DIY Iguana Enclosure

Large reptiles are becoming super popular in the reptile industry, but large reptile enclosures are bank breakers. 

I’m finding that this is a common problem in casual reptile keeping that is leading to poor animal husbandry and therefore poor reptile health.

So what do you do when you want a large reptile, but cant afford a large enclosure? YOU DIY IT!

I’m going to walk you through how we built my iguana enclosure.

I’d like to start off by saying I would have liked to make it bigger, but this enclosure had to travel to college with me and it is plenty for his size right now.  

Materials:

• A heavy duty HDX shelving unit  - $60 to just over $100 depending on the size you want
• Fencing to go around the shelving unit - we used Backyard X-Scapes bamboo fencing from home depot ($84) because we liked the thicker bamboo. They do having reed fencing that looks just as nice for $26.
• Materials for inside - Branches, wood for shelves, ramps, etc.
• PVC to create a door - 2 Tees, 2 elbows, 4 straight pieces. Make sure they are wide enough to fit over the corner pole from the shelving. 
• Plexi Glass - make sure its big enough for your door. We bought this after we had the door assembled. We also bought Lexan, so it was a little more expensive- BUT really good quality. You could use some sort of mesh if you live in a humid environment. We went for the glass because it looks nice and helps hold in humidity. 
• Landscape fabric - this will act as a base for the enclosure. 
• Garden liner and tile for the base tray. 
• Brackets and screws
• ZIP TIES
• Whatever decor you want - We hit up Michaels and Jo-Anns with those good coupons

 Instructions:

1.  CUTTING
• Figure out how tall your shelving is and how long the fencing needs to me and then make the appropriate cuts. 
• Measure and make cuts to your pvc to create your door
• Cut the landscape fabric to fit one of the shelves.
2. BUILD
• Take one of your long pvc poles and attach the two Tee pieces to each end.
• You are only going to use two of the shelves from the unit for this project. Take one shelve and flip it upside down for the base. 
• Before you put the shelf on to create the top of the enclosure, slide the pvc that will connect the door to the enclosure over the corner pole, and situate the fencing (if it is going inside like how we did the bamboo).
• After you piece it all together, use zip ties to attach the fencing and the landscape fabric to the shelving unit. 
  
3. DOOR
• Now you can finish assembling your door frame.
  
4. GLASS
• Go ahead and lay your enclosure down, and using silicone, glue the glass to the pvc.
• You will want heavy items to hold the glass down while it dries. 
• We did this step at night, so it could sit while we slept. This way we weren't losing valuable building time!
  
5. INTERIOR DESINING

• This was the fun part. Now you get to design the interior layout of your enclosure
• I highly recommend drawing your idea, and for any shelves, draw them and cut them out of paper so you can visualize what it will actually look like in the enclosure. Then you can use it as a stencil on your wood before cutting out your shelf. 
• With a deeper enclosure, it would be really easy to just add a bunch of branches and call it a day, but because I was building for a physically deformed and injured iguana, we had to handicap it with lots of ramps. 
• to secure the shelves, we screwed the shelves to smaller blocks of wood, which we secured to the fencing with a bracket. 
• For better looks and ease of climbing, I wrapped the ramps in twine and used a thicker rope to braid a "railing" along the longest one. 
• **** Be sure to plan out where your lights will go!*****

• For the base, we created a removable tray. We glued two pieces of tile to a rubber mat, and then added garden liner around the edges. This was if he were to spill water or go to the bathroom, it wouldn't get soaked up by the bamboo. 

      6. LIGHTS, FLORALS, ETC

• We loaded the enclosure with zip ties!
• Your lights can go on top of the enclosure, but you may want lights in the enclosure depending on how you style the interior.
• Make sure you provide vegetation that allows your iguana to hide and feel safe!
• You can zip tie a plastic table cloth or shower curtain to the enclosure to help hold in humidity 

• Don't forget some sort of "pool" for your iguana!  

 If you have any additional questions don't be afraid to get in contact with me ! And if you custom built your own enclosures definitely send me pictures! I'd love to see them ! :)