Arboreal Terrariums; Exo Terra vs Zoo Med

[Joe Bowden]

First off, good afternoon everybody.... I'm a first time poster but a long term reader and am constantly impressed with the sound advice and interesting threads on this forum.

I have a bit of a boring question for a first post but here goes.

I'm currently on the lookout for two arboreal terrariums for my P.formosa and A.versicolor and have narrowed the choice down to two.

The first is the 30x30x45 cm Exo Terra terrarium with the two opening front doors and the second is the Zoo Med 'naturalistic terrarium' in the same dimensions.

The only difference seems to be that the Zoo Med only has the one hinged front door... but I do prefer this look despite it being up to £20 more expensive.

I would just like some opinions of keepers who have used or at least encountered either of these tanks, and their pros and cons.

As I have said I am leaning towards the Zoo Med, however the fact the Exo terra has the two doors which can be opened independently of each other may be beneficial with the fast Poecilotheria in there!!

Any information will be greatly received

Joe

[Nicola Dolby]

Myself I've never used Zoo Med, though Exo Terra are excellent. Their tanks also have a removable mesh lid for ventilation and cable holes for you to put heat mats down the back as well. Try Custom Aquaria as well if you can travel to pick up your tanks, they come with a brilliant reputation. I was going to buy some of theirs myself but was unable to get down there this month due to medical matters.

[Ray Gabriel]

For keeping and breeding many of the larger arboreal species and for social sp like A. minatrix, I use tanks made by Custom Aquaria (who will have a big display of stuff to sell at Kempton Park).

I used to make my own tanks by converting fish tanks until Matt showed me a better tank than i could make chaeper than the initial cost of the origonal fish tank.

I have seen both of these tanks and personally they do nothing for me, rember the more moving parts the more can go wrong, and all those "added extra bits" like back walls etc, just give more palces for crickets to hide and die then spread Phorids or bacteria.

Check them out and ask size for size what is the cost? (rember you dont have to pay for all the packageing with a custom Aquaria Tank so its more envoromentally friendly if you collect it that is, and you are not paying any middle man.

The other container i would recomend is the 5L cerial container...........but i dont think that is what you are after.

Ray

[Sonny Howdle]

I got some of my big pokes in exos and they are really good but if they are not big pokes the food can get lost and then rot. I now get my mum to get me tanks from custom aqueria like what ray said. they are very good and look good as well. you can get them in any shape or size and are fantastic for pokes and avics.

[Chris Wheeler (Gigus)]

I take the backing out of the exo's prevents the food problem Sonny. They are really nice as display tanks but a bit unfortunate if the animal decides to construct a home on the doors.

[Joe Bowden]

Thanks for all the replies... really usefull. I have had a look at the Custom Aquaria tanks online and remember having seem some of these in use at the BTS shows... definately a possibility although dont think I can make Kempton Park this weekend unfortunately.

Ray, I have also done the whole 'split an aquarium' method for some of my terrestrials in the past, and at the moment also have a large variety of differing sized cereal containers / tubs. I now want more of a permanent arboreal display. I semi considered making a whole tank out of acrylic but am not sure how proffessional the resulting look would be!! Plus I'd have the smell of aquarium sealant in my nostrils for days again!

Nicola, I think that the Zoo Med also has a wire mesh top and cable holes, however I tend to keep my heat mats covering the back wall of the terrarium on the outside, may be useful for the temp probe / thermostat though. Also I would probably replace the mesh top with drilled acrylic, I wouldnt like to find any of my T's 'hanging'... have you had any problems with T's getting stuck on mesh?

Chris, I'm also not bothered about the polystyrene background... I prefer using more natural materials, this and the fact the polystyrene would act as an insulator keeping the heat from my heatmat out!!! I'd do the usual driftwood / corkbark combo with silk plants a plenty. Also I tend to feed my T's individually and make sure the cricket doesent escape into a hide / under a log etc!! Thankfully I have a small enough collection to enable this personal attention.

Thanks again, seems I have some decisions to make!!