Zoo Med Naturalistic Terrarium

by **Kodieh** Tue Aug 30, 2011 6:47 am

Zoo Med Naturalistic Terrarium
Product Number NT-1 12"x12"x12"
NT-2 12"x12"x18"
NT-3 18"x18"x18"
NT-4 18"x18"x24"

What a really versatile product. The Zoo Med Naturalistic Terrarium is a really well designed cage; it has a really nice ventilation system, it can hold water in the bottom if need be, the locking mechanism is surprisingly sturdy, and it has it's own specially designed hoods and background inserts. The first thing I notice is that it is not for the terrestrial animal; unless you plan on spending the money to get a really long one, but then you have a lot of arboreal space wasted; and I do mean a lot. Zoo Med gives recommendations as to what animal would be best suited in these cages; but a good rule of thumb is just about any arboreal species relative to the size of the tank.

The locking mechanism for this cage really surprised me. I thought that eventually I'd be replacing the lock, or doing some redneck engineering to ensure the door closes. I'd also heard terrible things about this lock, and how it failed and was easily broken. When I finally got everything set up in it, and shut the door to stand back and look; that lock was amazing! You really have to be trying to open the door to get it open too, it's not a simple soft push of a lever and it pops open. That's the magic in it, you have to push and hold the lever down and then pull the door open yourself so as not to allow any escapee's! I was pretty taken with that, since I've got some speedy jumpers inside of it now.

The ventilation system inside the tank is actually really cool. Instead of performing like the fish-tank-esque viv's of the past, where ventilation is all in through the top and out through the top. This cage has a thin black bar below the door that has a screen on it, and then is covered with black plastic with circles punched in it (picture 4). This allows for
the air to come from the bottom and rise to the top to, in effect, stop the nasty smells that can arise in 90% humidity environments. On the same topic, they top screen of this cage comes off making it possible to by-pass the door all together in case you don't have the same experience I do with it. I use this myself, to put crickets in the cage without them jumping back out at me! The only down side to these ventilation holes in the front bottom is that watering my live plant inside, some times the water will trickle out. It's just something I have to watch out for, and not pour water directly near the holes. Just short of that though, it's next to perfect.

The versatility of the bottom of the cage is really exceptional, there's room in the bottom to put standing water in. In fact, that's what the bottom of the cage is designed specifically or! To hold water! It makes keeping a frog in here an easy and pleasant experience. I personally filed it up with dirt, and planted a live plant inside, which my Anole's love. Though, as a note, you can't put water in the bottom and put a heat mat on the bottom too. This leads to safety hazards, which is a big no no. I think the best feature of this cage is that, everything that you need to use with it (hoods, lights, heating sources) have been specially designed for it. The top's of these tanks are so thin, with the current hood I'm using now could perfectly span to 12" x 12" x 18". The hoods they've designed for them fit each cage and have special hoods to fit each size (there are four sizes). They also have background inserts for these cages; Zoo Med currently has several backgrounds to fit the theme of your set up. I went for a tropical/southern woodlands feel, and went for a bark theme as my insert. These inserts though, are not made to fit; you usually need to fill in some substrate enough to where your background fit's just right. Even then though, and this is what I will
be doing eventually, the backgrounds don't sit as snug as they could so as a good guide I suggest just a little bit of silicone on the back to put in place. This is a semi-permanent solution, and therefore should not be taken lightly. Something to keep in mind though, is that every single piece of cage furniture that Zoo Med sells will fit in this cage. Including the waterfall kit they sell, which is another review all it's own (when I buy that Wink

).

It's a really great cage, and of all the places I've heard to being used, several people keep these in their business offices as a show piece! I thought that was really interesting. I'd love to have that job, haha!

Over all score: 9 out of 10.

By Kodieh

by **gothicgurrrl** Tue Aug 30, 2011 7:32 am

wow

great review.. i want to get one of these if I ever get a crested gecko Very Happy

by **Kodieh** Tue Aug 30, 2011 7:36 am

I love it, I would've rather gotten an 18" x 18" x 24"; but my budget didn't allow it. So I got the 12" x 12" x 18". It's still good for what I've got in it. Cresties and Day Geckos would go great in these! ;D

by **Jordan** Wed Aug 31, 2011 4:32 am

Another great review Kodie! thanks Very Happy

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