Sick of Reptibreeze, HELP!!

[Menzies]

So in the past year I've had to buy two 24x24x48 Reptibreeze cages from Zoomed. Both of them rusted within 5 months of purchasing them. Can anyone recommend me to a website that has sturdy chameleon cages around the same dimensions described above that won't rust within a year? Or at all?!

 

[Wykd]

wow that sux i have 4 up and no rust.

Check out lll reptile's enclosures they get good reviews

But another questions for you.... what kind of water do you have, hard or soft water? This will be important because if your water is to hard it will cause rust/rust stains no matter what you use. The same effect can occur in your shower if you don't dry it down etc...

 

[Menzies]

In my city the water is considered hard.. Any tips on how I can prevent rust build? I don't want to keep buying new cages every 6 months

 

[Wykd]

That is something I dunno the answer to that is reptile safe.

What you can do though to lessen the problem is reduce the amount of spray onto the screens. You will have some but it should dry between the mistings and be minor if any issue.

example: 2x2x4 enclosure with mist king nozzles (not aquazamp, they are different spray size), a pothos in the upper corner and a decent sized umbrella plant in the middle. I get little to any spray on my screen because the plants trap the mist and it collects into rain drops down.

I know I made that sound simple, but I understand its not as easy always. I made sure to place my mist nozzle in the center of the enclosure so it sprays downward. You may have to adjust placement of your plants based on their size relative to the enclosure also.

in the picture below is an example hope that helps some.

 

[c81kennedy]

Use bottled water I go to publixs once a weeks and fill up a 5 gallon for $1.75

 

[RealIzeRecognIze]

Use bottled water I go to publixs once a weeks and fill up a 5 gallon for $1.75

Wouldn't this become stilled water?? I've thought.of.this or buying gallon jugs...
You can use a little bit of Coke to wipe away rust. Catch ASAP to prevent it from getting too bad.

 

[Carlton]

Wouldn't this become stilled water?? I've thought.of.this or buying gallon jugs...
You can use a little bit of Coke to wipe away rust. Catch ASAP to prevent it from getting too bad.

Do you mean distilled water? Not necessarily. Bottled water isn't always distilled, it may just be filtered in some way. It should be clearly labeled at the store.

FYI, water can be:

"tap": what comes straight out of your house tap and the contents will depend on whether you get water from a municipality source or your own well.

filtered: this can mean any number of things but isn't distilled. Could be filtered just to remove sediment, sulphur, specific minerals, organics, etc.

RO filtered: water that's run through a reverse osmosis filter. Most (but not every single bit) of minerals are removed, also microrganisms and chemicals are removed.

spring: what's in it or where it's from totally depends on the claims of the supplier. Could even be someone's tap water.

de-mineralized: supposedly has all mineral content removed.

distilled: supposedly "pure" H20 because it is re-condensed steam.

 

[Carlton]

In my city the water is considered hard.. Any tips on how I can prevent rust build? I don't want to keep buying new cages every 6 months

When you say rust, is this a build up on top of the cage material or is it actually the metal showing corrosion by rusting? Makes a difference what to do about it. About your tap water...when you let your tap water sit, does it turn reddish after a while? Do you see rust on your sinks/shower/other fixtures? It means you have iron in your water source which is part of the "hardness". Rinsing down your cages with vinegar, rubbing the surface with Coke, cleaning with mineral deposit removers like CLR or Lime Away can help. They dissolve the mineral buildups. A reverse osmosis filter run through one of your house taps can really help!

If the cage metal itself is rusting, that means poor quality materials, both metal and paint or sealers. Is it the screen that rusts or the frame? If its the frame, maybe spray paint it with something like Rustoleum before use? Not that you should have to paint a brand new cage just to keep it useful longer, but it might help the cages you do have now.

 

[Manex]

If your water is that hard it would be a good investment to get a reverse osmosis system. They even have ones that hook Up directly to a sink faucet via a hose adapter. I have very hard water in my area and use these. It takes me 22 mins or so to make a gallon of water but that depends on your water pressure. I also know people that boil their water making their own distilled in large soup pots. Then put in a large tub and let bubble overnight with air pumps and start serving the next day. It all really depends on what you want to spend and how hard your water actually is. You can test this out with a ppm meter. Average good household water reads around 100 ppm or so. A reverse osmosis system is a few hundred up front but will Pay for itself if you have to resort to buying water etc...hope some of this helps

 

[Carlton]

If your water is that hard it would be a good investment to get a reverse osmosis system. They even have ones that hook Up directly to a sink faucet via a hose adapter. I have very hard water in my area and use these. It takes me 22 mins or so to make a gallon of water but that depends on your water pressure. I also know people that boil their water making their own distilled in large soup pots. Then put in a large tub and let bubble overnight with air pumps and start serving the next day. It all really depends on what you want to spend and how hard your water actually is. You can test this out with a ppm meter. Average good household water reads around 100 ppm or so. A reverse osmosis system is a few hundred up front but will Pay for itself if you have to resort to buying water etc...hope some of this helps

Another way to get some idea how hard your water is is to get an aquarium water test kit from a pet shop. Most test kits can give you a general idea how hard your tap water is.

