Thank you for the advice! Fortunately for me, this isn't my first venture into Retics. I have a T8 on order, that will eventually be used by my sons snake - when my boy outgrows the T8, he'll get a 6'x30"x18" (likely the AP T30), dependent on his size of course. I too am hoping mine isn't food driven more than your "average" retic haha. I have read through a lot of the Retic progression threads here, and I've seen a few have had their fair share of issues with the excessive rubbing.

I actually opted not to get the shelf, as I am going to do actual bamboo perches instead - I prefer a more "natural" look. The only issue I have thus far, is that the cypress mulch adds so much humidity - I had the dreaded condensation, so something had to be done. It actually cracked over 80 yesterday, so I drilled some holes into the cage to keep it in the 70's. I'm sure it will slowly dip down some more once the mulch continues to dry out. At least I know I won't have to mist much if at all with his current cage.