Question about Acrylic Enclosures

I need to get a new enclosure for by bp. He's outgrowing his tank and with bigger hides, there's no room at all in there! I know and have read that tubs are best - but I only have one snake and I really like looking into the enclosure.

So, I started looking at acrylic enclosures. Would they hold humidity and heat like a tub? What's the best way to heat an acrylic enclosure?

Any thoughts on good ones...or bargains?

I got 3 acrylic 36x18x12 acrylic enclosures from

http://www.glasscages.com/

They are pretty good quality, I head them with a heat pad on the back and underneath.

JonV

Do they hold humidity well? Do you use a UTH on the back or some other kind of heat pad? Do you have a top for it?

I picked up a screen top from an online pet supply...the 36 x 18 is a pretty common size. I believe the website also sells the tops. It's a bit of a pain because you have to use clamps to keep the screen tops in place.

The screen top doesn't hold humidity at all. I covered the back, the bottom, and the top with insulative material. I left a 2" gap on the top for air exchange. I placed one 8 watt UTH under the enclosure kept at a fixed 88-90 degrees for belly heat, and I put a larger radiant panel on the outside of the back of the enclosure (but inside the insulative material) hooked up to a helix DBS.

For me, it was a lot of hassle taking those clamps off all the time, but it did look nice I must say.

JonV

Why not just get a PVC cage? 3 solid sides and a glass or plexiglas front. Holds heat and humidity easily and helps the snake feel not so exposed.

Animal Plastics
RBI Plastics
Herpenclosures
Boaphile
etc

Is there a company you'd recommend for a PVC enclosure?

woops! I see you posted some places to get them! Thank you.:)

I have also been looking at cages. The only thing that turning me off are the sizes, 2 foot wide cages are killing me, got no room for that

Just call and ask. Usually they will make custom sizes if you ask. You could probably get 18" wide or something like that if needed.

I tried an experiment last night and 'self designed' a 36"x18"x12" reptile cage at CagesByDesign. No frills, solid cage, acrylic doors. Came to $206 and $35 shipping.

I also have not got the space for 2' wide cages. I have one 4x2 from RBI and it's great...but huge! So I don't plan on having anymore like it.
But, since I found a 30gal tank with slide/lock top on the List for $50, I plan to put that into use instead and just build my own 3x2 cages when the youngsters are bigger.

Sorry for the rant, I'm worked up because I finished a major project for Animal Behavior class three days early! :D

I don't mind the size of the enclosure so much...of course, I only have one snake! But I wonder about the doors being on the front. How do you dangle the prey, for example...how do you see into the enclosure. Dakota is not really my snake - he belongs to my daughter and touching him more than necessary still makes me a bit nervous-especially now that he's sooo big! I really only remove him to clean his enclosure, so I rely on my ability to see him now and then to judge his health, etc. I'm wondering what it would be like not to care for him from the top as I have been doing and have to do it from the side/front.