Some rhp problems

I got my first boa at the con city reptile show yesterday! :) I have an animal plastics tank, with aspen bedding and an rhp for the heat source. My humidity and temperatures are good, but I have one problem. He loves to climb in the small crack in between the rhp and the ceiling of the tank, I'm not sure how severe this is or if there is a high risk for burns. Any insight on the subject would be great! Thanks.

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Originally Posted by xyzpdq75

I got my first boa at the con city reptile show yesterday! :) I have an animal plastics tank, with aspen bedding and an rhp for the heat source. My humidity and temperatures are good, but I have one problem. He loves to climb in the small crack in between the rhp and the ceiling of the tank, I'm not sure how severe this is or if there is a high risk for burns. Any insight on the subject would be great! Thanks.

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I don't have an AP cage, but do use RHPs exclusively. Mine are all mounted with no space in between the ceiling and the panel.

I would say you should fix that immediately as the panels DO get hot and the situation sounds dangerous.

Post a picture or 2 and maybe somebody can assist you. At this point I'd remove the snake until you have that fixed.

Did you call AP? They will have an idea of what to do. It's possible you mounted the panel improperly.

Yeah, the RHP should be mounted directly against the ceiling of the cage. What brand of RHP are you using, reptile basics? Pro products?


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Sorry for lack of information in the original post, reptile basics rhp. When I fasten it to the top of the cage, the two ends with the screws are flush, but it rotates slightly making it so that my snake was able to push itself in the crack and maneuver in the hollowed out part in between the heater and the roof of the tank. I might try sanding down the ceiling of the tank in order to make it flush. I'm not home now, but I actually unmounted and turned down the rhp to about 80 degrees (VE-100 is the thermostat i use). I'll definitely give and update when I get home, thanks for the thoughts.

Here a picture from last night before he climbed up there, I forgot to get a picture this morning:
http://imgur.com/u5x2Ndx

Huh, did you install the panel before or after installing the ceiling of the cage? Could be a slight bit of sag in the cage top allowing a small gap on the non screw mounted sides of the RHP. It sounds like it has a bit of play in the screw mounts, I'd try making sure they're torqued down fairly tight before sanding on your nice new AP cage. Also I second Gio's suggestion to call AP. Ali is great to work with and probably has a good solution to the issue at hand.


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My boy used to do the exact same thing, I was sure he was going to cook himself but no harm ever came of it. All the same I rectify the situation as soon as I could. As mentioned above my problem was that the weight of the panel was producing a bit of sag in the ceiling of my cage, since I use a plastic tub I had screwed into a piece of wood on the outside for a firm purchase, I just replace it with a longer playing so that the wait is more evenly distributed across the tub and not pulling just on the center. worked like a charm.


https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...2FIMG_7089.jpg

Sanding the tank ceiling is not going to help. It's hard to tell in the pic but I would think this issue is being created by either a sagging ceiling or a warped rhp. My guess, it is the ceiling that is sagging and to fix the issue you need to beef up the ceiling and give it better support. Maybe something like a small piece of flat metal bar cut to the length of the depth of the cage would allow you to snug the rhp down and pull the ceiling back into place.

Or, maybe a good diameter pvc pipe cut to the excact height of the cage and wedged inside to lift the ceiling would work better.

I have a reptile basics RHP in an AP cage and cannot for the life of me figure out how you could have a gap, but strange things happen I guess. Rotates how? I can't see the area where the RHP meets the top in your pic. When I mounted mine, I did it with the top taken off and flipped upside down on a flat table so that I could ensure it was tight and flush. I can barely even get a sheet of paper corner slid between them. Maybe try sliding it an inch or two around until you find a way it can be more flush and remount it? Def do it with top off and flipped upside down.

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Originally Posted by dkatz4

My boy used to do the exact same thing, I was sure he was going to cook himself but no harm ever came of it. All the same I rectify the situation as soon as I could. As mentioned above my problem was that the weight of the panel was producing a bit of sag in the ceiling of my cage, since I use a plastic tub I had screwed into a piece of wood on the outside for a firm purchase, I just replace it with a longer playing so that the wait is more evenly distributed across the tub and not pulling just on the center. worked like a charm.


https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...2FIMG_7089.jpg

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This it's exactly what I meant. No matter what direction you go the key here is to take the support piece from cage end to end. This will offer the most support as the strongest point will be the top of each cage wall.

Thanks everyone! I think I'm going to try re-mounting it with the top off making sure that it is flush. If that doesn't work I'll try bracing it with a piece of wood or something along the lines of that. I'll probably post an update tonight, along with some pictures with him out since I'll have to take him out to fix it up anyways, Thanks again!

Problem Solved! I took the top off, then slightly offset the RHP so the screws would make new holes, then more securely fastened it using a drill.
Thanks for all the help, here are some pictures!
http://imgur.com/a/j5rW7
p.s. I felt horrible for taking away his ability to climb on stuff, so I decided to put in a few hangers as a temporary climbing area. He immediately took to it ^^.

Be careful with that light. I have several lights similar to that in my cages and some of them can get really hot. Might check it with your temp gun to see what numbers it holds. Mine surprised me by how how some got.