I use RO water for drinking, all my pets, plants, etc. because my well water isn't treated in any way, we have naturally occurring arsenic, and it's extremely hard. Even though it runs through a water softener to save the house plumbing, I don't want to add the salts to my birds' or herps' water. Installed it 12 years ago and other than periodic filter cartridge changes has saved me so much annoyance I'll always install one!

 

[ataraxia]

From using city water mine are all rusted also. It isnt going to matter what brand you go with either. I have several different brands and they all are rusting somewhere. Im not sure if using filtered water will help this. Im sure it wil help with deposit and stains but moisture and certain metals are enemies.

 

[RealIzeRecognIze]

Do you mean distilled water? Not necessarily. Bottled water isn't always distilled, it may just be filtered in some way. It should be clearly labeled at the store.

FYI, water can be:

"tap": what comes straight out of your house tap and the contents will depend on whether you get water from a municipality source or your own well.

filtered: this can mean any number of things but isn't distilled. Could be filtered just to remove sediment, sulphur, specific minerals, organics, etc.

RO filtered: water that's run through a reverse osmosis filter. Most (but not every single bit) of minerals are removed, also microrganisms and chemicals are removed.

spring: what's in it or where it's from totally depends on the claims of the supplier. Could even be someone's tap water.

de-mineralized: supposedly has all mineral content removed.

distilled: supposedly "pure" H20 because it is re-condensed steam.

Well I just meant standing water (stilled) for a week or so would it not go bad?

 

[tkilgour]

LOL...I have posted many times about Reptibreeze cages rusting and posted pics. I use ro/di water and Reptibreezes are terrible quality. Go to LLLreptile.com or DIYcages.com. Their screens do not rust. The hinges will eventually rust over several years time, but those can be easily replaced.

 

[SpartyTessy]

Yeah I agree you should get a RO system that will not only help your cage rust problems but also you will feel better knowing that your Chams are getting clean water. I just got mine yesterday and I absolutely love it. I got one that has the outside hose hookup but you can also get it for inside. The one I got is the Optima Automated. It even turns off automatically when I don't need more water. Now I no longer have to keep buying expensive water at the store and it sure was adding up $$.

 

[Carlton]

Well I just meant standing water (stilled) for a week or so would it not go bad?

Not in a week probably as long as it's not open to the air all the time. Just keep the cap on and store the jug away from sunlight and heat.

 

[BocaJan]

although they say aluminum cage, it is only the cage that is aluminum, not the screen. The screen is just painted. They will not stand behind their product and I will not buy their cages any more. Use a different company.

 

[RealIzeRecognIze]

Not in a week probably as long as it's not open to the air all the time. Just keep the cap on and store the jug away from sunlight and heat.

Okay cool.
And I like the reptibreeze it seems pretty sturdy to me.. no rust but I've only had it for like a month.

 

[ISA my Veiled]

I would just buy distilled water lol...No need to go through all this. I havent had a problem with the distilled water I use from walgreens and walmart. If you are into this hobby and dont have a couple of extra dollars to spend on distilled water idk how you got your set up lol my advice is just buy the distilled water and use that for your cages, all the chemicals from your tap may be doing the rust. Just my thought, good luck, I hope you find the solution to your problem!

 

[drcrossfire]

LOL...I have posted many times about Reptibreeze cages rusting and posted pics. I use ro/di water and Reptibreezes are terrible quality. Go to LLLreptile.com or DIYcages.com. Their screens do not rust. The hinges will eventually rust over several years time, but those can be easily replaced.

I second this~ I have all 3 varieties-- I like DIY the best, but LLL's are doing good too.

 

[Dr O]

fwiw, in my GOC thread you can see basically how my cages are set up and exposed to the elements, nevermind the automatic mistings. i have over 50 LLL cages, and a few Reptibreeze's that were bought as an emergency at some point and/or given to me. i have carpet chams in the identically sized 16x20 cages with a LLL right next to a Reptibreeze. the LLL is almost a year old. the Reptibreeze has only been out there for about 3 months and the hinges are completely rusting over in addition to a rusty appearance across the entire screen. and the RB was bought about 6 months ago, well after ZooMed claimed that they had improved the situation.

i love most ZooMed products, but not this one!