Anyone use acrylic doors?

[Taterbug]

I'll be building a new enclosure and considering acrylic (OPTIX brand) for the doors - does anyone use acrylic (plexiglass etc) for their doors? How well does it hold up to scratching?

 

[jarich]

Not well at all unfortunately, but more importantly is that it doesnt do well over time with the heat. Ive tried using it on a couple different enclosures and after awhile I always end up wondering why I didnt just use glass.

 

[Taterbug]

Not well at all unfortunately, but more importantly is that it doesnt do well over time with the heat. Ive tried using it on a couple different enclosures and after awhile I always end up wondering why I didnt just use glass.

Thanks for saving me the regret

What thickness glass do you use? Tempered or not? I want to say the glass I got last time was 1/8" Tempered and cost about $75+ for both panels... so the $20 acrylic panels were pretty attractive.

 

[jarich]

Depends on the size of the pane, but if it's not too big I usually go with 1/8", yes. That seems crazy that two small panes cost you that much! How big were they?!

 

[Taterbug]

Depends on the size of the pane, but if it's not too big I usually go with 1/8", yes. That seems crazy that two small panes cost you that much! How big were they?!

Just for the 4x2x2 - so about 24x24ish. it may have been closer to 60? It's been a few years and I had to shop around - they were sill cheapest. Maybe I need to look harder this time. lol I do remember it was the tempering that made it cost much more - needed to be special orded

 

[jarich]

Ya, they have to cut it to size before tempering, so it makes it much more expensive if its an odd size you are looking for. To be honest, I dont know if Id be that worried about tempering it with a dragon. They arent big lizards and dont generally run right into the glass or slam into it, so Im not sure its really necessary. Id almost just go with a slightly thicker pane of regular glass.

 

[Taterbug]

Ya, they have to cut it to size before tempering, so it makes it much more expensive if its an odd size you are looking for. To be honest, I dont know if Id be that worried about tempering it with a dragon. They arent big lizards and dont generally run right into the glass or slam into it, so Im not sure its really necessary. Id almost just go with a slightly thicker pane of regular glass.

We weren't sure how would go (cage is on the floor, have a cat and I'm kinda clumsy) but it doesn't seem like to been a risk after all - I might just get regular glass this time.