Setting Up a Bearded Dragon Tank on a Budget

Keeping just one reptile usually doesn't cost a great deal of money to maintain, after the initial set-up but, if you have multiple reptiles to care for, they can become very costly to care for properly. I am speaking from experience because I happen to have many, many exotic animals in my care. Whether it's considered a good habit or bad habit, I'm in the habit of taking in neglected, abused and unwanted animals. Many of the animals require immediate medical, which if you've been to an exotic veterinarian, you know is very expensive, so I find mind self spending hundreds of dollars every month for vet bills, housing, food, vitamins, lighting, heating, etc....

If you are like me, you want to give your pet the best home possible. Not only do you want to give them the basics, but you want to give them a happy life, which means going that extra mile, spending that extra cash. Well, I have some ways to save you some of your hard earned money but still give you the means of giving your retile everything your heart desires.

f you have a lizard that likes to climb, for example, a bearded dragon. you not only want to give them a comfortable living space, but and interesting one as well, and that means lots of things to climb around on.

This is a picture of one of my bearded dragon enclosures. I'm going to use this as an example because almost everything in this enclosure was found, made or purchased for very little money, then modified to fit my needs. Even the stand that it is sitting on was made out of scrap wood.

Branches and rocks can be found just about any place. I happen to have a neighbor that has a lot of wooded area at the back of his property, and he allows me to brave the mosquitoes anytime I'm on the hunt for something for one of my animals. When I'm out searching for something specific, I make it a habit to pick up other interesting items that I may be able to make use of later on. In the above photo, the rock and the large limb were both found items.

When you use "found" items, you do want to make sure you clean them very well before you put them into the enclosure. I strip all the bark off the branches then clean everything with a mild bleach solution (1 part bleach to 5 parts water), then rinse everything until I can no longer smell the bleach.

In the photo there are several plants, some on the floor and some hanging. Some of them were purchased at yard sales for next to nothing and some were purchased at a dollar tree store for $1 each. The plant sitting in the front is just hot-glue to a rock to keep it standing upright. The one in the back is several different plants that I put together by using a slice of wood from a log, drilling holes in it, and hot-gluing the stems into the holes. These plants are very sturdy and will not fall over if they are climbed on. The hanging plants are mainly pieces of 4 foot vines that I paid $1 each for and cut them to the size I wanted. What is left of the vine can be used in another enclosure.

If you have ever priced backgrounds for your enclosure, you know they are very expensive, but you also know you want to keep your lizard from seeing its own reflection, which means you have to cover the sides of the enclosure. You can see that I have three sides of the enclosure covered and all it cost me, was the ink to print it. All I did was go online and find a few good pictures of a bearded dragons natural habitat, blow them up to the size I needed, print them off a section at a time, then taped them together. My bearded dragon loves it. I catch him staring at it all the time.

You might notice, there is a small pillow in the enclosure as well. Every lizard enjoys a soft place to lay. I made the pillow from a piece of scrap fabric, some packing foam I had saved from something I ordered, and a needle and thread.

I will say that I did purchase the hammock that is hanging in the back corner, but have since learned that I can make one from a wash cloth by cutting it in half, diagonally and putting grommets in the corners. I hang it using the scotch removable hooks. Suction cups never stay stuck for very long anyway, so I use the removable hooks to hang everything.

Also note, I do have reptile carpet on the floor of the enclosure. For me, this is the safest, easiest and most cost effective substrate you can use for most reptiles.

So there you have it! Setting up a reptile enclosure on a budget. You can see you don't have to purchase all the store bought items it takes to give your reptile a nice comfortable, interesting place live.

I hope this helps save you some money and please feel free to leave a comment or question.