Thank you so much for all the insight- this forum seems a lot less hostile than some other pet communities I'm a part of.

I live in southern California so humidity is pretty low and my house is kept at around 65-70 degrees year round, so I think PVC might be a better option. I've seen several companies that make them; is one brand better than the others or are they like tanks and pretty much the same? A 36x24x12 seems to be a standard size so that's likely the one I'll go with.