The following items have been identified as FAQs Lighting: Please note that some UV lighting was not yet installed or not switched on in the enclosure at the time of shooting the end sequences, giving a somewhat dim appearance. Two 54W T5 Arcadia D3+ Dragon 14% UVB tubes and an additional 24W Arcadia tube are now fitted (these are represented by the violet graphics at the end of the video). Feeding: Insect distribution system is for supplemental feeding and enrichment only. The keeper needs to provide a suitable diet dominated by vegetable matter, together with some varied protein sources and supplements. Restraint is advisable with portions however. Substrate: Burrowing species don’t dig because they “like to dig” - they dig for a purpose - to create shelter, access prey, access different temperatures, humidities etc. Simply providing substrate in an enclosure does not necessarily enrich the animal unless it also serves many of the above purposes. Wild inland bearded dragons are more than happy to utilise existing hide structures in the landscape or the abandoned burrows of other animals. Local habitat varies greatly throughout Pogona vitticeps' range of more than 1million sq km. At the featured locality - the Tibooburra Dome, rocky and hard surfaces predominate and areas of loose, excavable substrate are the exception rather than the rule. In my design I have provided fully formed shelter sites such as those that are found amongst the rock outcrops around the dome. The temperatures, humidities, and insulation afforded by these spaces cover key reasons the animals may otherwise seek to dig a burrow in sandy locations. I’ve left room for a little substrate for the animal to do some finishing touches but most of the work is done. Please note that hard surfaces are substrate too - and in captive bearded dragons hard, abrasive surfaces are critical for the natural wear of claws and femoral pore exudate. Plants: Live plants have not been used in this instance in the interest of maintaining humidity at the desired levels. Upcoming content includes live vegetation where its use is appropriate. Aesthetics: Some features of the exhibit are dedicated purely to their husbandry functionality. Others are more centred on human enjoyment of the exhibit and as a way to ensure the subject animal’s place in nature is remembered and celebrated. The scenic backdrop and its lighting effects for example align more with the latter. Thanks for your continued engagement and support! MR
This is the direction the hobby needs to move in. A few of us are relaying the importance of mimicing the natural environment of said animal is found in. Looking forward to seeing what comes next! Amazing work
HOLY SH!T !!!!! You beat me to it at a much more extreme level and I am so glad you did. Many of the features are things iv had bouncing around in my head and it's so cool to see them come to life and then you took it a step further with things I hadn't even thought of. And most importantly the research aspect of the build and showing where they are from and what they are doing, SO Important. From one Aus to another Thankyou, I look forward do seeing more from you, Thankyou for joining the fight to push the Reptile Scene Foward . Regards Damian.
This feels like some kind of unaired Animal Planet pilot, seriously the quality is AMAZING, and such a great idea for a channel! It's so informative, and inspiring and I love the adventure aspect of you going to their natural habitats. I'm actually in the process of building a new enclosure for a 2 year old Central American boa myself and though I did things a little differently (for obvious reasons), I have the same view that you need to be giving these animals spaces that reflect their natural home and encourage natural behaviors. Channels like this are really good for the reptile hobby and larger animal community in general. Regarding your enclosure, its way more advanced in every way than I initially realized and my favorite feature you added is the backdrop that can mimic natural light cycles, so cool!! Best of luck here on UA-cam, I can't wait to see what you'll do next :)
Incredible, thanks for sharing this. I think everyone thinking of keeping these lizards should watch this and then think long and hard about how they will mimic a build like this. The reptile hobby should sit up and listen, this is the way forward. I stopped keeping reptiles some time ago as i was depressed by the thought of live animals essentially living in a wooden, glass fronted box! If i were to ever start int he hobby again, this would be the channel i would come to for enclosure inspiration. Awesome work, thank you. A.
Totally agree with your comments about people needing to lift there game. I live in Queensland and keep my reptiles outdoors as much as possible live plants misting systems waterfall/features. The enclosures become like little ecosystems with all the insects spiders and skinks that take up residence. Awesome video and enclosure
This is truly outstanding work. I’ve watched about 1000 reptile videos on UA-cam and this by far is the best. You really captured the essence of the animal and it’s amazing. No lies were told in this video this truly is the worlds best bearded dragon setup. Your content is so underrated
This is amazing! As someone who is new to reptiles this helps a lot to understand the needs of the bearded dragon. Perfect inspiration for designing my first enclosure. Thank you!
AMAZING! Would love a little more background on the materials you used to buildout the rocks and paint them. You could even do a second video for a deeper dive into the buildout, as I feel that part left me wanting more.
Thanks for your feedback! There’s a lot of interest in the rockwork and I’ll consider a deeper dive in future content. One reason I’m hesitant however is that the flexible render, which has some ultimately very useful properties, is also annoyingly very difficult to work with…
Wouldn't clay be a really good material to make rocks out of for bearded dragons? Just think about terracotta pots, they hold heat very well. If your light would move over the cause of the day too, that would allow the dragon to "follow" the heat? Clay is easy to form and you wouldn't need to fire it, as the enclosure would be very minimal humidity and the clay would hold. Wouldn't it? LOVE how you built went into the consideration about what really matters for the animal by looking at their live in the wild, really cool! (I'm a aquarium person, not planning to ever get a bearded dragon, but I would like to see more builds like this!)
