Need Help In Picking Out A New Cage

[artist&writer]

I've been to several websites to pick out a new single cage for my BCI, but I haven't found one that I like. I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction, or give me some links. I want the heat included with the cage, and I want it to be easy to clean as well. He is the only one I have and I don't plan to get any more.

[The Serpent Merchant]

Have you looked at AP cages? For a single boa I would get a T20 or T25, though you could go as small as a T8

http://www.apcages.com/home/

AP will set up the cage however you like. They sell heat tape with their cages, but they will install radiant heat panels for you or add screens for heat lamps/ceramic heat emitters if you prefer. They are easy to clean, stack (if you ever change your mind and get more) and I think they look great.



Pictured is the 8" stand AP sells, a T12, and a T8

Here is a thread I wrote on them:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...With-Pictures!

[bcr229]

Animal Plastics, ConstrictorsNW, BoaMaster, and BoaPhile all make decent-quality enclosures that will work. I'd recommend one at least 48" wide x 30" deep.

Since your guy is fairly small and you have some time before you have to get a larger enclosure, keep an eye on Craigslist, local FB reptile classifieds, forums, etc. Sometimes people sell off the larger enclosures at a steal of a price, because the cost to ship them is prohibitive. As an example I picked up four 48"x30" Boamasters with heat already installed for $50 each from a guy getting out of boas, because I was willing to go pick them up and paid cash. Obviously I had to clean and sanitize them once I got them home, but that didn't take long at all.

[Gio]

The following is a writeup of my cage search and buying experience. I wrote it a while back but it still applies.


When I decided I was going to eventually add a second snake to the collection, I knew I had to make my choice as affordable as possible when it came to the cage. I ran through the top plastic cage manufacturers. Initially I was dead set on a preassembled unit that had everything already installed. I did not want to worry about piecing a cage together, figuring out placement of heat tape, heat panels or lights or any kind of wiring. I am not a "handy man" and don't have a lot of spare time. I certainly felt I had my cage decision made until I began to look at size and pricing.

I am by no means an expert when it comes to snakes, but after looking at what I thought was the perfect plastic cage that I could justify buying, I could not get over the fact that the height of the cage was going to be 7" less than my son's 18" Royal python glass Critter Cage.

I decided in order to get a taller cage, I'd maybe consider some of the "assemble yourself cages". That decision opened up a whole new set of options and price points. After looking at what I felt were my 4 best options, I looked at which cage gave me the most space for the best price. I decided I could buy the interior items for heat and light separately and concentrate on the cage itself. Although, I knew I wanted a lock on the cage and saw I could pay $8 for a lock with a Pro-Line or $20 somewhere else something I took note of as locks seem simple enough.

There are a lot of good "chat forum" posts about cages and I read through them carefully noting positive and negative feedback. One thing I started to focus on was the actual plastic used to make the cage. I never gave it any thought up front until I read people's experiences with ease of cleaning, stains, retained smells and durability. I like quality when I buy something, I will pay a bit more money to get quality if I need to. Oddly, the price of the cage I started to focus on was not more because of "good plastic".

At a glance all seemed equal except the plastic when I was looking at my last two choices until I did the math and the SHIPPING cost was calculated into the mix.

Still there were some questions I had, and that's when the customer service part came in. It didn't take long to have e-mails, texts and even phone calls answered quickly and professionally by Ed. I was quite impressed when I was told NOT to spend extra on a shelf, or a background which saved me money and took an easy sale and extra $$ out of his hands. I was thinking, "Wow he could have told me to buy all of that stuff."

I finally decided on my cage. It was the Pro-Line 48" x 23" x 14" for a male BCI. Ed suggested using 1 heat source, a radiant heat panel, and he set me up with Bob at Pro-Products for that. I had decided I'd figure out a light later.

I DID NOT KNOW ED PRIOR TO THE PURCHASE. I DO NOT NOW WORK FOR PRO-LINE.

