Reptile Enclosure Guide

While reptiles make great pets and can learn to become very accepting of being handled, they aren’t pets that want to be involved in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. An important part of reptile keeping is getting the right setup. Not only do you need a species specific home that is perfectly suited to your chosen pet but you have to find the perfect spot for it. When you have small furry pets like rabbits or guinea pigs, they often like to be kept in rooms where you spend a lot of time. This is an aspect of pet care when it comes to social animals, however, reptiles don’t often have such demanding social needs.

In fact, they’re very sensitive to vibrations so a room that you walk through a lot or where you play music or watch the television won’t be the most ideal place to put their enclosure. Reptiles prefer to be kept in a quiet space where there isn’t too much activity so their stress levels can be kept nice and low. They will need to be kept out of any direct sunlight. Most reptiles will need a heating pad or lamp like the Prorep Cloth Heat Mat 6W in their home to keep it at the right temperature. If sunlight is allowed to shine directly on them it can vastly change that temperature and cause them to overheat. The same goes for draughts. While you may hear the tank or vivarium to the right temperature, a cool breeze blowing against it can bring it back down and cause them to get too cold.

Both vivariums and tanks can make suitable homes for reptiles as long as they’re the right size and can contain everything your pet needs. Homes can (at times) appear quite small, especially when it comes to snakes, however, the size of the tank or vivarium you need will often depend on how active they are. Some reptiles like to really stretch their legs or sprawl out across the substrate to bask while others spend most of their time in a sheltered area only to poke their head out when they’re hungry.

Setups can look very different depending on the needs of your pet. Most reptiles will only travel longer distances in their natural habitat when searching for food so it’s normal when you meet all of their needs for them not to be very active and be happy just relaxing. When choosing between a vivarium and a tank, they can both be suitable. Vivariums are made for the purpose of being a home for your reptiles and will often have sliding glass on the front or a hinged door on the front to make it easy to open up and feed or tend to your pets. Tanks will open at the top and can often be either purpose made or fish tanks like the Aqua4Start 54 Litre Tropical Fish Tank Starter Kit that have been refitted with a secure lid.

Most options can work and be a suitable home, however, for ease of cleaning and handling your scaly friend or setting up the wiring, a vivarium just about takes the win on this one.

Housing a snake can differ a lot when it comes to what species you are looking to create a setup for. When it comes to tanks and vivariums, they tend to come in two different varieties. Some are wide but don’t have a lot of vertical height while others are tall and narrow so they have much less floor space. The habitat and preferences of different species are going to mean you may need a different size setup. Wider vivariums like the Exo Terra Large Wide Terrarium will be suitable for most snake species.

Commonly kept snakes like corn snakes and boas are all floor dwelling snakes and since they spend all or most of their time on the ground, they won’t make use of the vertical space. The only thing you need to adjust for different species then is the size of the vivarium to make sure they have enough space. Species that are arboreal like the green tree python spend most of their time wrapped around branches in their home. A home like the Exo Terra All Glass Small Tall Terrarium would work for a tree dwelling species.

Lizards are similar to snakes in the fact you have to work out if you have a floor dwelling species or one that likes to climb. Species like bearded dragons will need wider spaces while a chameleon will need lots of places to climb. Some lizards will need a little bit of both and tend to suit more shaped homes so they can have some floor space as well as some climbing space. You can even get homes for some common species that come with everything you need!

The Komodo Crested Gecko Starter Kit is the ideal home for any new crested gecko parent. You can get a safe and secure home that meets your pet’s needs and everything you need to heat and decorate it as well. The Zoo Med Reptihabitat Leopard Gecko comes with the perfect habitat for both leopard and African fat-tailed geckos so you don’t need to worry about researching the right wattage bulb or the correct size heat pad as it all comes in one handy package. 

Tortoises need a lot of flat surface, the more the better so a nice and wide enclosure would suit them best. A vivarium like the Exo Terra Large Wide Terrarium is great for smaller species but if they grow to be quite large, you may need to upgrade their home a few times during their lifetime. One big perk about owning turtles is that they’re not very good climbers, in fact, some species don’t even need to be kept in a tank or a vivarium at all. You may need extra security for snakes and lizards that can climb out of small gaps but tortoise shells will slow them down and make climbing difficult so they can be kept in homes with no lids and be perfectly secure.

Tortoise tables like Exo Terra Vivexotic Tortoise Table are great and allow for quick access to feed, clean and interact with your shelled friends. It even comes with a cosy little bed area for privacy.

For aquatic species of turtles like the red-eared slider, they will need a setup more like a fish tank including a filter system. The only difference between a tank for a turtle and for fish is that they enjoy lots of rocks to bask on so they can come out of the water for short periods if they choose to.

In the UK, we tend to see more glass housing for our reptiles but there is a small selection of plastic homes for snakes and lizards. Glass tends to be the most popular choice because it’s hardy and traps a nice amount of humidity to keep your pets comfortable. Plastic can scratch and crack a lot easier but can be suitable for smaller reptile species that aren’t going to be too much for the plastic to handle. Plastic is a cost effective alternative but it may need to be replaced throughout their life so it could actually work out more costly in the long run. You’ll find that there are more glass options than plastic but it’s all down to preference and what you feel most comfortable with.

Plastic homes like the Exo Terra Faunarium are great for insects, especially if you keep them for feeding your scaly friends but only tend to make good temporary or travelling carriers for reptiles.

Discover more sssavings on your scaly friend’s favourites in store or online today.