The difficulty would come for example when it’s time to clean the surface with liquid cleaning solutions. Surface still needs to be water tight. Thanks for your support and feedback!
@@Maelstrom_Rider I see! Makes sense. Maybe if you would manage to lean more into a bioactive enclosure, that would (through decomposing organisms) clean itself it wouldn't be an issue... But you set the bar super high already, love the build and wish you all the best! :)
Brovo sir! Keep on pushing these boundaries, keep on educating, and keep on inspiring! We all need. Learn how to do better for these animals. The bare minimum standards have been the plague of animal keeping for far too long. I can’t wait to see what you do next!
Wow this was incredible! Lots of great info and gave me a good idea of how I need to build mine. Thank you 🙏 can’t wait to see what’s next!!🎉 Happy New Year!
@ im including last year too 😉 the amount of effort and love for this project are incredible and I have never seen this on UA-cam… just build something that’s beautiful and finish, but not you… keep up👍🏻
I’m glad you mentioned providing a microclimate with higher humidity (: so many keepers either fly to one end or the other with humidity for their reptiles, when in reality, humidity and moisture in the wild is cyclical. Daily and seasonally! Really nicely done. One thing I’m curious about regarding feeding- how would you ensure your dragon is getting the calcium supplementation they need? In the wild they have those extremely calcium-rich plants to offset the phosphorus in the bugs they eat. The bug-supply tubing for spontaneous feeding was very interesting (I’m also interested to see how you may provide other protein sources with this method, like different species of roach or the occasional worm or fly) but doesn’t seem to allow for consistent calcium dusting of the bugs. I’m also curious as to how you would approach providing plant matter. Would most supplementation be provided with the plant matter? Lastly, while I love the overall structure and layout of your build, I did find the lighting leaving something to be desired. While you drove around in the wild, you could really see just how incredibly bright and sunny it was in these animals’ habitat. But the enclosure itself looked dark and gloomy, with little to no information regarding what you were using for UVB, UVA, heating, and full-spectrum LED lighting. Plus no info on what readings you were getting from the lights provided and if they actually met what the dragons you visited in the wild were experiencing in terms of UV index, LUX readings, the actual temps, etc. I understand that you’re not keeping this setup of course- I would just hope that whoever won the auction of this great setup knows that the lighting needs a big boost to meet what dragons require, and that they know exactly what to shoot for (: overall great job, nicely done, looking forward to more as we push forward towards progress in this hobby!
If you scroll through the comments you’ll find some further explanations around lighting. Will also be more on this in future content. Insect distributor would definitely not be the sole source of food - intent is to use as a supplement / enrichment device. Insects calcium/ phosphorus ratio can be improved via gutloading. Other sources of vegetable/protein/supplements would still need to be provided by the keeper. I’d just stress in lower quantities than is typically offered. Thanks for your feedback and support!
@ thanks! I’ll be happy to do that. I 100% agree, many dragons are horribly overfed. Not only that, but they’re also offered such little variation in food that malnutrition often becomes an issue as well. I hope one day there’s some kind of thorough test all keepers must pass before being allowed to adopt an exotic animal. I think the hobby would progress far quicker that way!
It’s also just dawned on me that that on most of the lighting sequences in the video I have the UV lamp switched off under the rock (because the photographer in me preferred the warmer look) and the upper UVs are not yet even fitted! The supplier sent me two 4 footers instead of 2 footers and I didn’t get the correct ones in before the end of the shoot. Oh dear. Apologies if I've been short with previous responses. I’m going to be answering a lot of lighting questions…..
This is the best bearded dragon care, environment, housing, and explanation video that I have ever seen!!! Thank you. I am definitely making big changes to our beardie enclosure after seeing this. Liked and subscribed, too.
This has got to be the best bearded dragon enclosure I have ever seen! I strive to give my animals such a wonderful space to live in as this one. I would love to see a video similar to this on northern blue tongue skinks.
This is amazing! I’d love to see a setup based on freshwater turtles, I’ve been trying so hard to find a channel that can give me the natural history on painted turtles and the best environment designs for them
Thanks for your feedback! A turtle build might be interesting for future content - I have quite a bit of experience with freshwater semi-aquatic systems. I only deal with Australian species but many principles would still apply. Cheers
Fantastic build! Some really new and unique techniques that I have not come across before which is very interesting! The humidity issue is a combination of issues in captivity. Quite often an enclosure with poor ventilation, to damp and insufficient heating - resulting in RI’s. One idea I have been playing around with in my head is a lighting unit (with basking lights for heat, LED spots for intensity and UVB) on a movable track that moves across the enclosure. I hope that I get the opportunity to try it out one day. Looking forward to your next build! Happy New Year!
