Im saving up to get all front opening glass enclosures for my lizards. I need to get glass with screen tops so I can use all the light gear I already have. And its a small room so I would like them to tie in with the exo terras I have my frogs in. Low profile exo terras are one option , but how about others? Maybe a lesser known company has better?

I would like to collect keepers first hand opinions on companies and brands - and your pictures would be nice.

I use Exo terras with my Rhacodactylus and they work fine, but I am not aware of any other all glass front opening cages.

I got one of the Zoo med ones secondhand(with a gargoyle gecko) and it works quite well. They are very slick looking too.

I have had a number of Exo's in a few sizes. I only kept snakes in them, but I doubt they're bug-tight. Again, I never tested that - and they ARE snake-tight. Adequate for the kinds of snakes you really don't want getting out...

Cheers,
Jimi

Yes I have some guys in exo terras and they work well and the zoo med ones kind of took it up a notch in some ways. Today I looked closer at the new tetrafauna front opening one and its got some very nice features - I love the bigger mesh for light permeable and inside some interior framing where its been reported smaller snakes cram in to ledge - there are nice safe ridges so they wont want to get in there. Very smart stuff. Tremper.

I need the front open cages for my galloti - the approach from above is unpleasant for them. But I just like it generally better.

What about Cages By Design? I never saw those in person but they look good in the pictures. But I need details. Like how open are they for lights on the top - is it whole thing or just a little rectangle. It would be cool to have the galloti in one multi unit , against one wall.

It would be cool to be able to keep some guys outdoors part of the year . I have a lacerta friend who does that - in beauteous, ingenious enclosures that he built.

I live in SF and the weather sucks - I dislike it intensely. It makes me feel like Im being kept wrong Thanks everyone for sharing about front opening glass cages ( :

a beautiful face you might not want to see next to yours on the pillow?

Indeed true on both counts - beautiful, but not on my pillow. But when I got married all herps were banished from the bedroom anyway...and I get to wake up with a beautiful face next to mine every morning. Hooray for me.

One other beef I have with the Exos is, the screens rust when you mist through them. Lame. And of course for anyone keeping hots in them, since they're made of thin glass I'd suggest having them restrained so they don't walk off your shelving in the event of an earthquake. All in all though, I think they're pretty good value for the money, and they can keep a snake in. With their little "click" latch it could be a little harder to forget to shut the cage all the way...which is how most "escapes" happen. Mostly, snakes don't escape, we just don't shut their door properly, and they - naturally - come on out...

Living in SF must be nice in some ways (I'd gladly swap with you!). I did a dozen years on the coast north (way north) of there - I always appreciated how I could get a nice night drop in temps, and hibernating was easy too, and there was NO WAY a power outage would end up with a cooked herp room. Not like say San Diego, Phoenix, Florida, etc..."herpers' paradises" but not always so much for keepers. So - maybe if you plan to stay there you could focus on "montane" or high-latitude stuff, and steer away from lowland low-latitude stuff? Just a thought. (I'd lump coastal-Mediterranean-climate stuff in with montanes - they don't want to be very warm either.)

Space in the city is of course either very, very dear, or literally priceless (can't be had for any amount) so I don't know your opportunities for outdoor keeping. But I would think an overhead radiant heat device (CHE or RHP) could give you the heat bump you might need. If the enclosure could be made secure I bet Canaries endemics would love some of the SF microclimates (there are many). Especially with a little heat-bump basking spot. You could probably security-test an outdoor cage with same local Elgaria...it would be a real heart-breaker to lose those Gallotia.

Cheers,
Jimi

Just back for a sec - you intrigued me with the Terrafauna/Tremper thing. (Did Ron help design these?) Here's a review:
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts- ... heavy.html

Some features I like - pre-drilled and comes with a bulkhead (super-nice for dripwalls, streams and waterfalls - I always like external H2O filtration & UV), and I also really like the Euro-inspired ventilation under the glass doors (prevents fogging in super-high humidity cages, and also generally increases air circulation - it's hard to have too much clean air, short of a nasty breeze).

Cheers,
Jimi

The Tetrafauna look pretty good, I don't know if we can get them here in the UK.

Regarding Exo-Terras, the mesh rusts, the lid clips are brittle and they aren't bug proof. Plus, they're really expensive here.

agree!

I do wish I could have just a little more sunshine - I live in the coldest part. Im one of those people who never complain during a heat wave and when its cold oh I just shut down

I have the rust thing happening with my avicularia exo terra ):

I dig the tetrafaunas but JEEZ are they pricey. 100 bucks for a 20 long?