I’m planning on building my bearded dragon a plywood enclosure and I’m curious about what I can use for the front other than plexiglass. I have seen wood enclosures with a mesh front door for other reptiles, which would be easier to get than the plexiglass. But I’ve seen some people say it affects the temperature or can be dangerous for beardies. My room is pretty much always really hot in the summer as well as winter, and I’m getting a fairly large water bowl for my dragon which would create more humidity. So I don’t think a mesh front and top would affect temperature, and it could possibly help to keep the humidity low. My beardie is an adult and doesn’t like to climb very much. Does anyone have any thoughts on weather or not this is a bad idea? Thanks.
Yeah a mesh front might work. He would be able to climb it easily. The airflow will make it tougher to keep temps stable but if it's warm in your room it may not be an issue and the increased airflow may wind up being helpful. I prefer glass over plexiglass because it doesn't get all scuffed and scratched as easily but that also depends on the type you use I suppose. If you go with mesh and it doesn't work well I would imagine it could be changed out later. Maybe build a wood frame holding the mesh and then have hinges along the bottom and a locking mechanism on top so that when it opens it drops down in one piece.
Glass/plexiglass/lexan is very readily available at almost every home improvement store. Most people just don't know it's there so they think it's hard to come by, or that you have to go to a specialty glass shop to get it
I designed all of my builds around the off the shelf sheets of glass that home depot sells.
IMO, that's the way to go. But you could definitely make the front mesh if you wanted to. However I feel it would have more drawbacks than the initial benefits of being able to find it compared to the other alternatives.