LB's ***TEMPORARY*** Tank

[LauraCox]

As some of you know I rescued a 13" Culvier's Dwarf Caiman (L.B. or Little B*tch) about three days ago from a man who had her in pretty bad conditions (living in a tupperware, improper lighting, etc...). My plan is to make her a large enclosure in my garage of about 12' by 12' but she was given to me in a large gray container and thus for three days has hung out in my bathtub with some cleaverly duct-taped lights and make-shift land.





Tonight I gathered up some men (with the reward of beer and pizza...humans are such simple creatures!) to drive out to my mom's house about 45 minutes away and load up my old 125 gallon aquarium I used to keep a pair of hypo-red bearded dragons in and bring it back to my place. We got back about 9:30. It's slightly after 3am and I just finished my initial set up.



DISCLAIMER: I know this tank is too small for her even now, but it is VERY temporary while I build a SUPER cool and spacious one. Also, my house is a mess. The addition of a rescued ferret, two salamanders, and a caiman has made my life a bit chaotic. Any comments, suggestions or the like would be appreciated.


So here's the build, bit by bit:

1. I went out yesterday and bought/gathered all necessary parts for the build and did some construction for the lid etc... I found some old filters I had laying about as well as a UW heater. My friend Tommy works for a landscaping company and he said I could come and have my pick of the landscaping "discard" pile as long as I collected it and hauled it off myself. I gathered what I could and loaded it into the back of my Camry. I walk my dog by a local creek and I found this really cool shaped dead stump. I took it home, pressure washed it, and then drilled it into some slate (with help of my handy friend Steve).





Drilling through slate is super hard, I don't recommend it and will probably never do it again.




That was some of the stuff and about 1/2 the gravel I got for the tank. The long tupperware container is what the previous owner had housed LB in with a shoddy-made screen dome over it and a really dirty cinder block (below) for her to crawl out onto but she was too big and could never completely dry off.



2. Once the tank was in place and the pizza was consumed I started the ever tedious process of washing EVERYTHING (including the tank) in a low-bleach water solution.



3. I started loading everything into the tank how I thought I wanted it. It took some rearranging and redesigning but I finally got it situated. I used some brick and slate to protect the underwater heater and fogger (two things I haven't actually turned on because my water and humidity temps have been AWESOME)










(water and humidity readings from BEFORE I finished the build.)

4. The tank had a make-shift screen top on it that I had used for the beardies but I knew that wasn't going to work for the Caiman as their humidity has to be much higher. I went and got some ply wood from the garage which I measured and cut and then further mutilated with an electric jig saw. I drilled some holes to allow for some humidity escape, a "feeding hatch" and I cut larger holes for the lighting. I also painted the whole thing brown. The lights are screwed onto the top basically because I have cats and they love to mess with things otherwise I would have just placed them and not have screwed them down. This is where I also made my first major mistake. The wood swells slightly with the humidity (already!) and it kinda warps up. This isn't a huge deal as it is cut into three sections and fits snugly on top of the tank. It just doesn't look as nice.




5. After everything was situated to how I liked it, I added water (treated with ReptiSafe).


6. Wrangle caiman from bath tub, release into water. Add meat. Done.


On a some-what unrelated note: Once LB is in her big perma-home I'll need something else to home here. Any suggestions?

[ViperJr]

Not a single attachment works, unfortunately. I would love to see the process.

[LauraCox]

Not a single attachment works, unfortunately. I would love to see the process.

I think I fixed the problem, Thanks!

[Jenste]

LB certainly is lucky to have found you!

Great temporary tank....if this is the work you put into a temporary tank then I can not wait to see her full enclosure!

[ViperJr]

I second Jenste's statement! The real, full-size enclosure is going to be amazing, considering this amount of work on a temp-tank.
LB sure came to the right home.

[UncleChester]

I'll third Jenste's statement. Nice work on the temporary tank, and can't wait to see the full size version!