Fiberglass screen for enclosures

[Jonah S]

I have a decent amount of the fiberglass screening you see in backyards to keep mosquitos out (an absolute must in Florida) and I was curious if it can be used as screen for an enclosure. The grade is pretty small; its 1/16th of an inch. My one concern is that it may filter out heat and UVB. Does anyone have any experience with this?

 

[ajacobson]

I used it to repair the top of my pygmy enclosure. Seems okay to me.... Mine seems to be about the same as the mesh on my other cages.

 

[jeffro]

If you keep crickets in the enclosure to long they can chew holes through it !!

 

[Jonah S]

If you keep crickets in the enclosure to long they can chew holes through it !!

Can chew through fiberglass screen? We are talking about crickets, not the critters from the Alien movies that bleed acid and have the mini mouth in the mouth right?

 

[fluxlizard]

Crickets will chew right through fiberglass screening.

 

[jeffro]

Yes CRICKETS !! Thats why i use aluminum screen !

 

[jeffro]

This is one i just built with aluminum screen !

 

[ShaunaLynnA]

This is one i just built with aluminum screen !

I love this cage! You did an awesome job in the building of it!

 

[ShaunaLynnA]

I would stick to aluminum just to be safe since that seems to be what most use. The cricket thing is new to me I never knew they could chew through like that.

 

[mlw50]

As long as the crickets aren't commonly free-ranged, them chewing through is a nonissue.

 

[BocaJan]

I just started a batch of pins by giving crickets a place to lay their eggs. They were in the enclosure for only a couple of hours and low and behold, one chewed a hole in the plexi screen. I thought they would be too busy laying to try to get out so I just put some screen over the top because the container isn't very deep. Silly me.....

I immediately removed the crickets back to their bin. I'm hoping for hundreds if not thousands of pin heads. I have 6 containers that I set up for them to lay in.

 

[reptoman]

I found some good screen that is toenail safe for chams at Home Depot and Lowes. Its called petscreen. Its PVC coated polyester. It is strong enough to keep dogs from scratching through it and works great in cham cages. It cost a little more than the aluminum screen is the only downside. Still not that expensive.

 

[BocaJan]

Can crickets chew through it?

 

[reptoman]

I just started a batch of pins by giving crickets a place to lay their eggs. They were in the enclosure for only a couple of hours and low and behold, one chewed a hole in the plexi screen. I thought they would be too busy laying to try to get out so I just put some screen over the top because the container isn't very deep. Silly me.....

I immediately removed the crickets back to their bin. I'm hoping for hundreds if not thousands of pin heads. I have 6 containers that I set up for them to lay in.

If you did that the same way Franie (froggthecham) does with the moist coco fiber you will get thousands. She sent me one cottage cheese container with some eggs when my ambilobes hatched and there were so many after hatching that I could barely see the cottage cheese container through all the pinheads! They lasted nearly a month of contant feeding.

 

[reptoman]

Can crickets chew through it?

No. The stuff is very tough. I doubt they could even chew through the PVC coating to get to the polyester fibers beneath.

 

[TylerStewart]

For the record, black aluminum screen is much easier to see through than silver aluminum screen.

 

[reptoman]

For the record, black aluminum screen is much easier to see through than silver aluminum screen.

I have noticed that. I might also add that the petscreen is not as easy to see through as any aluminum screen. That is probably the biggest drawback but saving the nails is worth it IMO.