Animal plastics T10 vs T8 Space vs Heating also Hi I'm New

Hi all!

I'm a proud new(ish) owner of my first ever ball python. I was a lurker here on the forum long before I brought home my snake baby and really have to thank everyone for posting answers to just about every question you could have ever thought to ask! I've been waiting a decade to get my first snake (My parents didn't initially share my love of reptiles so I compromised for a cat and then I was in college) and I couldn't be happier with my little female pastel, Kida.

I bought her from a small, locally owned reptile shop (originally I was going to wait for the Tucson reptile show but after seeing her in the store for an entire week and being told by a random employee that she was his favorite I decided she was it) late July of 2015. She weighed a wee 120g then. Now pushing 700g (she has an excellent feeding response; never misses a meal even deep in blue) she's getting ready for her forever home.

My question is to those of you who have animal plastics T8 do you wish you had paid the extra $50 for the T10? Those of you who have a T10 do you have any difficulty heating ambient air temps?

Sorry! As I said I'm new and when I finished writing what I was gonna say my allotted time for edits was up (laughs)! :P

Anyways, those of you who have a T8 do you wish you had paid for the T10 from animal plastics? I've heard the extra three inches can be very helpful during cleaning. Anyone with a T10 have any problems heating the additional space? I'm thinking I will be getting a RHP for heat with maybe a flex watt for use in the summer. I live in southern Az so during the day the indoor temp can be 80 while I'm at work and I'm worried using a RHP for a hotspot might be too intense. In the winter night temps can drop to low 60s for about a month consistently since I really only use the heater in the mornings.

If anyone has any other comments about animal plastics or other PVC cages I'd be happy to hear 'em. My one gripe with AP is that they don't have a single swing door option like the proline cages.

If you're not in a rush, I'll have an opinion shortly after my AP order arrives sometime in February. I will be comparing T8, T10, T12 enclosures. Heating shouldn't be a concern with so many options for raising ambients. My main question with the 3 less inches in height is how cleaning will go when I need to scrub urates off the back walls. Welcome to the forum.

We have two T10 enclosures that we use RHPs in controlled by a Herpstat 4. One is divided and houses our two males; our bumblebee female has a T10 all to herself because she's a big girl.

I'm going to be ordering another enclosure shortly for our other female and I'm debating whether to order another T10 (long shipping time) or a T8 which Animal Plastics shows as a "quick ship" item. The additional height on the T10 is nice for cleaning so we might just spend the extra money and buy another one. Plus our black pastel loves to climb so the extra room is nice for the snake as well.

We only use RHPs for heat; no belly heat.

Since BP's aren't really arboreal snakes I think a T8 would be fine for the snake but the extra 3 inches of height might be nice when it comes to cleaning. You can heat either enclosure with a UTH, CHE or RHP without no problems. I have kingsnakes and bull snakes in T8s and they're great. Only my carpets need more vertical space.

BP's might not be arboreal as a rule, but one of our two is a climber, and hangs out on vines and logs from time to time.. I'd go with the T-10... And the extra headroom for reaching in and cleaning cant hurt