Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Could anyone provide me with any information from direct experience on the suitability of these instant put together enclosures for housing snakes and lizards?

It's hard to say w/o knowing the specific species you are looking to house, but I'll give you my experience.
From relativley little experience with my new apogee cage for my cham, I will have to say that it isn't the greatest... I needed something cheap in a bind, so I bought it... and so far my cham has managed to rip one of her nails out on it (tho it claims to eliminate that problem...grrr...)
Anyway, I think it would be ok for snakes, tho I don't have any snake experience... you may need something to hold the zippers closed...
The screen cages are good for lizards that need ventilation (ie:chams). I have one for my little male cham, and I find it works really well. It supports all the accessories (lights, mister, dripper on top & branches, a bush, feeding cups inside)... My only problem is the small mesh for the screening = lost toenails for the chams... not a problem if they don't have toenails... There are some good (and relatively inexpensive) custom screen cage makers out there...
Anyway, hope some of that helped... Good luck!

Any lizard can rip out a finger nail in any type of screen cage be it nylon like the Apogee/Reptarium or one of the metal screen cages as are marketed chiefly for Chameleons. Possibly the only size of screen that a lizard is less likely to rip out nails on is 1/4" size hardware cloth [screen]. Now, that being said, I've used two Reptarium 260 cages for housing a pair of Taiwan Beauty Snakes for the last couple years. For the price they can't be beat, however they have numerous limitations the main ones being they don't hold heat and they don't hold humidity. If you have a dedicated herp room with higher than average temps and you can control ambient humidity via something like a whole-room humidifier, then these cages are a little better. However, for most herps these cages are simply too flimsy and you have to take too many extra measures to provide the proper environment. I've found that my cages routinely get too cool for my liking in the winter months, so I am finally going to retire them in favor of new cages that I will construct myself with solid sides where the humidity and temps can be better controlled.
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Matt Campbell
Animal Keeper, Small Mammal/Reptile House
Lincoln Park Zoo Chicago, Illinois

Assistant Curator
Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, Illinois

Thanks for the input! I didn't want to prejudge them but it answers my concerns, mainly that they wouldn't be good for any really large strong herp. Finally that temperature and humidity control would be part of a problem.