CAGES FOR YOUR REPTILE

Before you decide to purchase reptile as your pets, you must thinking about where your reptile will be placed. You need to prepare a comfortable house. Preparing cage is the most essentials if you want to keep pets.

Cages must be escape proof, easy to disinfect, free of sharp edges, ventilated, and hold heat to ensure proper temperatures. Avoid unfinished wood and porous surfaces when designing custom cages; these surfaces are difficult to clean and disinfect

There are many types of cages available for reptiles these days, made from several different materials. Each design and material has advantages and disadvantages. There is no perfect cage design!

Plastic cages are ideal for a semi-humid environment, are lightweight, are easy to clean, and have good visibility. But, they don’t always hold heat well, can crack or melt, may be impossible to stack, and can be very expensive.

Glass aquarium tanks will not suffer from contact with moisture, and give excellent visibility, and they are cheap. But, you will need to build a cover, heat and humidity loss out the top is high every time you open them, breakage is common, and stacking is again a problem. In my opinion, aquariums are best at what they were designed for fish.

Melamine cages are affordable, attractive, easily cleaned, hold heat well, and can be easily stacked. However, they are heavy to move, and excessive moisture will damage the cage components. Even if you exercise reasonable care with moisture, eventually melamine will degrade.

Wood cages have the same general characteristics as melamine although somewhat lighter and slightly more resistant to moisture damage. But, they must be painted or sealed to allow easy cleanup, and even then they will absorb odors. Unless you have the tools and skills to apply a professional laminate such as Formica, wood is not the best choice for a humid environment.

Screened cages, such as those sold for chameleons, should be avoided...they are much to open to maintain a proper humid environment.

Plastic tubs, available commercially in many sizes, are ideal when enclosed in a cabinet designed to hold them. They maintain high humidity easily and will never be damaged from the moisture. They are an economical way to house many animals, but they do provide limited visibility, and require you to make a top or cabinet to use them. This is the easiest way to house a single neonate or yearling plans.