This post is basically a reflection of how happy I am with a great product and service. I also want others who maybe are in the same spot I was to see how things went. After all, it was the reviews by others that helped me.

Delivery was faster than I thought and communication was excellent throughout the purchase.

This is what arrived.


It was packaged nicely and intact upon arrival.


No work shop needed for assembly. I used a dining room table. There are only a few screws to put the cage together. The cage slides together and sets up quickly. I followed along with the assembly video posted on the Constrictors NW webpage.




The setup was very fast. Once you are at this stage, you can seal the inner seams which is very easy, and then concentrate on the top of the cage and placement of your heat panel (if you use one) and your lights.



Ed provided the perfect length screws for the heat panel. It was VERY easy to mount as was the LED strip light I purchased.


It was finished quickly. I did wait 1 day for the sealant to set up before putting on the top and screwing down the top panels the bottom panels were screwed in prior to sealing.


The rest is up to you. The cords and thermostat probes fit easily through the rear vents in the upper right and left hand corners on the back or the cage. I used a template to mount the perch holders evenly. I saved money because Ed advised the perch setup would work better in this cage than the shelf for my heating plan.



I was not asked to post this info. I posted to help people address the issue of caging that may be on the fence or concerned about self assembly.

I am completely satisfied with the product and service and I want to pass along my top rated experience.

I have contacted and been contacted by Ed since the purchase. He is a nice guy and has a lot of information. Certainly I would do this all over again, plus I have a new friend to BS with about snakes. That says a lot considering my hobby is his day to day business, and lots of people want to forget about work when the day is done.

The cage in it's latest state.

[Shann]

Gio beat me to everything there is to say about ConstrictorsNW. I LOVE their cages. To add to the ease of cleaning of a proline cage, last week I did a complete substrate swap and found some caked on urates I had somehow missed in my regular cleanings. I've seen some other plastic cages where these were hard to clean off, and left stains on white cages. Came right off without any sort of effort, and didn't leave any evidence behind.

All I use in my cage heating-wise is a pro-products RHP, as Ed recommended. I couldn't be happier. His customer service is great as well. I had some problems with it at first (my own fault, I had it set up on an uneven surface) and he walked me through correcting them, and I haven't had a single complaint since.

Here's mine, in white. It's a 48x24x18, and I really like the extra height for putting a fussy boa back. I also got cage locks added, and I did my own lighting. Unfortunately, the cage is right in front of my bed and I can't get the whole cage in the shot But I just wanted to show it in white and lit.



I will be ordering more cages from him in the near future.

[CloudtheBoa]

ConstrictorsNW sound pretty good, I may buy from them if I run out of enclosures for larger snakes. Do they ship nation-wide, and do they sell enclosures large enough for a full-grown retic?

I'm sorry I can't help, OP, I built both my 6ft enclosures.

[nick654377]

I personally like animal plastics. their customer service is supurb and quality is amazing. a lot of places will use 1/2 inch on he bottom and 3/8 on other sides where animal plastics will use 1/2 inch all around. I have 4 tanks now and plan on ordering many more from them.

[Evenstar]

I love ConstrictorsNW. Gio beat me to the punch too, lol, but his post was better anyway and he has pictures!

Ed is great to work with!

http://www.constrictorsnw.com/

[BumbleB]

I love ConstrictorsNW. Gio beat me to the punch too, lol, but his post was better anyway and he has pictures!

Ed is great to work with!

http://www.constrictorsnw.com/

I dont think anyone can beat that answer no matter what brand theyre praising lol

[bcr229]

ConstrictorsNW sound pretty good, I may buy from them if I run out of enclosures for larger snakes. Do they ship nation-wide, and do they sell enclosures large enough for a full-grown retic?

I'm looking at getting 3 of the ConstrictorNW 60" long enclosures for my female BCI's when they grow up.

For a retic I would recommend the Monster 96" enclosure: http://monster-cages.com/eight-foot-cages.php I have two of the 96"x30"x18" with center dividers and love them.