescent full spectrum lamp.

After installing the insulation we rechecked the buildup of heat with the IR camera both above and below the top of the cage:

An IR Fusion view of the roof of the cage after adding insulation.

Top of the cage with the IR Fusion Mode to show a the top of the cage was averaging 100° F. 

The red and white hotspots show the heat of the insulation on top of the bubble foil material, exposing the plywood to a max of 122° F. This technique of using this bubble foil material effectively lowered the exposed heat to the plywood by about 30° F. You can note that in the images above this one before this material was added the wood was being exposed to temperatures of about 150° F.

An IR Fusion view of the roof of the cage after adding insulation.

On average the top of the cage is about 90° F, those hotspots are where we originally cut ventilation holes show that the top of the insulation reaches about 110-120° F

An IR Fusion view of the top insulating material of the cage.

Above is a view of the bottom of the insulation after the lights have been on a few minutes, the insulation not only reflects light down towards the lizards but does the same with heat as well.
We use the IR camera to inspect how well heat was reaching the bottom of the cage as well as whether or not it was allowing for a gradient of heat to allow the animals to move to different areas of the cage to cool off or warm up.

An IR Fusion view of the top of the cage.

We examined the upper area of the habitat and found that it can get up to around 100 degrees which is a good target for a warmer part of the habitat.

We also needed to check and see how the bottom of the cage held the heat as it was about 5 feet from the lamps at the top of the cage and one side of the cage was just a screen material that allowed heat to escape from the front of the cage.

An IR Fusion view of the bottom of the cage.

When we examined the bottom of the cage with the IR camera and we determined from these images that the bottom of the cage can reach about 70 or 80° F. Because the cage is near a window and the temperature in that area can get kind of cold we also learned that shaded parts of the cage and get as low as 50° F (which is too low we added some insulation to fix this).

We also have to consider the fact that the frilled dragon can climb and likes to hang off of branches so the entire cage is accessible to him, unfortunately the bearded dragon does not climb higher than a foot or so off the ground. We had to provide him with another source of heat if he wishes to be warmer. We added a rock heater underneath some of the bedding:

Standard heat rock available at any pet store.

After adding the heater we took this image to show how it improved the heat in an area of the cage:

Bottom of Cage Rock Heater underwent substrate.

The rock heater allow the bearded dragon to warm up in an area that is nearly 90° F which is much better for him.

We're continuing to work on this habitat, we're considering ways in with we can provide the bearded dragon more direct access to the basking lamps. Right now we're working on building a series of ramps he can climb to get closer to the lamps. When we make those changes we'll post about them. We considered lowering a basking lamp on a wire from the top of the cage, however we were concerned that fully could try to jump from his branch or from the screen and try to land on the top of a lamp, since those lamp fixtures can reach as high as 250° F we were convened that he could jump on them and burn himself, so rather than take the lamps to the lizards we'll have to engineer a way to bring the lizards to the lamps.

Now fluffy enjoys hanging on his branch or climbing the screen to bask in the heat.

Fluffy hanging by and basking on his branch.

Fluffy hanging on the screen about a foot above the floor of the cage, beau is behind him in green.

This image shows that fluffy's skin is about 85° F, while Bo the bearded dragon is about 80° F. The infrared cameras as a fascinating way to see how cold blooded animals react to temperature when they choose to bask or cool off.

Live Fluffycam is Back online

The live fluffy cam is back online!

Building The New Cage

Fluffy and Bo's New Cage

Background
Fluffy and Bo previously resided in two separate cages on a baker's rack. Fluffy was in a 50 gallon tank on the top shelf. Bo was in a 40 gallon tank on the lower shelf. This is the third cage he's had since we've had him. When he was small he was in a 30 gallon tank and he was so small it would be hard to find him. As he grew we had to move him to the 50 gallon tank which he then outgrew in about a year and now he's so big that we've build this custom habitat for him and Bo.

Photo of Fluffy in his Old Habitat

He's grown quite a bit since this photo was taken.

The tank Bo was in was too narrow for his size as well. If he wanted to turn around he would have to fold his body to be able to do so. For comparison his old tank was about as deep as his pink hiding house that he's pictured on top of in his now home to give and idea for the scale of the difference just in terms of depth from his hold habitat versus his new habitat.

Bo on Top of His Pink Hide

His old cage was only as deep as the pink house is wide.

Design Process

Before you construct anything it's a good idea to come up with a solid design. We've looked at several large habitats that you can buy on the internet ranging from $600 on up. We looked at several of these products before we began to plan our design. We knew that we wanted to provide an environment for two animals both of which are semi desert dwellers but Fluffy who happens to live in a semi desert/forest savannah kind of an environment. So we knew that Fluffy would prefer to hang out high and sit on branches while Bo the bearded dragon would prefer to chill out on the floor of the habitat. Bo's physiology requires heat and light. Where fluffy requires water for drinking and bathing and branches to climb and a gradient of hot and cold in his environment so he don't over heat or freeze.

