Drilling holes in a PVC cage

[King Neptune]

I bought a PVC cage from a friend of mine and I want to set it up nice. I started a thread a few months ago about whether to buy a used boaphiles or a new animal plastic cage. I went with the boaphiles because it was so much cheaper after shipping and everything else I needed. I'm sure it will be much better then the glass tank I have now. I have read Aaron the serpent merchants thread about setting up a PVC cage and I like how his looks, I'm just a little concerned about drilling holes in my cage. I don't want to crack it. I have no experience working with this kind of plastic so I don't know if that is a legitimate fear or not. I want to drill holes for my thermometer, I have the same one Aaron uses in his thread, and I'd like to set it up like his. He drills the thermometer probe into the floor of the tank. Is there any other way to fasten the probe to the floor? I feel like you would need to be very careful so the screw doesn't pierce the flexwatt underneath. Also since the flexwatt is already attached I'm not sure how to attach the thermostat probe, in Aarons thread it is between the tape and cage floor.

Final question, is there more detail on fastening a display light? It's dark in the cage and in my apartment as well so I feel like he would need some light for day/night simulation.

Thanks for the help, as you can tell I really don't know what I'm doing...

[The Serpent Merchant]

Boaphiles are made of much thinner plastic than AP cages are, do you will need to be careful when drilling.

Use a slow but steady speed when drilling, and don't try to drill big holes. I used a 3/8" bit I believe for my thermometer probes.

Don't try to force it, let the drill do it's job.

The lights in my cages are installed with 2 screws in the ceiling of the cage:









Where exactly is the UTH on this cage? I've never seen how they are set up.

[King Neptune]

The heat tape is on the left side of the tank, covers just about half of it.

[The Serpent Merchant]

So it's just attached to the bottom (on the outside?)

[King Neptune]

Yea, it's just attached to the bottom. The bottom is completely flat.

[The Serpent Merchant]

Ok, then I would put the cage on spacers and attach the thermostat probe between the UTH and the bottom of the cage. If that doesn't work, then I would drill a hole in the back and put the probe inside the cage directly over the UTH and secure with hot glue.

[King Neptune]

Okay sounds good.

Thank you

[King Neptune]

Quick question, if hot glue works for a thermostat probe, could I just hot glue the thermometer probe to the bottom of the tank instead of screwing it in?

[The Serpent Merchant]

You could, but screwing it in is a better as hot glue can mess with your readings.

[King Neptune]

Okay, I was just curious I'm gonna put spacers in anyways. Would a couple thin strips of wood be fine?