PVC cage? Exo Terra? What to get...

[Lefitte]

It's been a few months now since I bought my first snake, a little baby Cal king, and it's about time to buy her adult enclosure. I've decided on a few things about what I want her adult enclosure to be, but I'm stuck and need some advice.

I already know that I want to use either shredded aspen or Sanichips for bedding. I'll be getting a new UTH and possibly a new thermostat to go along with it [I've heard good things about Hydrofarm's]. She'll need new hides and decor, a larger water dish, ect so I have all that figured out. I'll be getting a shelving unit that's 72H x 48W x 24D mainly for the cage and other supplies ect. I've also decided on 36" long for the cage after reading a lot of people recommending that for colubrids in general. Considering I'm going to have her for the next 15 years, I want to make sure I get her a nice set up. I also prefer front opening.

I have two main options:

Exo Terra's 36x18x18
or
Animal Plastic's T3 [36x24x12]

They're similarly priced, excluding AP's shipping. I just started college and ended up with a little less money than I planned for so price is a major concern here.

With the Exo Terra, I can afford more height for her. She does like to explore the top of the cage. However, there's less ground space. It also has a screen top which isn't a major concern since I can adjust the shelving to fit close to the top to prevent my cats from sitting on it, but it seemed pretty weak when I was checking it out at the store.

With AP's cage, she'll have more ground space but little vertical space. It's plastic so there will be less light and I might need to add artificial light. She's housed by a window and that area of the house gets a lot of light, especially in the morning, plus there's a light right above the area [dining room] but the plastic would block out a lot of light as well. I also have to assemble it, which I'm sure I could figure out just fine but I always worry about screwing something like that up. It's important and needs to last her whole life.

Another major factor is weight. I can't seem to get very accurate estimates on the weight for each cage. I know that the PVC cages are lighter than glass but I have no idea how much lighter since no one seems to have weights up on their sites. I'll be moving her cage, mostly, on my own. So if I ever want to move her cage, I'm going to have to call up a friend to help me [like if I'm moving] or figure something clever out. From what I could find, the Exoterra seems to be around 90lbs empty and there is no way I could get that thing to budge without some serious help. Anyone know how much a comparable PVC cage weighs?

Suggestions? Pros? Cons? Anything I missed? Any other similarly priced PVC cages that you'd recommend? I would really love to sit and pick your brains. So many people here have so many years of experience, it's really helpful! Thanks in advance.