Aquarium versus Terrarium for lizards

[youcantryreachingme]

Hi all,

starting out - nothing bought yet. I want to keep lizards - some smaller skinks and perhaps a bearded dragon. Question - is an aquarium just as suitable as a terrarium?

For example, AquaOne makes aquariums that have all the fish-related stuff in the hood - a light fitting and filtration. Although the filtration is not required, the whole package displays nicely and any power leads to items inside the enclosure are concealed nicely.

Is an aquarium suitable for keeping lizards? Would it have problems with humidity due to lack of ventilation? Would it save you money on energy expenses because the glass would retain heat better than a ventilated terrarium? Has anyone used the AquaOne style aquariums for keeping reptiles?

It seems to me that in general the commercial terrariums seem tiny compared to the sizes available for fish tanks. Some are as small as a foot cubed, but at best 2 feet. I'd think that even for a small skink display I'd ideally house them in something at least 3 feet long - just so they have some environment to explore; places to set up territories; you can rearrange the furniture regularly for enrichment.

Thanks for any advice...

Chris.

 

[carinacat]

i have housed lizards in fish tanks but not an aqua one type.

 

[youcantryreachingme]

Did you keep the top open? Or cover with mesh, or with glass lids?

 

[carinacat]

glass lids but i also had a blanket kept over the top as well

 

[youcantryreachingme]

Okay - that seems to indicate that humidity isn't a problem inside an "all-enclosed" tank then. Can you give me an idea what sort of lizards/size you kept, in what sized tanks?

 

[carinacat]

i have kept blueys, beardies and shingles in 4 foot tanks and also 6 foot tanks.

 

[Chris1]

if you havent bought anything yet, i'd suggest getting a proper wood enclosure with either sliding doors or hinged ones so u can access it from the front with good ventillation.

lizards need UVB lights which dont pass thru glass or plastic and i'd guess the aqua1 tanks would have something between the tank and where the lights go to stop them getting splashed by the fish. also, with a proper reptile tank setting up a proper heat light will also be easier rather thann working out what u can stick under the hood.

i'm using an old fish tank of my bf's @ the moment with lights sitting on a mesh top. Not only has the heat lamp cracked the glass where it was too close to the edge, but its a pain in the butt to clean it, furnish it and change food/water dishes compared with in a proper front opening tank. If it had more than a mesh top it'd be way too hot in there since it has no vents on the sides.

just my thoughts though, fish tanks are adequate fro housing reptiles, but your money would be better spent on a wood enclosure.

 

[youcantryreachingme]

To check - a wood enclosure is wood all around except the front panel? Presentation is everything if I intend to put a terrarium in the house (and not upset the status quo ... so the "glass on three sides" works nicely with the AquaOne - and I guess some of the commercial terrarium setups.

 

[carinacat]

ur rite chris1, money would be better spent on buying a wooden enclosure but if youcantryreachingme already has a fish tank, it would do the job. my tank has 4 pieces of glass for the lid so i have the back 2 pieces taken off so as the uv light hits the lizards directly, not on the glass (which has no effect).