Combo enclosure: Caiman Lizard top, Ackie monitor bottom.

I wanted to fully utilize a corner in my garage so I figured I would make an ackie enclosure at ground level and build the caiman lizard cage on  top.   You can see photos of my progress in the Photos: Cages  section.   I first used drylok to paint everything with 2-3  coats.  Since both of these enclosures are high humidity I wanted to lay
the drylok on thick and I also caulked all the corners.  Next I built up  from the base and tried to plan it out.  This was my first attempt at a  semi aquatic cage, but I used to have many fish tanks that ranged in size with
the largest being 150 gallons.  For the water section I used a 50 gallon  Rubbermaid stock tank and connected a 200 gallon rated canister filter with UV,  and 300 watt heater.  I know for the tank size it’s a bit much but I’d
rather go over for both heating and filtration than wish I had more later.   I tried to use material that wouldn’t rot with such high humidity so I used all  types of plastics around the stock tank like shower paneling and pvc molding for  the sides.  For decoration I was fortunate enough to use all types of wood  from my property like bamboo and vines, and I picked up all the live plants from  HD.  This project was quite expensive with the main expenses being lights,  filter, glass, and then all other materials which add up very quickly.  I  wanted to do it right as the ackies were due for an upgrade and I wanted to make  sure the caimans have proper water filtration since this is my first go round  with a semi aquatic lizard.  There were a lot of details for this enclosure and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out even if the caimans out grow it in a year or so.  When that happens I would love to look into maybe some
Shinisaurus to put into that enclosure!