Apogee Reptariums

[Slug]

I would like to get everyone's thoughts on the Apogee Reptariums. I am interested in them, but I cant find anything really helpful in making my decision.

What I would like to know:
1. General thoughts on the enclosures.
2. How difficult they are to clean.
3. Can crickets chew through the mesh?
4. Drainage? How do you deal with this issue?
5. What size do you personally have?

Thanks everyone!

 

[Carlton]

I would like to get everyone's thoughts on the Apogee Reptariums. I am interested in them, but I cant find anything really helpful in making my decision.

What I would like to know:
1. General thoughts on the enclosures.
2. How difficult they are to clean.
3. Can crickets chew through the mesh?
4. Drainage? How do you deal with this issue?
5. What size do you personally have?

Thanks everyone!

They are great for temporary housing (such for a growing juvenile or short term housing while something is being built) or taking a cham outdoors for real sunlight. Some of us like them for permanent housing, others don't. I have used them both ways, but as I tend to like cages larger than Reptariums come in, I usually end up with home made or custom build screen cages. They are light and transportable and often less expensive than a custom made cage.

But, you need to be gentle with the zippers as they do wear if you need to get in and out of the cage multiple times every day. Sometimes you can get a Reptarium with zipper hems that seem to snag all the time making opening and closing the cage a struggle. A rigid cage doorframe is often simpler to work with. I don't think they are any more difficult to clean than a screen cage. Some people have had crickets chew through the mesh and I have had superworms chew holes in it. But, you end up with a small hole that won't really affect your cham.

Some people think the relatively heavy dark mesh makes it harder to observe the cham and can block more of the overhead UV than other types of screen cages. If you have a montane cham it may not make that much difference. Some shyer chams may prefer being less visible anyway. It might make a difference to light sensitive plants like Hibiscus.

You would need to either set the entire cage over something to collect the drainage water or put some sort of container inside. And, as the cage bottom is flexible you'll need something rigid to support the weight of your plant pots if you do suspend the cage over a drain bin. But, this is so for any type of screen cage too unless it happens to have a solid sealed bottom.

 

[fluxlizard]

Cleaning not too difficult. I spray clean with a garden hose. They are supposedly machine washable but I've never tried. If you are looking for sterile level cleanliness, probably not the best choice. But IMO a sterile environment is not the best choice.

General thoughts- I've used reptariums ever since they became available on the market (1990s sometime). I had well over 100 in use at one time. I prefer the 175 gallon size (4' x 29" x 29") as they are useful for a variety of small to medium size species of lizard (I've kept and bred a wide variety of lizards- not only chameleons). For babies of all species I prefer 38 gallon size. For chameleons they are best kept on a homemade table a couple of feet off the ground, oriented vertically so the cage is taller than it is longer. The table looks like a ladder made of 2x4's. The "rungs" come in pairs about 6" apart which my plant pots rest on, which allows drainage from the pot and the cage generally into the grass below the tables. Indoors I cover the table with currigated roofing material (the pvc or plastic (not sure which) type stuff sold at hardware stores used on garage or greenhouse roofs). One end of the table is up on blocks so it slopes. Water from the mist system runs down the roofing material into a gutter at the one end of the tables and into big storage containers which I use as a sump to collect the water. Obviously this setup was never in my living room.

Crickets and mealworms, superworms, etc can and will chew through the mesh if numbers aren't kept in check and removed daily, etc. Roaches do not.

A serious warning. This year I had a terrible tragic fire when a couple of banks of reptariums caught fire from a malfunctioning flourescent light fixture in my lizard building and burned while I was not present. Loss was devastating from all ways of considering it and I am still emotionally and financially a wreck and I lost breeding projects that I had spent many years and generations working on. These cages and their frames can and do burn I promise you and something as simple as a bad light fixture can do it. Something to keep in mind. Be careful. Personally, I am phasing them out over time as much as I can afford until I have no more. Aluminum screen and frames do not burn and the mesh does not break down from sunlight after a few years.

I'll miss the zipper doors though- you can open the door a little or a lot and open it anywhere you want. They keep bugs in and fireflies out. Keep them lubricated a couple times a year with a little vasoline and they last and last (usually- most last 10+ years, others break after a few months especially lately).