@@Maelstrom_Rider Lastly: A suggestion. at 41:40. If possible, lower the flight speed slightly (I would try half speed). The background moves really fast so it hard to take in the beauty of the landscape.
This gave me a ton to think about! I am new to the hobby, doing a huge amount of research before I get into it. I have had a lot of conflicting thoughts about how to keep reptiles in a way that I feel is responsible to the animals, and you did this quite well. I am gonna consider how you addressed these design elements when constructing my collared lizard vivarium. They are somewhat smaller than Beardies, but they fill a similar ecological niche in the scrub of Southwest America.
The best beardie build on all of UA-cam for sure 👍🏽 and finally someone who doesn’t use spray foam I thought I was the only one haha. Well done brother.
I’ve never kept a reptile, and probably never will, but this was fascinating to watch. Incredibly well thought out and so aesthetically pleasing. Subscribed.
This is absolutely fantastic! I'm getting my first beardie soon, and I've been doing deep research for about 3 years now. I want to have the most naturalistic, bioactive environment possible. The enclosure is 6x2x2, and I'm super excited to start getting it set up. I would love to bid on your enclosure, but I'm afraid it would never fit up the stairs of my third floor apartment. It truly is zoo quality! Shalom from Israel.
Incredible setup! Lots of thought went into that and showcasing the wild animals as justification is perfect. Also a special dotty gecko is the next build? Keen to see more!
En verdad un trabajo titanico, el mejor recinto de conservación para dragones barbudos. Esto sí garantiza el bienestar animal. Mi total reconocimiento hacia ti. Te saluda un herpetologist veterinary desde Tlaxcala, México.
Truly amazing work! I was searching for inspiration to build an enclosure before getting a mid-size lizard and your approach totally stands out of what we usually see. Thanks and keep up the good work. I'm looking forward for the next videos.
Absolutely amazing 👏 more content like this needs to be out there for the greater reptile community hopefully everyone can pull there finger out an strive to give there animals something like this , Absolutely brilliant mate well done keep it up 😁🥳👍
Very well made, inspiring video about reptile keeping. Thank you for your work, please keep 'em coming. Would you say the steel framing and plaster could work in a more humid environment?
The render is waterproof. Provided the steel is galvanised there should be no problem in humid setups. There are some builds of this type coming in future content. Thanks for the appreciation and support 👍.
Wow your vidéo us truly a masterpiece! I enjoyed every minute of it. I absolutely love these kind of enclosures and looking forward to see other videos like this one. Would be really interested in one about Varanus glauerti!😊
Ok i watched it! Very good craftsmanship I liked the render and paint techniques for the rock. As far as life support systems its like you rummaged around in my head and found my brainstorms from the past 12 years. From the auto feeder to an hvac system to the heat cable ledges. Does the dehumidifier make enough air flow to replicate wind? As far as rain simulation do you have plans for a short quick shower like a high velocity fan ducted into the rocks or canopy with a few dripping wicks to be blown across the rocks. I noted no plants or digging opportunities is this for humidity control or just cleanliness? Awesome video i hope to see some live edible plants native to bearded dragon country in the future. My thought have always been on the herbivorous herps to have an unclimbable ledge with a potted edible plant set into the ledge and branches or leaves could trail down to be eaten. The plant could be swapped out to give it a break too or to mimic seasonal changes in availability. Purslane is one that comes to mind as a good plant for this species. Second, a desert species of the pea family either creeping or shrubby. Tiny leaves made for not transpiring water. Watch a grasshopper climb that and get a feeding response that is super strong! Loved the ideas ingenuity and presentation keep it up!👍👍👍
You have some great ideas! I generally don’t use live plants in indoor arid enclosures. As you suggested, life support requirements for desert plants can be somewhat incompatible with optimal captive conditions for the animal (watering, required light spectrum, contribution to enclosure humidity etc). Not to say it’s completely impossible however and in upcoming content you’ll see some use of live plants where a solution to the above is removable modules on rotation through an external nursery. The upper hide area is designed to accept substrate. For me, some very occasional direct squirts with a handheld sprayer is sufficient for misting - saving some nice interaction for the keeper. I haven’t tried to create windy conditions - although there is of course a mild draft directly below the outlet. Scientific understanding of the behavioural impact of windy conditions on reptiles in the wild is incomplete. www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306456524000731 Thanks so much for your support - more content is on the way.
