Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have started investigating adding on a 4 season sun room/
solarium. We met with a company today and the problem is that
their glass stops 90% of UVB radiation. I am a huge outdoors
person and want this room for my reptiles. My other option
would be a greenhouse but that does not look as nice. I asked
the gentleman if these rooms can be done in polycarbonate
just on the roof and he wasn't familiar with this.

Do any of you know where I can get some good information
on these types of rooms in relation to reptiles? It would
be for my 2 igs, 4 aquatic turtles and 1 tortoise.

Do you see a potential problem with my igs free roaming
in this room. It will be approximately 10 x 15, maybe a little
larger.

Thanks
Linda

Solariums have drastic heat-gain in warm sunny weather. I know because I used to install the Four Seasons brand. Everyone had the romanticized notion that they would bring in lots of nice light but were never told by the sales person that the heat buildup is incredible even on cloudy days. One well-working solarium i saw was outfitted with air conditioning for warm days, so the plants could survive. Other than the heat gain problem, I think a solarium is a good idea for a reptile vivarium.

roger

Do you know if it allows sufficient UVB penetration at 90%
reduction?

Linda

i worked for a window instulation company and my uncle owned the place. well we were slow so we build a huge room on the back of his house to keep his workers busy during the slow time. it wasn't the "4 seasons" brand. it was a custom one. we were a typical commercial glass company. so i'm sure if you call any of them they can build it also. all three walls and roof was glass. we put mostly sliders door walls in so they could be opened up to get some air flow.

as mentioned about the build up, HOLY COW!!! did that room get hot.

ok, here's where i was getting at, there is diffrent types of glass, i mean standard glass... so rather than putting the UVB blocking glass. (sorry i forget the acutall name of it it's been 10 years) you can put other types of glass... i mean anything glass i would imagine would work... as long as it was safty glass on the cealing. (tempered they just heat it really fast, it breaks up like busting a side window of a car small pieces. rahter than large deadly chunks!)

now the less UVB you block out... i'm imagining that it'll be more heat... so the room will be like an oven. so keep this in mind. some ideas we later came up with were installing some kinds of exhaust fans and stuff like that.

now this project would be very expensive and probably more than a "4 seasons" room... but you would get what your looking for. i can sketch up and send you the ruff blue prints of what we built. it was custom and it was more of a great room just added to the back of his house, with cathederal ceilings and all... but it is an option if you really wanted to go with a nice looking "sun room" and get UVB in there for your critters.

Linda, I put in a 4Seasons sunroom in for my cyclura. It is the "sunroom", not the all glass solarium. Mine is 8x10 on a concrete slab. It is expensive. Because the sunroom does not have as much glass the heat buildup is not that bad. You could also have a bathroom type fan installed to create an airflow. It works pretty well.
Windows- I didn't get the double pane due to cost and I wish I did. That depends where you live and your winters. I lose a lot of heat in the winter through the single pane glass. As far af uv goes. the single pane is better than double but the best thing I have found is to replace the plate glass with Saphire glass. It allows the most uv's through. A glass company will have the specifications. It also is expensive.
Stay away from the solarcryl. the plexiglass that lets in uv - crap. I have the Saphire info if you cant get it its just not with me now. Another thing I did was remove the screen window and installed 1" pvc coated screen on the the exterior window frames. that way you can still close the window, excellent security and real sunlight.
Another thing I should have done is put a drain in the concrete. It would have made big cleaning a lot easier.