Knowing this we realized that we would need to synthesize an environment that could provide for these requirements.

Our first consideration was size, the main reason for building this new enclosure was to allow both animals a larger habitat to live in, they out grew their old enclosures. We wanted the new enclosure to be large possibly 6 feet tall by 4 feet wide by 2 or 3 feet deep.

Secondly we had to consider logistics and how to practically make a suitable environment that was semi-portable in the event we would have to move some day and for consideration of the fact that we were building the enclosure on our garage and that it would have to be carried up three stories to our bedroom. The key to doing so would be to first make it small enough to fit through doors, up stairs, around corners and light enough so that it could be lifted with a two-wheeler moving cart. This alone informed several decisions we had to make about what kinds of materials to use. We were either going to use wood or metal to build the frame, metal was nice because you can use relatively thin pieces to construct a frame on the down side it's difficult to work with it must be cut and welded and it's more expensive to work with.

So rather than construct the frame of the habitat from metal we decided to use 2 x 3 wood to build the frame. 2 x 3 wood was the smallest wood we could work with, any smaller like 2 x 2 or 1 x 1 and the frame would be too weak to support the weight of the roof of the enclosure, also any smaller than 2 x 3 and the pieces you work with tend to not be straight or to bend in an awkward way.

Another thing we had to decide on what kind of material to use for the front of the habitat. We want to be able to see through inside the habitat. We considered our options glass plexiglass or a screen material. Regular glass would be too dangerous to risk shattering, it's difficult to mount in place and it's extremely heavy and it can be easily scratched. We strongly considered plexiglass, the main reason we didn't go with it was because it's expensive, difficult to cut without cracking, it scratches easy. The advantage to using any kind of glass material is that it insulates the heat in the habitat. When you have a well insulated habitat you can use less heating elements and/or heat lamps in the habitat. We ended up using a screen material. We didn't want to just choose any screen material. I would strongly caution against using any screen material that is composed of metal or wire as most are. We went to Lowe's and they had a screen product specifically for cats who scratch screens, it's more of a plastic or venal material. I would be concerned that if the screen material were metal a bur or a stray wire could scratch or cut the inhabitants. Fluffy enjoys climbing up on the screen and basking near the heating lamps. It's kind of strange to see a lizard floating in mid air, that's what it looks like sometimes. He's not light and his claws are sharp, the screen material that we used is a good product it supports his weight and it has yet to break under his weight.

Another thing that we wanted to do was to have the walls simulate rock. Because the walls were made up of plywood we ended up buying large sheets of styrofoam cut them to size, glued them to the walls, covered them with a thin layer of grout to add texture, several layers of non-toxic acrylic paint to simulate depth and the color of rock and a non-toxic sealant like moge poge. The foam has an added benefit of providing insulation for the heat lamps to keep the habitat warm.

Construction Process

As I was saying before beginning construction you must do research to formulate a concrete design. My partner has a little experience with woodworking so he did the rough design and built the cage for me. This is the sketch he made in preparation for getting the wood and in preparation for construction.

Our Initial Sketch for the Frame

By sketching out this design it helped to calculate how many 2 x 3 inch pieces of wood we needed, they came in 8 foot lengths.

Once we went to Lowe's and bought the materials he took them home and in the garage he cut the lengths for the frame and tacked them together with his air nailer.

Construction Step 1 Cut Wood to Length and Tack it Together, Clamps Help a lot!

Construction Step 2 Reinforce the Joints with Struts, tack the pieces together with nails

Construction Step 3 Attach Cross Braces

Use an air nailer, it speeds up the process tremendously and gives a nice clean look to the final product

Construction Step 5 Join Sides Together

Construction Step 6 Reinforce the Joints with Metal Struts

Now the Frame is Put Together with the reinforcing struts it's very strong too.

Roughly Assembled

I've omitted a few steps in between. But this is assembled with plywood on the bottom and sides and another layer of inch and a half thick layer of insulating foam and grout. The foam is layered to look like several layers of slate. There are also doors cut on either sides with a long hinge to allow access to the inside of the cage from either side of the cage. Once the screen is on the front of this you will not be able to access the inside of the cage unless you have doors.

Finishing Processes

You have to prime the surface with a white or black color then we experimented with adding highlights and shadows to give texture to the rocks.


This is with more of the highlighting done and some of the layers of paint coming together, there are a lot of hues of blues and greens to bring out the texture.

Finally it's important to apply a layer of sealant. We used moge poge, which looks very glossy when it goes on but after it dries it's very matte.

This is what the final product looks like with the top, lights, screen bedding and props in place:


The final thing was light enough for my partner to get it upstairs on a two wheeler.