Reptile & Amphibian Forums

SO i'm thinking of getting a bearded dragon and i've been looking at all types of enclosures. The reptarium is one of the possibilities so i want to get some real answers about these cages. I've heard some people say they aren't good and others who love them.
First is, would you say they are good for beardies or not? Give good reasons why or why not. I would love to hear from people who have actually tried them, not just saw them for a few minutes.
Second, are they hard or easy to clean? Based on my own observations they appear easy to clean but i've heard otherwise from quite a few people. Wouldn't it be easy to take one outside and spray seme light disinfectant on it then rinse with a hose?
Next, how big are those soft tray liners? I would obviously get one of the larger reptariums and lay down the long way. How high does the soft tray come up?
Last, i've heard conflicting reports on whether or not crickets can eat through the mesh. SO WHATS THE TRUTH?! I would think that with the soft tray they couldn't even reach the mesh. Am i mistaken?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Ok, hopefully I can answer all of your questions.

First off, I like reptariums a lot, but i personally don't think they work well for beardies for a couple of reasons. Mostly because they don't hold heat very well, it is almost impossible to get a reptarium up to the needed 100-110degree basking spot for beardies. For this reason alone i would recomend going with a glass aquarium or a custom built cage. Also the mesh is so fine that it will not let much UVB through from your UVB bulb, which is also necessary.

That being said...here is the other information you wanted.

The softtrays go about 3inches up all around the bottom of the enclosure. As far as crickets go, i would say the small ones wouldn't be able to chew through it but i definately wouldn't put it past the large ones. The soft tray will not keep them in as they can climb up and over it. Cleaning, in my experience is pretty easy, hose down the mesh and wash out the soft tray and you are good to go.

So anyways, i do think they are good enclosures for snakes, but not so good for lizards, especially lizards with need such high temperatures as beardies.

Good luck!
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0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican kingsnake
1.0.2 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Rose Hair Tarantula
1.0 BTS
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats

I have a 60g reptarium with the soft tray and it works really good for my bearded dragon, i live in california though so it never gets to cold so heating the basking spot isnt a problem for me, and for the crickets chewing through the screan, they might be able to im not sure, when i feed my bearded i pute his crickets in a glass bowl and he just runs to the bowl and munches on them. Before i go to bed i usualy check and make sure no crickets got out of the bowl so theres no stray crickets running around to chew through it. UVB getting through the screan is a problem though so i take mine out side a few times a week and let him get some natural sunlight.