Animal Plastics

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Originally Posted by Lira

However, the only toss up I'm having now is I saw a four drawer sweater tote rack at reptile basics for about the same price... course that means I'll have to get some more snakes because there's no sense heating all those empty totes... <innocent whistling>

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Hmm...Careful...I had two AP T3's, and then my collection expanded and I bought a RACK from AP instead. Now I have room for 7 snakes in less space than the two T3's! Having empty tubs means less stress about getting that awesome deal when it decides to come up and catch you off-guard.

And about the "burn in" period with the heat cable- the AP rack I have has the heat cable built into the back. I noticed that the temps didn't even stabilize until about 3 days after running it. So keep that in mind...

I've dealt with vision, boaphile, and AP......AP cages are, hands down, the best of them IMO. They may be a little more expensive than boaphile, and maybe not one piece like vision, but the overall experience with them is much nicer. IMO of course....

I am looking into getting a good cage for my ball python, right now he is only 6 months old but I want to get a cage that I can keep him in once he is full grown as well. I was looking at all the brands and the AP cages seem really nice. The only worry I have about the AP cages is that you have to put them together and they may leak, say the snake knocks over his water bowl, the water might spill out onto the floor and leak through the seams out onto my nice wooden floor in my living room.

and what size would I need for an adult Ball Python? I was thinking either the T3, T10 or T11

do full grown Balls need more than 12" of vertical height?

and if you guys could recommend a good setup with heating, thermostat, cage, that would be helpful. I don't know what the best heating source would be (built-in, flexwatt on the underneath, etc.) and what thermostat to get to run the UTH and the 2 lights on the top of the cage?

The AP T3 would be sufficient for an adult bp. Adults would not need more verticle height.

I used an AP T3 hooked up to a Zoo-med analog thermostat. Not the best tstat to use, but it worked eventually after some trial and error. I'd recommend using a ranco or jc stat, or even better a helix proportional stat if you have the extra cash (ranco and JC run for about 50-60, helix goes for about 100).

A piece of advice though: ask yourself how deep into this hobby you think you may get. It may be more cost-effective and save you time to buy a rack as opposed to a display setup. If you think you'll just have 1 or 2 snakes, go for the display setups. Any more than that, I'd seriously consider getting a rack. I found this out through personal experience.

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Originally Posted by squale

I am looking into getting a good cage for my ball python, right now he is only 6 months old but I want to get a cage that I can keep him in once he is full grown as well. I was looking at all the brands and the AP cages seem really nice. The only worry I have about the AP cages is that you have to put them together and they may leak, say the snake knocks over his water bowl, the water might spill out onto the floor and leak through the seams out onto my nice wooden floor in my living room.

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I have the T3. It is an awesome cage. Don't worry about the seal, they send you a silicone sealant to seal it and you'll have no issues.

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Originally Posted by squale

and what size would I need for an adult Ball Python? I was thinking either the T3, T10 or T11

do full grown Balls need more than 12" of vertical height?

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T3 will serve your BP for life. I have a 6 month old now in a T3 but If you put a baby in, you'll need plenty of hides. My set up can be seen here: http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...=3&userid=2053

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Originally Posted by squale

and if you guys could recommend a good setup with heating, thermostat, cage, that would be helpful. I don't know what the best heating source would be (built-in, flexwatt on the underneath, etc.) and what thermostat to get to run the UTH and the 2 lights on the top of the cage?

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I like the Herpstat 2. That's what I have and its awesome. Alot of people also recommend the Helix Tstats, but I have no experience with anything but the Herpstat 2. The Herpstat 2 is pricey though. For heating I use a combination of a radiant heat panel by pro products and also the built in belly heat by AP. My only complaint about the belly heat from AP is that it is uneven (has spots that are hotter than others along its length) as it is a heat cable. it does the job and my BP is doing extremely well and growing like a weed. She's healthy, never refused a feed, is shedding well, and expels waste regularly. AP will tell you the cable has hot/cool spots along its length, but it generates an average temp based on the temp you set it for with your TStat. Also if you use it, a TStat is a MUST! I took a week before my BP even got there to play around with the TSTat and heating options until I got the 82-84 cool side and 92-94 hot side. I also recommend you do the same before introducing the animal. For TStat with all that you need to run, I recommend the Herpstat 2 as well or you'll have to buy more than 1 TStat. I'm sure Matt (MGReptiles) can guide you in the right direction in that regard.

Hope that helps! Also 8 Ball Pythons rule! (Just giving you a big up Adam, old buddy, old pal! I need some more rats soon, I'll be in touch.)

1.) nice setup, I see you have the flourscent light in there from AP, do you recommend going with this for $40 extra bucks? do they modify the cage for the wires and stuff? how do you mount and turn on/off the light? or I was considering just not getting the light and using a regular incadescent over one of the 8.5" screen cut outs for lighting, do you think that would be enough to light the entire inside of the cage?

2.) also... do you apply the silicone sealeat while putting the pieces together like as a glue or do you first screw everything together and then just apply the silicone to the inside bottom and side seams?

3.) How do you get the heat probe from the thermostat INSIDE the cage to monitor the floor surface temp? Does AP put a small hole in the cage for this? I will tape one of the probes to the flexwatt itself and the other probe probablly will be taped to the cold side floor to control the Ceramic heater.. then I will probably get another digital thermometer with probe to stick on the bottom of the floor on the hot side to monitor the temp there too.

Thanks

ps. -> I went with the Flexwatt from Matt for the heating instead of the heat cable due to these uneven heat spots. Matt is giving me two pieces of flexwatt wired together, 2 pieces each 11" wide by 18" long, put them together and that will cover half of the cage. Then I am going to use a 150watt ceramic heater in the 8.5" vent to provide a basking spot and heat the air temp.. I also got 2 Johnson thermostats to run both the flexwatt and ceramic heater, these should be good I think.

I use flexwatt from Matt on my two AP T3s and I cant believe how well they hold the heat. I dont think you will need additional heating for your AP cages unless maybe its exceptionally cold where they are. My bedroom drops below 70 at night but my JC stat and flexwatt keeps that cage heated exactly right 24/7!

JT

yeah my house goes down to 60-63 degrees at night. What lighting do you use? I don't know if I need the $40 flourescent light that AP sells or not? I was thinking of just putting an incadescent light in one of the 8.5" hole cutouts in the top of the cage for lighting, do you think that would be enough?

and how do you like those Johnson thermostats? do they hold the temps to within 1 degree? Matt said he doesn't think the proportional t-stats are really that much better...

I havent had any problems with the JC stat, but I dont have any other experience to compare it to. It keeps the temps right on though, especially in the T3's. Currently I dont have any lighting but I am looking into installing some. I was looking around at the hardware store and for a simple 12" flourescent(sp?) light fixture is around 10 bucks. I know that the BPs dont even need lighting, but those cages are really dark in there so the lighting will just be for my benefit. I just bought some little halogen accent lights that all wire up to one little rollie toggle switch thing. They dont have the plug attached yet out of the box so im thinking i can run the wire through the ventilation cut outs so i wont need to cut the cage at all. This is the plan anyway, I'll let everyone know how it goes.