Thanks so much for watching and for taking the time to provide feedback. Please note the upper hide area is designed to accept loose substrate and additional loose substrate can be added to the entire floor area at the keeper’s discretion. Also, it's an important point to recognise that rocky and hard surfaces ARE substrate. Indeed rocky, hard surfaces are the predominant habitat substrate at the featured locality - Tibooburra Dome. As mentioned in the video, an abundance of hard, abrasive surfaces is critically important for ensuring correct wear of claws and femoral pores in the bearded dragon. If the enclosure is dominated by loose substrate, this cannot be achieved. Thanks for your compliments and welcome to the channel. There's a lot more content to come! MR
I live in Canada and I have a pair of Pogona henrylawsoni. I’ve been researching their native range and would be interested in replicating what you have done for your bearded dragon. If only I could head out there and experience it for myself…
Don’t feel so bad - I know most people who keep reptiles want to do the best by their animals. I consider the pet industry and many influencers chiefly responsible - for wrongly suggesting that these animals can easily cope with substandard setups. For those with existing animals there’s always room for improvements and it doesn’t always require quite as much expense as I went to here. More videos are on the way and I’ll consider some content featuring the most economical ways to replace and update reptile enclosures. All the best. MR
Hi - glad you enjoyed the video and great question! Lizard hearing is in the 100 to 4000 hertz range. They hear slightly less of both the higher and lower frequencies than humans. The dehumidifier is audible but not a problem. My experience with most animals is that life support system noises are largely ignored as background “grey noise”. The benefits the system brings for the animals health outweigh the noise consideration. A good example is the essential use of pumps in aquaria. The pump for the dripper however is quite loud - and I’ll admit I’ve wondered if this may be a little annoying - particularly for any humans nearby! On the other hand this only activates infrequently and the noise may actually assist the animal in identifying when water is available! Like the Pavlov’s dog experiment. If the enclosure doesn’t sell I may test this with a bearded dragon in a future video…
@@Maelstrom_Rider thank you for your reply. this is all very interesting! your knowledge and love & respect for the natural world and its inhabitants is inspiring!!! sending much love and best wishes!!!!
Hi, if possible can you do this with ball pythons too? I have an empty 5x2x2 for my baby. He seems to want to climb. I only have a single video to look at and it’s all near villages. I am having a really rough time mimicking his habitat and I can’t afford to go to West Africa. Thanks
Hi - the series is on Australian reptiles but there will be some python builds in future that might be helpful. In the meantime there should be plenty of ball python care information available online. Good luck with it.
@ thank You I subscribed so if you make one one day. Also, I am fine with their care, I am just having trouble with replicating their natural habitat. There is very little info on it.
Immediately followed upon hearing you mention that humans are indeed wild creatures and that many of our self created problems arise from our forgetting this truth, which is a thought I share and talk about often!
Thanks for sharing your views.. I’ve deliberately excluded live plants for various reasons including in consideration of humidity control. Live plants will feature in some of my other builds where appropriate. Real stones are fitted in the floor but for the main outcrop would weigh several tonnes! I’ll discuss my position on so-called “Bioactive” enclosures in detail in upcoming content. Thanks for watching.
The following items have been identified as FAQs
Lighting:
Please note that some UV lighting was not yet installed or not switched on in the enclosure at the time of shooting the end sequences, giving a somewhat dim appearance.
Two 54W T5 Arcadia D3+ Dragon 14% UVB tubes and an additional 24W Arcadia tube are now fitted (these are represented by the violet graphics at the end of the video).
Feeding:
Insect distribution system is for supplemental feeding and enrichment only. The keeper needs to provide a suitable diet dominated by vegetable matter, together with some varied protein sources and supplements. Restraint is advisable with portions however.
Substrate:
Burrowing species don’t dig because they “like to dig” - they dig for a purpose - to create shelter, access prey, access different temperatures, humidities etc. Simply providing substrate in an enclosure does not necessarily enrich the animal unless it also serves many of the above purposes.
Wild inland bearded dragons are more than happy to utilise existing hide structures in the landscape or the abandoned burrows of other animals.
Local habitat varies greatly throughout Pogona vitticeps' range of more than 1million sq km. At the featured locality - the Tibooburra Dome, rocky and hard surfaces predominate and areas of loose, excavable substrate are the exception rather than the rule.
In my design I have provided fully formed shelter sites such as those that are found amongst the rock outcrops around the dome. The temperatures, humidities, and insulation afforded by these spaces cover key reasons the animals may otherwise seek to dig a burrow in sandy locations. I’ve left room for a little substrate for the animal to do some finishing touches but most of the work is done.
Please note that hard surfaces are substrate too - and in captive bearded dragons hard, abrasive surfaces are critical for the natural wear of claws and femoral pore exudate.
Plants:
Live plants have not been used in this instance in the interest of maintaining humidity at the desired levels. Upcoming content includes live vegetation where its use is appropriate.
Aesthetics:
Some features of the exhibit are dedicated purely to their husbandry functionality. Others are more centred on human enjoyment of the exhibit and as a way to ensure the subject animal’s place in nature is remembered and celebrated. The scenic backdrop and its lighting effects for example align more with the latter.
Thanks for your continued engagement and support!
MR
This is the direction the hobby needs to move in. A few of us are relaying the importance of mimicing the natural environment of said animal is found in. Looking forward to seeing what comes next! Amazing work
Thank you. Definitely more to come.
The best beardie enclosure you'll probably ever see
Thank you - more to come….
HOLY SH!T !!!!! You beat me to it at a much more extreme level and I am so glad you did. Many of the features are things iv had bouncing around in my head and it's so cool to see them come to life and then you took it a step further with things I hadn't even thought of. And most importantly the research aspect of the build and showing where they are from and what they are doing, SO Important. From one Aus to another Thankyou, I look forward do seeing more from you, Thankyou for joining the fight to push the Reptile Scene Foward .
