Housing/Vivarium

In today’s post I will be looking at reptile housing and how important this is when keeping a reptile. There are many different types of housing available for reptiles and they can vary a lot in price depending on the type and size. I myself have opted to keep my snakes in a wooden vivarium with glass panels, as this looks pretty and can be a great way to showcase an animal in a main room.

Vivariums are mostly made of wood with glass panels or can be made entirely of glass or plastic. They are available with the options of sliding doors or an opening lid. They can also house pretty greenery, hides, water dish and even coloured lights, although these should be special LED bulbs so they do not admit extra heat. Vivariums come in many sizes and cost will vary like all reptile housing. When housing in a viv don’t forget about having locks fitted too as security is a must due to reptiles being great escape artists!

Vivarium starter kit

Although I keep my animals in vivs, sometime in the future I may consider expanding my collection of snakes. Therefore instead of keeping lots of vivariums, I may opt for a rack system. Rack systems are very popular with breeders that are housing many snakes as they take up less space. Racks normally consist of wooden shelves that can be filled with different sized plastic boxes. They can house a large number of snakes depending on the litre compactly of the boxes and these can go from small to large. A good rack system may also help an owner to save money as the entire box acts like a hide so therefore all they need is a water dish and the animals bedding. This looks to be the most expensive type of housing for reptiles.

Rack system

Really useful boxes are also common housing for snakes as well as adapted fish tanks (but generally not recommended). This is probably the cheapest housing for a reptile, although like a vivarium will need to be kitted out with hides, greenery and water dish. I myself would not opt for this form of housing as security and accurate heating may be problematic.

Glass enclosure