Oh and the quality has gone down hill a lot over the past several years. Frame now a days often fit poorly to corner connectors- often cracking before they will go over the corners. And the fabric seems to go bad a lot faster outdoors compared to before as well. A few years before it starts to break down compared to several from repariums made 10 or so years ago.

Oh and one last tip- for many of my reptariums, I built my own 1" pvc frames and purchased replacement reptarium covers for these home made frames. These frames are much stronger and less "shaky". For bearded dragons I made solid bottoms attached to these frames and they were so strong I could stack them indoors and use bricks, large rocks, and cinder blocks in the cages for the dragons to climb on.

 

[Ninkylou]

My pretty inexperienced impressions

To clarify: I am not sure mine is an Apogoe brand, it is the one sold by Big Apple Herp. It is the same basic design however, but the one I have may not be of the same quality as the Apogee brand. My thoughts are pretty generic to the style of the enclosure.

I bought a large one of these when I upsized for my female Veiled. I had her in a smaller Reptibreeze. So far I am not impressed and will probably replace it shortly. I don't care much for the Softtrays, there are gaps and crickets seem to get lost between the vinyl and the cage. They are are pretty thick and I do have concerns about UVB penetration. I don't have a meter to check. I switched to a Mercury Vapor light and It just seems so dark. I also had a heck of a time attaching vines and tubing lines. I ended up buying a grommet kit so I didm't have to deal with fraying. I don't find the fit as tight as I expected and I have no choice but to hang everything above. Things droop on the top.

All things considered it would be a good portable cage, but, as I said, I will be replacing it shortly. I really think it was a waste of money.

 

[fluxlizard]

Not disagreeing, just comparing notes-

They are are pretty thick and I do have concerns about UVB penetration.

I don't use a uv meter, but I never had a calcium deficiency problem for lizards in these cages or their eggs, so UV penetration should be enough. I never worried about percentages or amounts- only what "worked" for the lizards and egg viability. But- a lot more surely goes through screen.

But the thickness of the mesh reminds me- visibility into the reptariums is pretty poor as well unless the room is dark, so screen is much better for viewing the lizards, that's for sure.

I also had a heck of a time attaching vines and tubing lines.

My solution to this was to attach vines to the framing with zip ties. Maybe not ideal for everyone's sense of beauty, but worked well enough for me and the lizards. Tubes were outside on top of the reptariums, and I used a chopstick sharpened in a pencil sharpener to tease the mesh open wide enough to get the nipple the nozzle goes over through the mesh so the nozzles were inside the enclosures themselves. I use the same technique for aluminum screen cages and nozzles by the way.

 

[Ninkylou]

Thanks, it would be nice to be able to keep using it and not replace it. I will take some of your suggestions into consideration. I have only had it a few weeks.

 

[fluxlizard]

yah- don't take my comments as an endorsement. After the fire I'm not a fan. be careful with your lighting.

 

[Carlton]

Not disagreeing, just comparing notes-



I don't use a uv meter, but I never had a calcium deficiency problem for lizards in these cages or their eggs, so UV penetration should be enough. I never worried about percentages or amounts- only what "worked" for the lizards and egg viability. But- a lot more surely goes through screen.

But the thickness of the mesh reminds me- visibility into the reptariums is pretty poor as well unless the room is dark, so screen is much better for viewing the lizards, that's for sure.


My solution to this was to attach vines to the framing with zip ties. Maybe not ideal for everyone's sense of beauty, but worked well enough for me and the lizards. Tubes were outside on top of the reptariums, and I used a chopstick sharpened in a pencil sharpener to tease the mesh open wide enough to get the nipple the nozzle goes over through the mesh so the nozzles were inside the enclosures themselves. I use the same technique for aluminum screen cages and nozzles by the way.

You can use the smallest black zipties. I've also used black coated florist's wire to attach things to the mesh.

 

[Picky eater feeders]

Hi Slug,

I hope Weirdo enjoyed his hornworms. Just let us know when he would like some more. We've got plenty!

My experience with the reptariums is that they are easy to clean and stronger than you might think.

Hope all is well with you.

Thanks,
Chris B.