Best Vivariums and Terrariums for 2022

Terrariums are one of the most popular types of home for reptiles and amphibians, providing a visually entertaining enclosure as well as all the features your pet needs to thrive.

Exo Terra is undoubtedly the best brand when it comes to this form of reptile enclosure and their Natural Terrarium range is available in 9 different sizes and designs, meaning you can make the perfect pick for your pet based on their size and environment needs!

This Medium/Low design is probably the most suitable for larger lizards and snakes, with double door design and a unique locking system to prevent escapes and allow quick access to your pet. A raised bottom plate floor also allows the addition of a substrate heater and five-wire inlets ensure you can supplement your terrarium with everything from heat sensors to an Exo Terra Reptile Den.

Mountainous foam backgrounds also ensure that Exo Terra Terrariums are the most authentic looking enclosures, making designing and decorating your space that little bit easier!

Whether you’ve got several reptiles who need a home or you just want to give your sole gecko a life of luxury, there’s few bigger terrariums out there than this.

With a height of 3 foot, and length of 3ft 9″, this humongous glass-fronted structure offers plenty of opportunity for arboreal reptiles and those humans who want to get creative with their pet’s home.

Thanks to the Front Flow aeration system, there are a series of vents that run across the length of the vivarium, bringing in a good flow of fresh cool air into the environment. These are higher than in previous models, which means that no matter how much substrate you use, they won’t become blocked.

There are some Easy Vents at the rear of the vivarium as a new addition too; this gives you cable management while leaving space for plenty of overheated air to escape. Toughened safety glass will protect your pet and prevent escapes, and it is available in various finishes (with stands to match).

Ideal for a whole host of different reptile species, Repti-Home units from Vivexotic make for a stunning, stand-alone habitat for your pet, or a multiple-roomed mansion thanks to their unique stackable design!

Every Repti-Home comes with OneFix connectors, a high-grade plastic joining which helps fit the vivarium together in just 10-30 minutes! This offers a secure and stable home for your reptile in fewer fittings and allows you to easily add duplicate structures to the home with little to no effort.

As an added source of security, the Repti-Home’s access doors also boast a safety glass material five times stronger than normal, featuring a blunt-shatter effect for the safety of your reptile. This means if your vivarium ever unexpectedly suffers damage, the glass will break into small blunt fragments as opposed to sharp, dangerous shards.

But this vivarium is not only safety-conscious but environmentally-conscious too!

For the eco-warrior owner, Vivexotic vivariums are made from entirely recycled sources of timber and FSC sustainable forests. This helps maintain forest biodiversity, productivity and ecological processes!

That’s right… a wooden vivarium that helps save the trees!

Bearded dragons require a very different living environment to most other reptiles, and so those looking to purchase this increasingly popular pet must be careful when it comes to acquiring a suitable enclosure.

Vivariums tend to be the best choice for your beardie, as they need a large amount of space and prefer dry-desert like conditions quite unlike the small foliage-filled space terrariums usually are.

This Terapod Slim Vivarium is an idyllic pick, as it’s wooden cabinet design makes it better suited to a sprawling sand dune substrate and at 4ft in length, it offers plenty of areas to explore. Long-lengthed vivariums like this also make it simple to create varying levels of heat across the enclosure, allowing your pet to easily move up and down their vivarium to bask in warmth or cool off. This is a fairly critical feature for bearded dragons and one this Terapod can happily provide!

Available in Beech, Walnut, Oak and Black colours, you can also choose the vivarium that best suits your home furnishings!

Providing a fashionable and practical spin on the standard tortoise table, this so-called ‘vividarium’ is the perfect home for any shell-dweller!

Winner of the ‘Best New Pet Product’ award at PATS 2016 (The UK’s biggest pet industry event), this vivarium comes in the form of a large tortoise – with an open-top shell for housing your ponderous pals in!

But for everything it brings in aesthetics, it certainly doesn’t lack in features either!

Unlike standard tortoise tables, this vivarium utilises a circular design which prevents the act of ‘chimneying’, a common occurrence in rectangular vivariums where tortoises attempt to climb the walls. This often leads to tortoises falling on their backs, which when under the heat source of a basking lamp, can be fatal.

The vivarium is also made of high-quality materials, in particular, its waterproof, lightweight resin build which prevents the home from rotting and gives it a sleek surface that promotes quick cleaning. Its open-top design also provides maximum airflow and is scientifically proven to reduce the risk of respiratory infections associated with closed roof tortoise homes.

As snakes aren’t particularly known for their love of open spaces or heights (ignoring the famous time they were on a plane), the best vivariums for our legless lizards tend to be low to the ground with plenty of extra room.

However, snakes are still well known for their sneaky ways (see Genesis, The Bible), and so picking a vivarium that is both safe and escape-proof is still crucial for their welfare!

Satisfying both these needs is the Repti-Life 4ft Vivarium, which as well as being incredibly large, also provides safety glass which far surpasses the recommended strength and safety standards in the UK. This ensures your pet is safe from injury and that they’re unlikely to mastermind a daring escape.

Coming in a classic wooden cabinet form with sliding glass doors, Repti-Life vivariums are one of the few to be manufactured in the UK and are constructed of durable MFC wood. And as one of the few vivariums to come in a stylish black, your slitherer is sure to be the envy of the rest of the animal kingdom!

For when you have to temporarily house a reptile if you are cleaning out its home, or just getting it up to the right temperature.

This small plastic terrarium is great for transportation, or if you have a small animal which has just hatched and can’t yet be housed with the adults. It is nice and easy to clean and has a well ventilated, self-locking lid with a viewing and feeding window. This will prevent any escaped or accidents.

It is also suitable for small animal nurseries, as a reptile breeding box, or if you are having to place one animal in quarantine.