Smaug's New Home

Sometime in June or maybe even May, I saw this entertainment stand on the side of the road a street over for free, so I made Sebastian come load it in the SUV with me, and we brought it home.  And then Sebastian went to work, making the ultimate bearded dragon habitat.  

I also made a trip to the local furniture store where they gave me a bunch of styrofoam.  We lined it with styrofoam for insulation and then used it to sculpt our own Delicate Arch and Goblin Valley hoodoo as well as a nice little cave and steps.  We added the hammock that we already had too. 

Then we covered it all with grout.  

Then glued it in with this foamy stuff.  

Once that dried, we could carve it away. And then we grouted over that.  

And then Smaug had to try it out.

He approved.

We added some foliage, and since this was Utah themed, we added some Great Gallery Wall pictographs.

Sebastian worked on this all summer long, I think he actually finished it in July or August.  We also installed a light in the back that provides the correct amount of UV for a beardie of course.  We left the top open for a screen and heat lamps on the one end, so the habitat has a graded temp where it's hottest (roughly 108 usually on the basking spot) and then much cooler in the cave.

And then inserted a plexiglass sliding front and voila--it was done.  It was a ton of work and not as inexpensive as we first thought, because even stuff like glue and the grout coloring (we had grout on hand) added up.  But it was totally worth it!  Sebastian did soooooo amazing on it!!!  And it's super fun to see Smaug crawl across Delicate arch, although mostly he chills in his cave.  He loves that cave.  

Leo came to visit me when I was helping Sebas with the grout one day.  My forehead may be orange from it.