First Time T8 Setup

Hi all, I am a first time poster on BP.net and a future BP owner. I have been reading a lot about different types of cages and I think that I have settled on the Animal Plastics T8. I want to get a relatively young BP and was planning on using a divider to properly size the cage as he/she grows. Is that a good idea or should I get separate cages for each stage of growth. I am also not sure what I need to get as far as everything else for the cage is concerned. What is a good thermostat, heating, substrate, lighting, etc. I really am kinda lost here and any help would be greatly appreciated as I want everything to be perfect for when I get the snake. I am also not quite sure how to set up the cage once I get it with thermostats, etc. I have read about people calling AP and getting them to do pre cut-outs for them, is that convenient and/or cost extra money? Thanks all!

Get the divider. For heat I would go with heat tape, there are a variety of thermostats in the $50-100 range that would work just fine. Herpstat and Vivarium Electronics are both decent brands.

Substrate is whatever you like, I use newspaper but aspen and cypress also work.

For lighting I would use the LED under-cabinet task lights and leave them off unless you're actively cleaning the cage, as BP's don't require UV and bright light can stress them out. I don't have lights in any of my enclosures, I just use a small hand-held flashlight to look for "deposits" in the back corners.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Get the divider. For heat I would go with heat tape, there are a variety of thermostats in the $50-100 range that would work just fine. Herpstat and Vivarium Electronics are both decent brands.

Substrate is whatever you like, I use newspaper but aspen and cypress also work.

For lighting I would use the LED under-cabinet task lights and leave them off unless you're actively cleaning the cage, as BP's don't require UV and bright light can stress them out. I don't have lights in any of my enclosures, I just use a small hand-held flashlight to look for "deposits" in the back corners.

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Thank you so much. I have seen people mention UTHs, RHPs, and RDPs. I was wondering if you knew what these are and what the differences between them are. Sorry for all the noob questions, I really appreciate the help.

Here a great link for all your T8 questions: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=165571

UTH stands for under tank heater and is mainly used to create a hot spot. RHP stands for Radient Heat Panel. They're used in PVC or wooden terrariums to provide ambient heat.

RDP is registered domestic partnership? Lol. Just kidding. Not sure what that is.

UTH under the tank heater is a heat pad that heats from the bottom. RHP. Radiant heat panel is a panel that radiates. Heat from the top of the cage both need to be hooked up to a thermostat.

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It just different Ways to heat the enclosure

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Great link!

Which out of those heating methods do you prefer? And what about Flexwatt?

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Originally Posted by Zlo98

Great link!

Which out of those heating methods do you prefer? And what about Flexwatt?

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I heat my terrariums with RHPs to provide proper ambient temps and then I have UTHs set up for hot spots but recently i disconnected them and only use the RHPs.

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Flewatt and uth are a lot alike uth are premade pad plug and go. Fexwatt comes by the foot and u wire it itself. I personally Just use Flewatt because I heat my whole sbake room to 78

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Originally Posted by Zlo98

Great link!

Which out of those heating methods do you prefer? And what about Flexwatt?

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I use 11" Flexwatt, taped to bottom of PVC cage with foil (air duct aka HVAC) tape at the back half of the enclosure. Controlled with VE-300. 2 to 2 1/2 bricks of coconut husk for substrate works well although
The probe is taped outside the heat tape so the tape sits flat against the bottom of enclosure.

http://i58.tinypic.com/24njn85.jpg

http://i59.tinypic.com/v63g3s.jpg

It's not AP but similar. For lighting, I bought a cheap battery-operated 'glow stick' flashlight that has a variety of colours, something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Life-Gear-Mult.../dp/B004D33ONK

I use it with the red light to see inside for a few minutes when changing the water every day.
The enclosure sits on the ground so I put down some Reflectix for padding and noise/vibration insulation.

How does the flexwatt do at heating the air in the tank? And how do you do a hot side and a cool side with flexwatt?


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Originally Posted by Zlo98

How does the flexwatt do at heating the air in the tank? And how do you do a hot side and a cool side with flexwatt?

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It doesn't. I keep my reptile room at 78*F and then provide belly heat with a UTH. Adding a hide over the UTH does bump the ambient under the hide by a degree or two, but a UTH doesn't affect the ambient temp in the enclosure much.

For a T8 I would get a UTH since they're only 12" high, that's what I use in mine. I use RHP's in my enclosures that are 15-24" tall.

I'm just going to keep it in my room and that usually stay in the mid to low 70s. Would RHP's be unnecessary for that?


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