Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've just been asked to take charge of the reptile department in the store where i work. As my name suggests, i'm largely an aquarium guy, but i do have a reasonable amount of reptile experience, so the job fell on me by default. (THUD!)

Anyways, we've just taken over a run-down store and are doing alot of renovations, and we'd like to put in a small but NICE reptile section. Sadly, the bulk of my experience with commercial reptile enclosures is negative. Knowing what not to buy is useful, but it only gets me so far. Basically what I'm looking for is an enclosure system that can hold a diversity of reptiles and arachnids, etc. We arent looking at doing too much specialized stuff in it- small colubrids, a ball python or 2, tortoises, geckoes, etc. I'm looking for a system that looks very nice while meeting all the heating/UV needs of the animals. Security is a must - both in terms of theft prevention and animal escape. Ease of maintenance and air filtration would also be nice.

If anyone with working knowlege of a good system, or even negative feedback on systems they've worked with, can give me any pointers I would be highly appreciative. The system we're currently leaning towards is the Companion Habitats suncatcher unit. Looks very nice, but it's spendy as heck. Anyone use this? is it worth the expense?

Take a look at Zoomeds Euro style caging, they are nice and offer many of the features you may be interested in.

PK
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Peter Kriz
Senior Herpetologist
National Aquarium in Baltimore
(410)576-8722/3827
Sua Sponte

You can always contact some of the enclosure companies and inquire on a specialty unit. I know some will make customs if the order is large enough. You could also try to find a cabinet maker in your area that can build exactly what you want. As far as security goes, you will have options available depending how you decide to go (door locks are available for sliding or hinged doors). Another option would be going with a companies preset enclosure sizes and make a mix and match order for the sizes and types you would need. I know the main exotics shop in this area (one of the few really good petshops I've ever seen) uses Visions as their main display units, with 1 1/2 walls covered with varying sized units. It looks rather nice and is quite efficient.
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Randall L Turner Jr.
Boas make the world go round.