Caging

Your welcome Becky. I hope everything works out well and he makes his way to Texas to you soon. He sure needs a good home with a knowledge, caring owner.

Mike and I will do whatever we can to help facilitate his shipping. We'd love to see this big lovely boy settled in with you.

Thank goodness he's been to the same vet we use for our snakes, so if Dr. Graves gave him a good going over you can feel assured he's in decent shape (other than probably needs a fecal done).


~~Jo~~

A male boa will have plenty of room in the 1996 tub. If you have to choose between floor space and height, go with floor space everytime. Honestly, I think a lower tub makes them feel more secure... makes them feel safer. Works wonders for BPs too.

I have heard and seen horrible reports on their customer service. Seems like they dont care much about the customer in my opinion. Now I have a question..I agreed to take in my sister's boyfriend's adult female boa. She is about 8 feet. She has lived most of her life in a 55 gallon tank and is allowed to roam free. She wont have that luxury here but I want to give her the best possible environment (and they are paying for it plus food every month so there is no downside). What cage would you all recommend? I looked at the AP T25 and am not really considering Boaphile. Thoughts? Is a 6ft cage the right size? Thanks!

You could probably do the huge tubs from Reptiletubs.com if you want to go that route. Eric is great about answering any questions you have and quick about it, too. I'd recommend talking to him anytime. You can also get hides, water bowls, and heat from them. Whole set-up in one fell swoop.

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Originally Posted by ladywhipple02

You could probably do the huge tubs from Reptiletubs.com if you want to go that route. Eric is great about answering any questions you have and quick about it, too. I'd recommend talking to him anytime. You can also get hides, water bowls, and heat from them. Whole set-up in one fell swoop.

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With a snake of that size I want a real cage with locking doors. Even though I have a separate room for the snakes, I have cats as well and dont want to take a chance.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...1/1/ve175a.jpg


These clamp as you can see. I would think you could put a padlock on it... and use clamps around the rims for extra security. Not trying to promote anyone, just throwing out my ideas. I think these are interesting. But, you gotta do what you think's best for the snake.

Personally, I prefer Animal Plastics if you're going with cages... but again, that's me.

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Originally Posted by ladywhipple02

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...1/1/ve175a.jpg


These clamp as you can see. I would think you could put a padlock on it... and use clamps around the rims for extra security. Not trying to promote anyone, just throwing out my ideas. I think these are interesting. But, you gotta do what you think's best for the snake.

Personally, I prefer Animal Plastics if you're going with cages... but again, that's me.

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I appreciate the input. I have all AP right now so ill prob go that direction. I think the 4 foot will work fine.

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

They seem to be awesome cages, and wouldn't have the heat cable hot spot issue that the AP cages do.

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Ah yes, the AP wire heating problem. This is what caused me to overheat Hissy & resulted in the only times she has ever struck at me. Once you realize that all ya really gotta do is put a probe right on top of the wire, you are all set. Since I figured this out, I have had no troubles with my AP tank & Hissy has thrived. I love the AP tank. It is pricey but gorgeous! In my case, for the time being anyway, Hissy is the only snake or reptile of any sort that I own so her display means a lot to me &, quite frankly, she is a spoiled little hissing brat!

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Originally Posted by Eddie_Z

Ah yes, the AP wire heating problem. This is what caused me to overheat Hissy & resulted in the only times she has ever struck at me. Once you realize that all ya really gotta do is put a probe right on top of the wire, you are all set. Since I figured this out, I have had no troubles with my AP tank & Hissy has thrived. I love the AP tank. It is pricey but gorgeous! In my case, for the time being anyway, Hissy is the only snake or reptile of any sort that I own so her display means a lot to me &, quite frankly, she is a spoiled little hissing brat!

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Eddie,

According to Mark from AP, that is NOT what is supposed to be done. I have had the probe on top of the heat and had major issues. Here is the text of the post from him:

Jamie,

We don't recommend that you put the probe right on the heat source. Many times it will confuse the thermostats you are using. For example, if you had a stove and the the thermostat probe for the stove was set directly on the heating element your items would never heat because the element heats and cools so quickly it will not warm the oven.

I would recommend starting with an empty rack, place the bedding or newspaper as you would for your animals. Set the probe at least an inch away from the cable set your desired temperatures for the hot spot. Once it reaches the desired temperature, check the hot spot in the tub to see what that temperature is. It should be a little warmer than the temperature you have set on the thermostat. So, now that you know the difference between the actual hot spot and the setting you have, simply adjust your thermostat to accommodate the difference. Check temperatures regularly.

AND

In my post you will see I said about an inch, a few inches might be to far. I also said that the hot spot would be warmer than the thermostat reading, that is why you have to check the temperature in the tub and adjust the thermostat accordingly. We recommend and have had great success when people place the probe at the desired location, whether in an empty control box or an inch from the cable, let the rack heat for a few hours, maybe even overnight. Our plastic is very thick and takes time for the heat to disperse. Once it does disperse the benefit is that it takes a long time to lose heat as well.

11" flex watt WILL give a wider controlled heat area, but 11" is far to much heat for most rack systems. I can understand the 11" flex watt in cages and maybe 36" deep racks.

Our cable S curves in the belly heat with about 4" in between the cable loops. Yes, your raytech will read different readings between the loops in the belly heat area, our cable is designed to produce an "overall" warm area or hot spot for you reptile. Believe it or not, once you have your bedding or newspaper down your reptiles will not recognize the variations between the loops, they will be absorbing the average temperatures.

There are many healthy twenty foot retics that are warmed with 11" or smaller flex watt, these animals are designed to absorb and spread energy efficiently

That is really interesting. The way I do it is that I have two thermometers with probes, one on each side of the tank. I put the probe of the warm side as close to being on the belly heat as i can. Since I can rarely put it directly on the cable (my cable is only grooved on the bottom of the cage so i gotta try to figure it out) i would say it is about an inch off of the cable, but on top of the paper towel. Then I have the base of the thermometer on the same side to get an ambient reading. I do the same with the cool side altho obviously i don't have a heat cable over there. I also put the probes under a hide. My readings have been very consistant with this method & there is generally little difference between the probe & the base. She seems to be a very happy little girl so I think I am doing it right. Thanks for the great info though, it is much appreciated.