Regards Damian.
No worries Damian - glad you enjoyed it and there’s more in the works.
This feels like some kind of unaired Animal Planet pilot, seriously the quality is AMAZING, and such a great idea for a channel! It's so informative, and inspiring and I love the adventure aspect of you going to their natural habitats. I'm actually in the process of building a new enclosure for a 2 year old Central American boa myself and though I did things a little differently (for obvious reasons), I have the same view that you need to be giving these animals spaces that reflect their natural home and encourage natural behaviors. Channels like this are really good for the reptile hobby and larger animal community in general.
Regarding your enclosure, its way more advanced in every way than I initially realized and my favorite feature you added is the backdrop that can mimic natural light cycles, so cool!! Best of luck here on UA-cam, I can't wait to see what you'll do next :)
Thanks so much for your kind and supportive words! There’s definitely more on the way.
This is the most comprehensive and scientifically based reptile video that actually goes into the topics involving there natural havitst
I’ll stick to leapord geckos 😅
Thank you - early days & more content on the way.
Incredible, thanks for sharing this. I think everyone thinking of keeping these lizards should watch this and then think long and hard about how they will mimic a build like this. The reptile hobby should sit up and listen, this is the way forward. I stopped keeping reptiles some time ago as i was depressed by the thought of live animals essentially living in a wooden, glass fronted box! If i were to ever start int he hobby again, this would be the channel i would come to for enclosure inspiration. Awesome work, thank you. A.
Thanks so much for your words of support! In a way this is also my return to the fold. More content in the works.
Totally agree with your comments about people needing to lift there game. I live in Queensland and keep my reptiles outdoors as much as possible live plants misting systems waterfall/features. The enclosures become like little ecosystems with all the insects spiders and skinks that take up residence. Awesome video and enclosure
Thanks for the support and feedback. Outdoors is definitely great when you’re in the right spot. There will be an outdoor build later in the year……
This is superb. Looking forward to more.
Awesome, thank you!
This is an insane build crazy good work and the attention to detail in every aspect
Glad you enjoyed it. More on the way.
This is truly outstanding work. I’ve watched about 1000 reptile videos on UA-cam and this by far is the best. You really captured the essence of the animal and it’s amazing. No lies were told in this video this truly is the worlds best bearded dragon setup. Your content is so underrated
Thank you so much! Early days and more content on the way. Cheers
Beautiful enclosure!
I'm glad you think so.
This is definitely one of the best bearded dragon setups out there!
Thank you. More to come.
One of?
This is amazing! As someone who is new to reptiles this helps a lot to understand the needs of the bearded dragon. Perfect inspiration for designing my first enclosure. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful! More is on the way
AMAZING! Would love a little more background on the materials you used to buildout the rocks and paint them. You could even do a second video for a deeper dive into the buildout, as I feel that part left me wanting more.
Thanks for your feedback! There’s a lot of interest in the rockwork and I’ll consider a deeper dive in future content. One reason I’m hesitant however is that the flexible render, which has some ultimately very useful properties, is also annoyingly very difficult to work with…
Wouldn't clay be a really good material to make rocks out of for bearded dragons? Just think about terracotta pots, they hold heat very well. If your light would move over the cause of the day too, that would allow the dragon to "follow" the heat? Clay is easy to form and you wouldn't need to fire it, as the enclosure would be very minimal humidity and the clay would hold. Wouldn't it? LOVE how you built went into the consideration about what really matters for the animal by looking at their live in the wild, really cool! (I'm a aquarium person, not planning to ever get a bearded dragon, but I would like to see more builds like this!)
The difficulty would come for example when it’s time to clean the surface with liquid cleaning solutions. Surface still needs to be water tight. Thanks for your support and feedback!
@@Maelstrom_Rider I see! Makes sense. Maybe if you would manage to lean more into a bioactive enclosure, that would (through decomposing organisms) clean itself it wouldn't be an issue... But you set the bar super high already, love the build and wish you all the best! :)
I’m going to address the “Bioactive” concept in some detail in future content. My views on this will not please everyone.
Brovo sir!
Keep on pushing these boundaries, keep on educating, and keep on inspiring! We all need. Learn how to do better for these animals. The bare minimum standards have been the plague of animal keeping for far too long.
I can’t wait to see what you do next!
Thank you, I will
Wow this was incredible! Lots of great info and gave me a good idea of how I need to build mine. Thank you 🙏 can’t wait to see what’s next!!🎉 Happy New Year!
Thank you so much! Happy New Year! And there’s definitely more on the way! 🎉
Best video this year so far
Considering YT has ~500 hours of upload per minute I’m still going to take that as a compliment! 😉 Happy New Year!
@ im including last year too 😉 the amount of effort and love for this project are incredible and I have never seen this on UA-cam… just build something that’s beautiful and finish, but not you… keep up👍🏻
Thanks so much mate! More on the way.
