Cage Advice

I'm planning on buying a new cage for my ball python, but there's so many options that I'm a bit confused. I was hoping that some people with experience with plastic cages could give me some advise. My bp is a year and a half old and has been in a 30 gallon tank up until now. At the time I bought it, I didn't realize how terrible glass tanks were (and was pretty ignorant of other options), but after struggling with the temps and humidity for a while I see first hand how bad they are. Despite that, my bp is pretty happy and healthy. I've decided to go to plastic, and up the size.

The two cage brands I've been looking at are Animal Plastics and Boaphile Plastics. I'm really leaning towards AP right now, but could still be pursuaded in the other direction if anyone thinks that Boaphile cages are better. If I go with an AP cage I'll be getting a T3. Whatever brand I end up with, I want to heat it with a radiant heat panel, probably from Pro Products. I'm thinking of getting belly heat as well since bp's like belly heat, but I know there's no way that will keep the cage warm enough by itself. I know that plastic cages are better at retaining heat and humidity than glass tanks, but my previous experience with UTH is that it does practically nothing to heat the air. I've heard nothing but good things about radiant heat panels, though. I was wondering, if I were to get both, should I put them on opposite ends of the cage? The same end? Or keep the UTH on one end and the radiant heat panel in the center?

If anyone has any experience with this, please share. Money isn't really an object, but I want to make sure I set everything up correctly since these things aren't cheap.

If you do a forum search for "T3" and/or "Boaphile" I think you'll find several good threads that discuss the merits of both. Personally, I plan on getting a T3 as a permanent enclosure for my BP when she outgrows the cage she's in now.


As for the heat panel...hard to say where the best place to put it might be, because it really depends a lot on ambient temps in the individual room where it will stay. What I would do is to get all the pieces you need and set up the cage where you plan on keeping it...and run it for several days to see if temps and humidity are maintained. Move the heat panel and tweak as necessary until it works just right for you. And then introduce the snake to its new home. :)

T3 is too short a string to search for. I've tried. ;) You can work with Animal Plastics though.

I personally have a Boaphile, but I know a lot of people use Animal Plastics. I don't think you can go wrong with either. You should be able to heat either with the flexwatt alone, unless you have an unusually cold house. But having the radiant heat panel, isn't a bad idea either. You can also always give the companies a call and speak with them directly. The big downside with Boaphile is their slow ship time. They say 4-6 weeks, but usually mean 6-8. It's not been an issue for me, since I knew that going in. ;)

Thanks to those who have responded so far. I did a search like you suggested - wow, you guys have talked about this subject a lot. Sorry for the repetitiveness.

I wouldn't mind the wait time with Boaphile, and what appeals to me is that everything comes installed. The customer service is a problem for me, though. I tried contacting them a couple weeks ago and they never got back to me, which is really the only reason why I started looking into other options. I think based on what I've read on this forum that I will be going with AP after all. I'm sure they can't be that hard to put together?

As an aside, how would I go about installing the RHP in a plastic cage? Will I have to drill a hole for the cord? That sounds like a really stupid question I'm sure, but I've never seen one installed before.

I would talk Animal Plastics about that, or ProProducts. Sorry, I can't help ya there. ;)