Hi Susan - Yes. They most definitely can sag, bend, bow, warp, whatever. Yes, stacking makes it more pronounced; the more weight from above, the worse the problem. Even those which are less than six feet wide, but the problem is most pronounced with the six footers. I guess it’s just the nature of the design and the materials. But considering that a prominent part of their advertising is that these are “Stackable - No racks or shelving required” would lead you to believe that they are, well, stackable and no supporting racks or shelves are required.
I was warned of this issue by a friend and Vision owner before I placed my order, so at least I wasn’t surprised. Of the two 72”W x 36”D x 18”H that I am using, one arrived so deformed in the middle already that I couldn’t insert the glass doors unless I tipped the cage on its back. Of course, now right side up, with python inserted, and with other cages on top of it, I will never be able to remove the doors until the day that I unstack the cages. When I need to clean the inside of the glass, some major gymnastics are required. Ever crawled inside a 18” high python cage? Creepy. Caution – it is best to remove python first. Curiously, however, those doors slide reasonably well. Unfortunately, the doors on the other six foot Vision placed atop this one are extremely hard to slide back and forth. We’re talking both hands and major effort required; they really are hard to budge. I snapped a couple of photos to try and illustrate what I’m talking about, but I didn’t have much room to maneuver or a really wide angle lens. Still, you should be able to see the sagging in the bottom cages, making the smaller upper ones tilt inwards.
I heat these cages with ProProducts overhead heat panels, one 75 watts, the other 100 watts, which are controlled by proportional thermostats. They are against an interior wall in a room that doesn’t go below 75 degrees, so that’s plenty of heater power. High humidity is hard to maintain with all the screening, so I spray frequently in the dry months or cover up some of the holes. They’re very easy to clean and maintain. The plastic absorbs odors much more readily than with a harder material like the ABS plastic used in Neodesha cages. Just consider it an added incentive to do timely cage cleaning.
These cages have served me well and, for the price, I do not regret the purchase. Any other questions? Feel free to ask.
-Joan