I’m glad you mentioned providing a microclimate with higher humidity (: so many keepers either fly to one end or the other with humidity for their reptiles, when in reality, humidity and moisture in the wild is cyclical. Daily and seasonally!
Really nicely done. One thing I’m curious about regarding feeding- how would you ensure your dragon is getting the calcium supplementation they need? In the wild they have those extremely calcium-rich plants to offset the phosphorus in the bugs they eat. The bug-supply tubing for spontaneous feeding was very interesting (I’m also interested to see how you may provide other protein sources with this method, like different species of roach or the occasional worm or fly) but doesn’t seem to allow for consistent calcium dusting of the bugs. I’m also curious as to how you would approach providing plant matter. Would most supplementation be provided with the plant matter?
Lastly, while I love the overall structure and layout of your build, I did find the lighting leaving something to be desired. While you drove around in the wild, you could really see just how incredibly bright and sunny it was in these animals’ habitat. But the enclosure itself looked dark and gloomy, with little to no information regarding what you were using for UVB, UVA, heating, and full-spectrum LED lighting. Plus no info on what readings you were getting from the lights provided and if they actually met what the dragons you visited in the wild were experiencing in terms of UV index, LUX readings, the actual temps, etc.
I understand that you’re not keeping this setup of course- I would just hope that whoever won the auction of this great setup knows that the lighting needs a big boost to meet what dragons require, and that they know exactly what to shoot for (: overall great job, nicely done, looking forward to more as we push forward towards progress in this hobby!
If you scroll through the comments you’ll find some further explanations around lighting. Will also be more on this in future content. Insect distributor would definitely not be the sole source of food - intent is to use as a supplement / enrichment device. Insects calcium/ phosphorus ratio can be improved via gutloading. Other sources of vegetable/protein/supplements would still need to be provided by the keeper. I’d just stress in lower quantities than is typically offered.
Thanks for your feedback and support!
@ thanks! I’ll be happy to do that. I 100% agree, many dragons are horribly overfed. Not only that, but they’re also offered such little variation in food that malnutrition often becomes an issue as well. I hope one day there’s some kind of thorough test all keepers must pass before being allowed to adopt an exotic animal. I think the hobby would progress far quicker that way!
It’s also just dawned on me that that on most of the lighting sequences in the video I have the UV lamp switched off under the rock (because the photographer in me preferred the warmer look) and the upper UVs are not yet even fitted! The supplier sent me two 4 footers instead of 2 footers and I didn’t get the correct ones in before the end of the shoot.
Oh dear. Apologies if I've been short with previous responses. I’m going to be answering a lot of lighting questions…..
@ aw man! Time for a pinned comment haha
Absolutely inspiring!
Thanks so much for your support and glad you enjoyed it!
This is the best bearded dragon care, environment, housing, and explanation video that I have ever seen!!! Thank you. I am definitely making big changes to our beardie enclosure after seeing this. Liked and subscribed, too.
Glad it was helpful! More videos on the way.
Wow! This is beautiful!
Thank you! Happy New Year!
This has got to be the best bearded dragon enclosure I have ever seen! I strive to give my animals such a wonderful space to live in as this one. I would love to see a video similar to this on northern blue tongue skinks.
Wow, thank you! A Tilqua project will come a little further down the road.
@ I can’t wait!
Truly incredible and so inspiring!
I guess I have to revamp my beardies enclosure.
Thank you and good luck with the revamp.
This is amazing! I’d love to see a setup based on freshwater turtles, I’ve been trying so hard to find a channel that can give me the natural history on painted turtles and the best environment designs for them
Thanks for your feedback! A turtle build might be interesting for future content - I have quite a bit of experience with freshwater semi-aquatic systems. I only deal with Australian species but many principles would still apply. Cheers
Absolutely beautiful.
Thank you so much & Happy New Year!
This was insanely impressive! Thank you for sharing. I'd love to learn more about exactly how you do the rock work
Thank you! I’ll consider a deeper dive on the rockwork for future content. Cheers
Fantastic build! Some really new and unique techniques that I have not come across before which is very interesting! The humidity issue is a combination of issues in captivity. Quite often an enclosure with poor ventilation, to damp and insufficient heating - resulting in RI’s.
One idea I have been playing around with in my head is a lighting unit (with basking lights for heat, LED spots for intensity and UVB) on a movable track that moves across the enclosure. I hope that I get the opportunity to try it out one day.
Looking forward to your next build! Happy New Year!
Great idea! Thanks for the feedback and support and happy new year!
@@Maelstrom_Rider
Lastly: A suggestion. at 41:40. If possible, lower the flight speed slightly (I would try half speed). The background moves really fast so it hard to take in the beauty of the landscape.
This gave me a ton to think about! I am new to the hobby, doing a huge amount of research before I get into it. I have had a lot of conflicting thoughts about how to keep reptiles in a way that I feel is responsible to the animals, and you did this quite well. I am gonna consider how you addressed these design elements when constructing my collared lizard vivarium. They are somewhat smaller than Beardies, but they fill a similar ecological niche in the scrub of Southwest America.
