Building vivarium for bearded dragon?

Question

me and my fiance are in the process of building a new, larger vivarium for his bearded dragon.the casing itself is made from solid wood and thats all been cut, sealed etc.the tank is now ready for the doors to be fitted, firstly we thought of using 6mm glass (as the runners are 6mm in thickness)but someone gave us the idea of using acrylic glass instead.ive looked this up on the net and it says its stronger and more flexible than normal glass BUT we went to wickes and they said that its not safe to use in a vivarium.we are now in two minds about what material to use for the doors and was wondering if anyone else could tell us more about acrylic glass, maybe someone HAS used it on a vivarium and could give us their opinion based on their own experiences??all answers welcomed, thanks :)

Answer 1

Is Wickes a pet store?  The Wickes I know are hardware stores so they really couldn't know what wouldn't be safe.  Even petstore advice I'd be leery of-a couple near where I live say to feed baby beardies only 1-2 individual crickets every 3-4 days...needless to say, I refuse to set foot in them anymore which is sad because they are the only ones that carry the really good cat food.  Babies of any species need to eat constantly.  Almost as bad are the pet stores/people that suggest feeding hatchlings a medium to large locust or cricket instead of following the space between the eyes size rule.  I seems as if the pet stores only care to have their customers keep coming back to buy replacement pets because their originals died because of the very lethal advice they were given.

I don't know why they would say that the acrylic wouldn't be good.  The only problem I can see is that you might have to replace them occasionally, they can get scratched up by sand that gets kicked up.  A lot of people use acrylic.  There might be a concern about "off-gassing" but it would be less than from whatever sealer you used assuming the temperatures don't get high enough to start melting the plastic.  You should be fine unless the lamp(s) come in contact with the acrylic.

Answer 2

Plexigalss or any other acrylic glass is fine. I have used it for many cages. here are some links on cage building that may be helpful and show the use of plexiglass.

http://www.freewebs.com/crossfireenclosu...

http://www.beardeddragon.org/bjive/viewt...

http://708designs.netfirms.com/customcag...

http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/tips.sh...

Answer 3

i dont see a problem using acrylic or perspex as sliding doors instea of glass. go and ask wikess how long they have been in the pet trade lol

Answer 4

I've just finished building a vivarium and used 6mm perspex, I presume this is the same thing as acrylic glass? Can't see what else it could be. Anyway, had no problems with it, did wickes give a reason why you shouldn't use it? I've known other people use it too, and had no problems. the only thing against it I have heard is that it scratches more than glass, but you can ''buff'' these out. If it helps ease your concern I also house a bearded dragon.

Oh and although I wouldn't try it they reckon you can throw a baseball at perspex and it won't break like glass, however if you do go for glass make sure its safety glass (breaks into tiny blunt pieces if broken)

hope this helps :-)