Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The guy building my tank (who knows nothing about beardies but is an excellent handyman) suggested a tank with plexiglass walls, sliding glass doors, thick plexiglass floor. He will put in vents on the sides/back.

Is this workable?

I am also wanting to buy a prefab hood that will hold a long UVB tube and a heat lamp. Does such a thing exist?

I'd have to ask the guys if plexiglass scratches up as badly as acrylic. Heat and scratches due to beardie nails and sand are the reasons I've been told not to use an acrylic tank. It might be fine if plexiglass doesn't have issues with those two problems.

Someone here with more experience in the matter will probably reply soon.

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Holly

0.1 Lavender California Kingsnake (Lizzie Borden) (missing )
1.0 Florida Kingsnake possible mix (Eddie Gein)
1.0 Bearded Dragon (Charley Manson)
1.0 Orange Marmalade Cat (Oliver)
1.0 Egyptian Arabian (Bagan)

2.0 Toddlers (Justice & Trevor)

Thanks for your thoughts. I don't use sand, so the only scratching would be from his nails. I don't think it would be a problem, but I do hope someone with some experience with plexi will let me know.

I have used plexiglass before, and it scratches really badly. It even seemed to warp a little due to heat, but it could have been other things. I got rid of it about 2 months after building it.

About the hoods, I am sure there are ones like the hood you seek, but I am sure they are expensive, and usually, hoods don't have a heat lamp socket that points down, which makes it a little more difficult to heat the cage.

Phil

Thanks Phil. I obviously haven't really researched the hoods yet. This tank thing is harder than I thought!

Have to agree on the plexiglass scratching issue. Even the scales on their sides scratch it up. It will look real bad real fast. I have used plexiglass doors temporarily until glass is done and they look bad within a week.

I have some ESU reptile hoods that have a fluorescent bulb and sockets for household type bulbs. The pic. below is of some I customized to hang under a shelf so nothing sits on top of the enclosure. I used a clamp lamp to make a basking spot.

When they changed to Zilla they changed from this design. I still see some around cheaper on closeout though. The downside is that it takes a lot of watts to heat a terrarium from above like this so now I only use this setup for nest boxes.

Personally I think the entire cage should not be all plexiglass. It will end up being more expensive than just using wood or regular glass. (only difference would be weight).

Plexiglass does scratch up and will warp if it gets too hot..depending on the thickness. Also, some dragons can really become stressed with too many clear sides. I had a cage built with plexiglass on the ends and part of the front and screen doors on front. The rest was wood though half the top was wire mesh, the other half wood. I attached the UVB fixture to the underside of the roof part and the heat lamp inserted through an opening of the wire mesh. The new cage I built has both light fixtures on the inside of the cage...the UVB fixture suspended on chains so its lower..and better able to provide UVB (as I use the florescent tube style).

The old cage plexiglass sides did get scratched up pretty quickly but the wooden frame help protected it some I believe. Below are some pictures of the old cage.

Oh to cut down on weight and cost, the back and bottom are actually floor inlay sheets instead of the more heavier plywood. Never had problems with sagging but if you plan to put sand in, then go with the plywood or at least run some lengths of either 2"x2" or 2"x4" boards along the bottom for additional support.

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PHLdyPayne

Glass is way more expensive than plexiglass. It costs me about $90 for the doors (2) for each of my enclosures. Including polished edges and a handle hole in 1/4" plate. Plexiglass would cost me maybe $10.

never priced glass myself... but paid more than $10 for plexiglass when I had that first cage built...$45 or so..though that was Canadian dollars and when the Canadian dollar wasn't as strong as it is now.

I just use screen doors in my new cages...all other walls solid.
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PHLdyPayne

The tank that I have two of my bearded dragons in was a homemade tank that my fiance and his father made. It was originally made for a Rainbow Boa ... then housed a savannah monitor (shortly) and now it currently houses my two rescue beardeds. I'll take some pictures to upload so you can see. It is 4 feet long, 2 feet tall, and 2 feet deep. It is made of wood with a plexiglass front and top. The lid is actually hinged and opens up for me to be able to reach into the cage. There are plenty of vents (either 5 or 6) and my lighting is actually inside the terrarium. We screwed a piece of block wood inside and that is what the light is clamped onto. We have ours on Aspen and inside the decorations consist of small paver bricks from Lowes that one would use in building a sidewalk or patio. These provide really neat decorations to look at and also when stacked and arranged properly can be really safe and an inexpensive way to make hides and have rocks for climbing on. We haven't had any problem with the plexiglass wanting to warp or the beardeds scratching at it.

Hope this helps!

Beardies shouldn't be on aspen bedding. It absorbs moisure and harbors bacteria.