Glad it was useful for you. Good luck with the vivarium.
Actually the best video i have seen this year so far
Cheers. Happy New Year!
Wow, great video. Absolute banger 🔥
Glad you enjoyed it. More on the way!
The best beardie build on all of UA-cam for sure 👍🏽 and finally someone who doesn’t use spray foam I thought I was the only one haha. Well done brother.
Curse that foam! Thank you.
Condolences for your loss, life is magic and energy lives forever
Thank you
Watched for two minutes and subscribed. This is some of the highest quality stuff I’ve seen on this platform.
Thank you - much appreciated! There’s more on the way.
I’ve never kept a reptile, and probably never will, but this was fascinating to watch. Incredibly well thought out and so aesthetically pleasing. Subscribed.
Thanks for watching and glad you enjoyed it.
WTF!?!? This is insane!! What a Job You’ve done!!
Thanks mate.
This is absolutely fantastic! I'm getting my first beardie soon, and I've been doing deep research for about 3 years now. I want to have the most naturalistic, bioactive environment possible. The enclosure is 6x2x2, and I'm super excited to start getting it set up. I would love to bid on your enclosure, but I'm afraid it would never fit up the stairs of my third floor apartment. It truly is zoo quality! Shalom from Israel.
Thank you and good luck with your build! Happy New Year!
Great stuff
Thank you. Subscribed. Love to see other animals too like ackies.
More content on the way. Cheers
Incredible setup! Lots of thought went into that and showcasing the wild animals as justification is perfect. Also a special dotty gecko is the next build? Keen to see more!
Thank you! There’s definitely gekkota in future content…
Thank you for putting together such a well made video showing an equally well made project. I really look forward to all of your future content!
Thank you so much! Definitely more to come.
En verdad un trabajo titanico, el mejor recinto de conservación para dragones barbudos. Esto sí garantiza el bienestar animal. Mi total reconocimiento hacia ti. Te saluda un herpetologist veterinary desde Tlaxcala, México.
Hola & thank you! Really appreciate your feedback as a reptile veterinarian. More videos on the way.
Interesting video mate lots of good info! Keen to see whats next
Thanks mate - many more builds in the cooker…
Truly amazing work! I was searching for inspiration to build an enclosure before getting a mid-size lizard and your approach totally stands out of what we usually see. Thanks and keep up the good work. I'm looking forward for the next videos.
Thank you & good luck with your build! More videos on the way.
Glad your video popped up on my feed i havent watched yet but i like what i see in the thumbnail and comments.
Cheers
Absolutely amazing 👏 more content like this needs to be out there for the greater reptile community hopefully everyone can pull there finger out an strive to give there animals something like this , Absolutely brilliant mate well done keep it up 😁🥳👍
Thanks mate - more on the way.
Very well made, inspiring video about reptile keeping. Thank you for your work, please keep 'em coming.
Would you say the steel framing and plaster could work in a more humid environment?
The render is waterproof. Provided the steel is galvanised there should be no problem in humid setups. There are some builds of this type coming in future content. Thanks for the appreciation and support 👍.
Wow your vidéo us truly a masterpiece! I enjoyed every minute of it. I absolutely love these kind of enclosures and looking forward to see other videos like this one. Would be really interested in one about Varanus glauerti!😊
Glad you enjoyed it! Will definitely be a Varanus project in the future.
This is insane man, wait till this video gets more traction
Thank you!
Ok i watched it! Very good craftsmanship I liked the render and paint techniques for the rock. As far as life support systems its like you rummaged around in my head and found my brainstorms from the past 12 years. From the auto feeder to an hvac system to the heat cable ledges. Does the dehumidifier make enough air flow to replicate wind? As far as rain simulation do you have plans for a short quick shower like a high velocity fan ducted into the rocks or canopy with a few dripping wicks to be blown across the rocks. I noted no plants or digging opportunities is this for humidity control or just cleanliness? Awesome video i hope to see some live edible plants native to bearded dragon country in the future. My thought have always been on the herbivorous herps to have an unclimbable ledge with a potted edible plant set into the ledge and branches or leaves could trail down to be eaten. The plant could be swapped out to give it a break too or to mimic seasonal changes in availability. Purslane is one that comes to mind as a good plant for this species. Second, a desert species of the pea family either creeping or shrubby. Tiny leaves made for not transpiring water. Watch a grasshopper climb that and get a feeding response that is super strong! Loved the ideas ingenuity and presentation keep it up!👍👍👍
You have some great ideas!
I generally don’t use live plants in indoor arid enclosures. As you suggested, life support requirements for desert plants can be somewhat incompatible with optimal captive conditions for the animal (watering, required light spectrum, contribution to enclosure humidity etc). Not to say it’s completely impossible however and in upcoming content you’ll see some use of live plants where a solution to the above is removable modules on rotation through an external nursery.
The upper hide area is designed to accept substrate.
For me, some very occasional direct squirts with a handheld sprayer is sufficient for misting - saving some nice interaction for the keeper.
