Question on lighting my Animal Plastics T3 cage?

[squale]

I ordered the black AP T3 cage for my ball python. I DID NOT pay the extra money for the flouresent light that goes inside the cage however. But I did get the 2 - 8.5" circle screen cutouts on the top of the cage. I am going to be putting flexwatt under half of the cage on one side, then on the other side, I got a 150 watt ceramic bulb to go in one of the 8.5" circle screen cutouts. I figure this bulb should make a nice 95 degree basking spot on one side, then the other side will have the flexwatt underneath it and I will keep it at about 85-90 degrees there.

so on the flexwatt side, I was thinking about putting a 8.5" light hood with a 30 watt circular flourescent bulb in it to provide lighting for the entire cage, do you think this will work fine? I bought one of those circular compact flourscent bulbs becasue I don't think they give off head, is that correct?

Any other suggestions on how I should configure the cage heating let me know.. thanks!

[denisthemenace]

well in regards to the ceramic heater ... read my sig. A fluorescent light would be fine but the Ball python will not benefit from it. As long as there is natural light in the room you are the cage in you will be fine. Believe me sometimes thinking less is more benefitial than over doing it. Plus lights tend to dry out the enclosure considering u also got the 2 cut outs it might be slightly difficult to monitor the humidity. I really have no experience with T3 cages.

[Python-77]

T3's are hard to heat with flexwatt, due to the fact that they are 1/2" thick on the bottom the flexwatt has to run HOT to get the temps up inside the enclosure, I have several that are wired with the heat rope and its ok but not the best. In the future I will be using radiant heat panels on all my AP enclosures, expensive but worth it in the long run.

[denisthemenace]

life can be made easier with .. a nice rubbermaid storage container

[squale]

well what sort of heating temps do you think JUST the 11" flexwatt will make INSIDE (at the floor level) of the T3 cage? I keep my room only 63-67 degrees in the winter..

the other thing I am considering is possibly to put the 150 ceramic heat bulb over the same side as the flexwatt, then having no heating source on the other side of the cage.. good idea? this way I could have both belly heat and a basking spot on the hot side, and then nothing on the cool side..

[kavmon]

63-67 is a cold room to keep bp's in! that cold of a room is going to rob your cage of alot of heat. and your going to have to use alot more heat to keep the ball at the right temps.


vaughn

[jtman]

The flexwatt on my T3s do an awesome job. I keep the Tstat at 96 and the temps in the hot side hides are 92.7. I Installed some 9" flouro lights in my T3s to get some light in there for my own benefit. I took off the top and I just dremmeled out notches for the wires to fit (dont forget to make a notch on the top itself so it doesnt pinch the wire). Then i just plugged them into a power strip and I have all the lights on one switch. It gives the cages a nice show look when the lights are on. =)

JT

[squale]

you have some pictures of the inside and out of the cage so I can get some ideas?

are you ONLY using flexwatt for heat? what do you have on the cold side?

and how much flexwatt are you using? where's your heat probe at?

[Jeanne]

well in regards to the ceramic heater ... read my sig. A fluorescent light would be fine but the Ball python will not benefit from it. As long as there is natural light in the room you are the cage in you will be fine. Believe me sometimes thinking less is more benefitial than over doing it. Plus lights tend to dry out the enclosure considering u also got the 2 cut outs it might be slightly difficult to monitor the humidity. I really have no experience with T3 cages.

Ceramic heaters as you call them are not light bulbs. They are ceramic heat emitters... I have used them for a long time without any ill effects as far as drying my enclosures out. In fact, they have been very cost effect for me since my enclosures are a bit taller than most ppls, so I have to use one of those with UTH.

[bg1906]

I ordered the black AP T3 cage for my ball python. I DID NOT pay the extra money for the flouresent light that goes inside the cage however. But I did get the 2 - 8.5" circle screen cutouts on the top of the cage. I am going to be putting flexwatt under half of the cage on one side, then on the other side, I got a 150 watt ceramic bulb to go in one of the 8.5" circle screen cutouts. I figure this bulb should make a nice 95 degree basking spot on one side, then the other side will have the flexwatt underneath it and I will keep it at about 85-90 degrees there.

so on the flexwatt side, I was thinking about putting a 8.5" light hood with a 30 watt circular flourescent bulb in it to provide lighting for the entire cage, do you think this will work fine? I bought one of those circular compact flourscent bulbs becasue I don't think they give off head, is that correct?

Any other suggestions on how I should configure the cage heating let me know.. thanks!

The inner flourescent light inside by them actually is a really good deal. Works very well for me. They also fit it for you so all you do is mount it. You do have to reach in the cage to turn it on/off (unless you have a brother who is an electrician like mine who build you a light switch to control the light and mounts it to the T3!). The light you'll see, we'll be strictly for you. The T3 is very dark inside and hard to see in without a good light source.