DubiaRoaches enclosures - Questions. Good or bad for X species

All Reptiles Enclosures & Setups
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Apologies in advanced for the long post!

I am wondering if anyone has experience with how well the metal-frame thin-wall type of ensures work for ball pythons, corn snakes, (or ANY snakes) and both northern & Indonesian blue tongues. I believe it will be perfectly fine for corns and northerns, but am worried about higher temp and/or humidity species. ESPECIALLY during winter months.

I need to be able to stack with heat/light mounted inside (with cages around the fixtures for the snakes) and am trying not to use spacers with heat on the top of the mesh.

Ceiling height is about 8ft, house temp is about 70°F, winter humidity is bad at around 30%, summer is 45-55% (I try to keep humidity under 50 bc I’m not a fan of mold )

I have thick PVC enclosures I really like, but they are double the cost of this style AND harder to get a hold of where I am. (Only one show a reasonable distance from me has a vendor with the thick pvcs in the sizes I need. And the show only runs twice a year)

Picture of what I’m looking to buy:

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Picture of the style I currently own and love (before I filled it):
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Questions:

  1. Do they hold heat well? Or will it heat the room as much as it heats the enclosure? I assume thinner enclosure walls = bad insulation.

  2. For higher humidity species, I assume I’ll have to cover most of the mesh top. With the top covered, how does it perform? Would I need to cover the lid of there’s another enclosure on top of it, with the 1" spacers, or does that act well enough to keep in humidity?

  3. With the thick PVC ones I have, all I had to do was screw the fixtures into the top panel. It won’t be that simple to mount heat inside the mesh top ones. I have a few ideas on how, but how do YOU mount fixtures inside of these and what method would be the safest in terms of fire safety?

  4. Are the floor and walls strong enough for substrate + decor, enrichment, and lamps? I’ll have to seal the bottom so water doesn’t leak out when remoistening substrate.

  5. With the doors shut, how easily can an adult colubrid simply slip through or get stuck in the door gap in the center? I plan to find a way to block that area, but acrylic doors can flex and not all sizes have glass door options. I am also waiting until my thinner snakes are adults and won’t be able to go between the doors easily to avoid this problem.

For anything bigger than a 4 x 2 x 2 I will need to go through a different manufacturer/brand, but for now, are these and the smaller sizes of theirs worth it in your opinion? It’s essentially the same type of enclosure as a Zen Habitats and those work great for my friend’s beardies, but I worry it won’t work well for snakes OR anything needing humidity.

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I have seen those as well and have been worried about the long term structural integrity and performance of the units. I don’t personally have any, so i hope you find a reply from someone who has, but if you don’t find anyone on here who has one then that might be just as telling. If it were my situation, i would rather invest into what i know is going to stand the test of time with consistency in performance the first time around. But if i were in dire need of an enclosure for one reason or another, i would definitely consider them then. Have you not tried to order from any of the PVC Brand’s websites? Are you able to have large flat packages shipped to you?

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I can have things shipped to me, but at the moment the higher end enclosures are out of my budget, thanks to inflation and lack of OT at my job. (Later in the future I’ll be able to grab those but I’ll probably stick with GeckoJunkie) I got the one in the second pic from GeckoJunkie a while ago, their website isn’t rly up to date so in person buying is easiest. Unfortunately in person also means I only have 2 days out of the whole year I can go and grab an enclosure.

I HAD 2 old showcase cages (bought used) but I didn’t like the design and layout, at least not for my snakes. There are so many nooks and crannies that were hard for me to get into and clean OR difficult to gently remove the snake from when needed if they crammed themselves into a divet. Also couldn’t really spread the heat like I needed to to cover the snakes entire body when they wanted to bask, nor would it keep 1 side up to temp, it mostly just kept under the lamp to temp which is a problem in the winter. I got rid of those and need 2 more to replace them.

When it comes to second hand finds, there just isn’t anyone getting rid of the PVC cages near me that aren’t old neodesha, showcase, or glass tanks that have no lid. Not enough of a community here for good finds unfortunately, so I have to buy everything new.

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I understand that, here in WA there is literally no community of substance for any of that stuff, let alone secondhand pvc. I haven’t heard of gecko junkie before, that enclosure looks pretty good tho. Reminds me of AP’s design.

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I have some info on these enclosures.

I personally don’t recommend them for most species. They’d work for blue tongues or similar animals fine I’m sure, but I wouldn’t keep snakes in them. The acrylic doors are very escape prone, they bow and allow animals that are persistent to get out fairly easily. The all screen top can be a huge positive, or a huge negative. If I was going to use these enclosures they’d require a fair amount of modification to make them suitable for most uses. (Firstly being replacing the doors with glass, no ifs ands or buts. ) Secondly would be to fit a new top for the enclosure that is solid. Thirdly would be to use a strong epoxy of some sort to seal the panels all in place. (defeating the ease of transport but ah well).

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Honestly I agree, and that was my initial evaluation of the metal framed style enclosures. Work great for some lizards! But snakes… I needed to ask here and get new opinions. FB was all supportive, but no one really had much to say nor could answer my questions.

My adult male BP is the resident for the one I shared. He does fine and can’t/hasn’t escaped. My young colubrids however… They’re still in glass tanks with lid locks :joy::sweat_smile:.

I did modify a few Xmas tree totes for adult snake quarentine, but I can only use one lamp at a specific distance on those, so they aren’t really a permanent solution and can’t be used with the PVCs.

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I don’t know if you’ve already found an answer to your questions, but I just got a pair of stacked 4x2x2 DubiaRoaches enclosures set up for my ball pythons last week. I was having trouble heating them and made a topic about it that might have a lot of helpful information in regards to heating them. I’ll post a link below in case it’s helpful. You can scroll down to the bottom, like replies 25/26 I think, for the resolution.

And in case you’re still needing answers this far after posting the question (if not, my apologies for flagging the old old topic :joy:):

1] They’re holding heat fantastically, and it’s under 30 degrees F outside. At least, I don’t feel like my heat fixtures are working hard. But I have 5 heated enclosures in my bedroom, and my baseboard heater is duct taped into the off position because the only place my bed fits is pushed right up against it. And my room feels fine temp-wise. So all I can tell you is that they don’t release any more heat into the room than glass aquariums do.

2 & 3] The way I plan to secure a radiant heat panel inside of my enclosures is to attach plywood over the top of the screen. I’ll get like 1/2" thick plywood, get big washers to put against the mesh from the inside, and drive a meaty screw through. Then I’ll do the same with the heat panel, just screw it into the plywood through the mesh. Cut a tiny slot for the power cord to come out through the top. And 1/2" plywood wouldn’t interfere with the 1" spacers, while holding humidity. It’s holding Ball Python humidity now with a 2’ x 3’ piece of foam over the top. If you’re worried about mold, maybe layer a tarp over the mesh but under the plywood?

4] The floor and walls feel very strong and sturdy. They take suction cups well, and are holding a good amount of weight. Additionally, after I put the first enclosure together, I climbed inside while it was on the ground and laid down to test out how spacious it is. It held my 140lbs without any issues.

5] With the locking pin, there’s not even enough room for a baby corn snake to wiggle out, no give in the doors at all. There’s no space at all for one to slide between the doors in the middle either, there’s barely enough room for the wire of the locking pin. 100% safe. But when I put my corn snake into this type of enclosure next year, I’m getting the door locks, just for peace of mind.

And they sell expansion kits for the 4x2x2’s so you can make them bigger :wink:

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