I haven’t tried to create windy conditions - although there is of course a mild draft directly below the outlet. Scientific understanding of the behavioural impact of windy conditions on reptiles in the wild is incomplete.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306456524000731
Thanks so much for your support - more content is on the way.
@@Maelstrom_Rider thanks for the thorough response
It is the best enclosure i have ever seen, but why did you put so little substrate?
Thanks so much for watching and for taking the time to provide feedback.
Please note the upper hide area is designed to accept loose substrate and additional loose substrate can be added to the entire floor area at the keeper’s discretion.
Also, it's an important point to recognise that rocky and hard surfaces ARE substrate. Indeed rocky, hard surfaces are the predominant habitat substrate at the featured locality - Tibooburra Dome.
As mentioned in the video, an abundance of hard, abrasive surfaces is critically important for ensuring correct wear of claws and femoral pores in the bearded dragon. If the enclosure is dominated by loose substrate, this cannot be achieved.
Thanks for your compliments and welcome to the channel. There's a lot more content to come!
MR
Thank you sir. Beautiful work great presentation of the information, brilliant.
Thanks Ben!
Amazing! Absolutely love it!
Thanks Jason - much more to come!
Not gonna lie, really hoping for a blue tongue to see them in nature
Getting one next year
Beardies get all the attention lol
That's one hell of a first video! Subbed!
Thanks so much for the support! More in the works…
now this is art
Cheers mate. More to come.
Pretty incredible!
Thank you! More videos on the way.
omg wow this is amazing
Glad you enjoyed it - more on the way…
Thank you 🙏🏻
You’re welcome 😊
I live in Canada and I have a pair of Pogona henrylawsoni. I’ve been researching their native range and would be interested in replicating what you have done for your bearded dragon. If only I could head out there and experience it for myself…
There’s definitely potential for a similar approach with a Pogona henrylawsoni build.
what did you use on the cloth and chicken wire, concrete?
Rockwork technical details may be covered in upcoming content. Thanks for your interest.
What materials did you use to make the fake rock work?
Hello - will cover rockwork in future content.
Nice one mate, subscribed. Reckon this kind of set up would be good for an Ackie monitor as well? Or will that require a seperate video :) ?
Thanks for your support!
That one might justify another trip for future content.
A very nice enclosure it kinda makes me sad because it makes my bearded dragons enclosure look horrible i need to improve it
Don’t feel so bad - I know most people who keep reptiles want to do the best by their animals. I consider the pet industry and many influencers chiefly responsible - for wrongly suggesting that these animals can easily cope with substandard setups.
For those with existing animals there’s always room for improvements and it doesn’t always require quite as much expense as I went to here. More videos are on the way and I’ll consider some content featuring the most economical ways to replace and update reptile enclosures.
All the best.
MR
INCREDIBLE Video, subscribed immediately
Hi - glad you enjoyed the video and great question!
Lizard hearing is in the 100 to 4000 hertz range. They hear slightly less of both the higher and lower frequencies than humans. The dehumidifier is audible but not a problem. My experience with most animals is that life support system noises are largely ignored as background “grey noise”. The benefits the system brings for the animals health outweigh the noise consideration. A good example is the essential use of pumps in aquaria.
The pump for the dripper however is quite loud - and I’ll admit I’ve wondered if this may be a little annoying - particularly for any humans nearby! On the other hand this only activates infrequently and the noise may actually assist the animal in identifying when water is available! Like the Pavlov’s dog experiment. If the enclosure doesn’t sell I may test this with a bearded dragon in a future video…
@@Maelstrom_Rider thank you for your reply. this is all very interesting! your knowledge and love & respect for the natural world and its inhabitants is inspiring!!! sending much love and best wishes!!!!
This is amazing, I hope you do some python enclosures!
Thank you so much! Appreciate your support. A python build is in the pipeline as it happens....
Hi, if possible can you do this with ball pythons too? I have an empty 5x2x2 for my baby. He seems to want to climb. I only have a single video to look at and it’s all near villages. I am having a really rough time mimicking his habitat and I can’t afford to go to West Africa. Thanks
Hi - the series is on Australian reptiles but there will be some python builds in future that might be helpful. In the meantime there should be plenty of ball python care information available online. Good luck with it.
@ thank You I subscribed so if you make one one day.
Also, I am fine with their care, I am just having trouble with replicating their natural habitat. There is very little info on it.
Immediately followed upon hearing you mention that humans are indeed wild creatures and that many of our self created problems arise from our forgetting this truth, which is a thought I share and talk about often!
A kindred human creature you are! Glad you enjoyed it. More on the way.
Is your dragon going to Mars?
Ha!
Why no bioactivity? No real rocks or plants from the native environment that forged them?
Thanks for sharing your views..
I’ve deliberately excluded live plants for various reasons including in consideration of humidity control. Live plants will feature in some of my other builds where appropriate.
Real stones are fitted in the floor but for the main outcrop would weigh several tonnes!
I’ll discuss my position on so-called “Bioactive” enclosures in detail in upcoming content.
Thanks for watching.
cool tank also read the bible I think it will answer some your questions.
Cheers