Which one?

[Marshallarts]

Hi there! I'm still quite new to the forum. I have recently bought a male pastel ball python, about 4 weeks ago and he is doing great! Anyways, he's growing fast and I'm thinking about upgrading him to his new cage fairly soon. My question is, which cage should I buy? I'm hoping to get an Exoterra terrarium. Now, I know lots of people say that glass tanks are horrible and suck and holding humidity and heat, but I've personally never had a problem with them. I use one for my two whites tree frogs, and it's great. It holds heat, humidity, and it looks nice. The one I'm interested in for Marshall is the exoterra 36"L by 18"W by 12"H. Does this sound like a good option? Or should I go taller? Right now he is in a zoomed 12"L 12"W 18"H. ( I know it's not the best, but it's what I had) so, what do you guys think?

[reptiledude987]

The tank you have him in is fine for now but yes the exoterra will be great for him thru adulthood.

[pdomensis]

It's not the glass that is the problem, but screen lids. Front opening Exoterras do just fine.

[Tsubaki]

Glass has several issues, it's heavy, relatively expensive, fragile, not as good for timid animals, costs a bit more to heat. If none of this bothers/applies to you, i see no problem in using a glass terrarium. Ballpythons do not need much hight, but they do like to climb every now and then.

Top opening glass tanks, especially the ones with mesh tops are a different story indeed :)

[Marshallarts]

Thanks for the replies. Yes screen tops can be a pain! I always just put a towel on them. Heaviness isn't much of an issue. As for price, I looked at some of the plastic cages a and they are the same price if not more. Ball pythons are timid. simple solution, cover all the sides except viewing, and add plenty of hides. I dont see how it costs any more to heat than a plastic cage.

[Tsubaki]

Heat escapes from single panel glass constructions, thats why it is a bit more expensive to keep them heated. That is why modern windows are double glazed, with a air/gas filled compartment in between them for insulation. I used to have several large wooden constructions, and on the opposite size one rack with glass terrariums.. They needed twice the amount of heating to keep ambient temperatures acceptable. It's not that important if you only have a few animals, but if you kept the amounts of snakes i used to have, it saves a bundle of cash every year. Not sure how much different it is for plastic cages, since i only owned a few of those. However, it's not hard to insulate better than glass does.

[Sublimeballs]

How much does the exoterra cost?i know they cost quite a bit. A 4x2x1 plastic cage will run you 150-200 new(depending on how and where you get it), or less used. Plastic cages really are purpose built for reptiles, not glass. The reptile community is moving away from glass cages with screen tips; they just arnt for reptiles. I highly suggest you look into plastic cages; chances are you'll want you eventually anyway.

[Marshallarts]

The exoterra costs 200 at petsmart. So now you've got me thinking about plastic cages, I will post another thread about this.