The basic requirements in creating a simple reptile habitat that will be suitable for your reptiles are

1.. Heat
2.. A container with no sharp edges
3.. The correct humidity
4.. Food
5.. Some form of ground cover such as sand or pebbles and twigs
6.. An adequate water supply.

An old or unused aquarium, custom cages, and boxes of the home made variety and not made of metal are all good places for your reptiles habitat hide box.
Ensure that the reptiles enclosure is not to large or heavy to carry. The habitat hidebox may need to be relocated to a new protected or sunny area.

Lining of the cage for your reptile habitat can be newspapers or shredded paper from the office shredder if it is available. The paper is easy to change and best of all it is free.
Do not use any wax type of paper or paper that has a high gloss to its surface.

Turtles hide box

Turtles will need a more humid lining, such as soil mixed with peat moss and moisture added. The home garden and pot plants will provide most of these raw materials.
Geckos and some other small lizards will like some smooth stones in the bottom of the cage. Snakes will appreciate rocks with a course surface to facilitate in their skin shedding. Iguanas and snakes will both like garden branches for climbing.

If a trip to the country is not possible, these raw materials for a reptiles habitat can be obtained from your local garden supplier.
The tank lining should be changed regularly to maintain a hygienic environment for your pet.

Reptile Habitats hide box

A hide box is used to provide a secure and secluded place for rest and relaxation for your reptile.
The hide box can be a shallow plastic container with a hole cut in the side and filled with one to two inches ( 25 to 50 millimeters ) of damp vermiculite or moss. Newspaper can also be used but the paper needs to be damped regularly and the ink that is used for printing may become a problem for your reptile.

Reptile hidebox

Containers suitable for a medium sized reptiles hidebox are used ice cream container or something similar.
If no food containers are available, any substitute container that is to be used for the hide must be scrubbed and disinfected to remove any possible residue chemical or previous contents.
Hide boxes can double as a nesting area for some species of reptiles.

The next thing to provide for this budget reptile habitat is a heat source.
Reptiles depend on air temperature to maintain their correct body heat. Normal room temperatures are too cold for most reptiles, so you'll need to provide warmth for the reptiles enclosure as well as provide a hot spot for basking.
Normal house lights can be used to provide the heat source for your reptile hidebox but position the light where you or your pet cannot accidentally touch it. If a method of shading the light without blocking its heat supply can be adapted in the reptiles habitat this will enhance the comfort level of the habitat.

A custom built reptile container that is ideal for a hide box or sanctuary for reptiles is available from this web site. The container for reptiles can be used free standing or mounted.
They are weather proof, can be fully immersed in cleaning water and are available with or without a heated floor.

The reptile hidebox or heated reptile hide box will not rust and can be buried beneath the substrate or camouflaged.

reptile container

Heat for reptiles

To find out the correct temperature that is required for your pets habitat, a phone call to a pet shop that sells reptiles or their food will help in determining the correct temperature for your pet.
There are many good reptile forums on the Internet that will assist you in most areas of reptile care.

It is important that you check your reptiles habitat temperature constantly. The best way to be sure you are providing adequate heat for your reptile is to use a thermometer.
These can be bought cheaply at most supermarkets in either the kitchen section or the health and first aid section.

Lighting for a reptiles habitat

Providing heat for your pet is only a part of its requirement for a healthy habitat and hide box.
A source of ultraviolet light must also be provided for its well being.
Because we are trying to assemble an economy habitat for your reptile, the use of ultraviolet lights that can be purchased from a pets shop is out of our budget range.

We need to revert back to what nature has provided and use the suns natural warming and ultra violet light source.
This is an area where great care must be take as it will be very easy to burn or dehydrate your pet.

If your reptile habitat is an old aquarium or it has large areas of glass surfaces, these must be painted over.
The heat from the sun that can build up through a glass enclosure could kill your pet very quickly. The best solution for large areas of glass is to paint the glass that is most exposed to the sun. If the glass to the reptiles enclosure needs to be painted, use a white wash or the same water based paint that is used for the inside walls of a house. The glass should be painted on the outside of the reptiles home and given an adequate time to dry before placing the reptile in its new home. It will require at least two days before all the paint fumes have evaporated. Do not use full sided metal containers as a cheap source of reptiles habitat.

Reptiles and ultra violet light

The reptiles habitat and reptile hide box needs to be exposed to the sun as a heat and UV source of light. The internal temperature of the reptiles habitat will increase to a dangerous level for a container that has full metal sides and the heat could injure or kill your reptile.

When you first position the habitat and hidebox outside in the sun, place an old roof tile or piece of slate on the floor of the enclosure and to one end of the habitat to allow the tile to capture and retain some of the suns warmth.

A piece of shade cloth or other open weave material will be required to cover the entire top of the reptiles habitat.
On top of this shade cloth place a piece of wood or some other full shade material covering approximately a third of the top of the enclosure.

A connection to www.animalhelp.com veterinary web site.
As you gain experience, you can expose more of the enclosures top to the suns warmth until you reach a good balance of heat and UV for your reptile. There are some heaters and reptile heat rocks on the market that are reasonably priced and can be used for a reptiles habitat. Budget priced heaters can be found at heatal.com The heaters are small and portable.

Water and a reptiles habitat

Water is an important part of your reptiles habitat.
In addition to drinking it, some reptiles need to periodically soak in water to keep their scaly bodies sufficiently moist and to help in the shedding of their skin.
When supplying a water container ensure that the sides are not to high or smooth. Your pet will use the container to swim or soak in.
The water must be kept clean from any food residue and feces. An old cup saucer is an ideal water container for a small to medium sized lizard.

The reptiles cage should have the correct level of humidity. To achieve a level of humidity for your pet you can reuse any manual commercial spray container to lightly mist your pet.
The sprayer must be cleaned properly of any of the old original contents.

Pet health and reptiles habitat care sheets have been provided free
for your personal use.
The reptile habitat care sheet has come from a variety of professional sources but should only be used as a general
guide to help you understand your pets health.
They should not be used as a substitute for proper vetinarian advice.

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