Product Review: Dubia.com 4x2x2 Reptile Enclosure

There are several concerns/complaints I’ve heard about this enclosure, so let’s start by addressing those:

“The coating on the screen is a fire risk — it burns when a heat lamp is placed on top of the enclosure and smells terrible!”

To test this, I first ran two 90w-equivalent Philips PAR38 halogen flood bulbs in a Zoo Med Combo Deep Dome placed top of the mesh of the assembled enclosure in a 68-74°F room for 23-24 hours straight. These bulbs are one of the most commonly used with species kept in 4x2x2 enclosures, such as bearded dragons and blue tongue skinks. The fixture became very hot and the bulbs themselves became very hot. Despite the unusually prolonged use, there was no smell of burning, nor any damage to the mesh whatsoever.

I happened to have some stronger bulbs on hand, so I decided to give those a try as well in a second attempt to damage the screen as has been reported. This time I used two 100w Philips PAR38 halogen flood bulbs that I use for my uromastyx — a lizard known for enjoying extremely high basking temperatures! These bulbs were installed in a Zoo Med Mini Combo Deep Dome lamp fixture that placed the surface of the bulbs within 1” of the screen for roughly 24 hours. The results? Not a trace of burned plastic smell or damaged mesh.

In other words: damage to the coating on the mesh is only likely to occur if you’re using a very high-wattage bulb AND the bulb is on top of/in direct contact with the mesh rather than an inch or two above it. This is not good practice to begin with, so I must conclude that complaints in this area are due to user error, not a defect in the product. I imagine that in some cases, this problem may be caused by using extremely high-wattage incandescent livestock bulbs, which tend to be enormous and too large for just about any reptile lamp fixture. Keep your bulbs off the mesh by using an appropriately deep fixture, and you should not encounter any issues.

“The substrate lip is so short it may as well not be there at all.”

Yes, at a max height of 3 7/8”, this enclosure’s substrate lip is definitely on the shorter side. Realistically speaking, this enclosure is likely to only accommodate about 3” of substrate. The good news is that this isn’t likely to be a problem for most naturalistic enclosures where the substrate doesn’t have to be particularly deep. In fact, a semi-arid bioactive may even be possible for species that aren’t known to be particularly enthusiastic diggers, as succulents generally have shallow roots. That being said, a temperate to tropical bioactive is likely not to be compatible with this enclosure as there’s just not enough room for an adequate amount of substrate, and particularly not for a drainage layer.

“The enclosures are never in stock!”

Popularity comes with a price, and the problem here is not that Dubia.com enclosures are never in stock — it’s that each batch sells out quickly. They seem to be working hard at keeping up with demand, but the fact of the matter is that these things are flying off the shelves. The good news is that they have a waitlist/pre-order option to hold your place in line. You shouldn’t have to wait more than a month or two, which, while it’s not the Amazon Prime experience you’ve gotten used to, it’s still a pretty good turnaround time compared to many reptile enclosure manufacturers.

“The wall panels are flimsy and cheap-feeling.”

As I mentioned earlier in this review, the wall panels are certainly flexible — that’s generally how PVC works unless it’s particularly thick. But would I call them “flimsy?” Not at all. In fact, I was surprised by how strong they felt in my hands. They don’t feel excessively thin or like I could just snap one in half if I were in the mood, which is something I’ve encountered in the past with other enclosures.

In other words, this isn’t something you should be worried about.

“The acrylic doors are too thin and snakes can push their way between them to escape.”

As with PVC, as acrylic sheets get larger, they get more flexible. Increasing the thickness can help remedy this problem, but increasing the thickness increases weight and quickly becomes impractical for designing a matching sliding door track.

Do the doors of the 4x2x2 enclosure flex enough to be a point of concern with snakes? I tested this by taking two fingers and pushing very hard on the doors where they met in the middle. I was able to create a gap of about 1”. Could a snake exploit this kind of gap to escape? In theory I found it a bit doubtful, but the application is a different story: there are verified accounts of snakes (corn snakes, kingsnakes, milksnakes, etc.) doing exactly that.

There is also a small gap between the doors where they meet in the middle which could be potentially exploited by particularly small snakes or lizards, such as baby garter snakes, young corn snakes/kingsnakes/milksnakes, micro geckos, etc. This gap exists whether the doors are made from glass or acrylic. In other words, it’s a good idea to put some kind of weather stripping or reinforcing aluminum “cap” on the doors to address this.