Animal plastic Cage's.

Just wanted to know the quality level and how easy to assemble?

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Quality = A+
Assembly = way easy
If you know how to use a screwdriver and squeeze a tube of toothpaste you can assemble an AP cage lol. Obviously a tad more to it than that but for real, it's incredibly simple. There's even videos on YouTube of people assembling them step by step


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Originally Posted by jmcrook

Quality = A+
Assembly = way easy
If you know how to use a screwdriver and squeeze a tube of toothpaste you can assemble an AP cage lol. Obviously a tad more to it than that but for real, it's incredibly simple. There's even videos on YouTube of people assembling them step by step


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Lol....... Ok their Mr. Comedian..
I didn't elaborate does everything go together fine I bought furniture from Ikea and that was a nightmare stuff was not lined up right missing parts frustrating experience...

Ill check YouTube again only saw one video




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Originally Posted by robert7107

Lol....... Ok their Mr. Comedian..
I didn't elaborate does everything go together fine I bought furniture from Ikea and that was a nightmare stuff was not lined up right missing parts frustrating experience...

Ill check YouTube again only saw one video




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Main reason I asked is my dad built me two cages and that's it he can't physically do it an I'd like to get a 8ft cage to have on hand just in case my female out grows the 6ft. Rather be prepared now then later..

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Waaaaay simpler than IKEA stuff. It's literally like screwing together a pvc box and then sealing the seams with a rubber caulk basically. They assemble them in shop and then break them down to pack them just to make sure that everything fits perfectly before they send it out. Comes with very easy to follow instructions as well. 8 footer might require two people just because the size is awkward to deal with but it shouldn't be any more complicated than any of their other cages.


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Animal plastics is super easy, that is why they are $$$. They do all the hard work of design and manufacture, so you can just slap it up and have a top quality enclosure. I would buy them in a snap, if it weren't for the price-tag. I'm sure they are worth it though, if budget is not a barrier.

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Originally Posted by Godzilla78

Animal plastics is super easy, that is why they are $$$. They do all the hard work of design and manufacture, so you can just slap it up and have a top quality enclosure. I would buy them in a snap, if it weren't for the price-tag. I'm sure they are worth it though, if budget is not a barrier.

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TBH I don't know anyone who goes much cheaper.

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Originally Posted by Godzilla78

Animal plastics is super easy, that is why they are $$$. They do all the hard work of design and manufacture, so you can just slap it up and have a top quality enclosure. I would buy them in a snap, if it weren't for the price-tag. I'm sure they are worth it though, if budget is not a barrier.

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I have seen their prices way cheaper than boaphile plastic..

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I’m more a DIY builder type, a bit cheaper that way.

Quality is top notch, and assembly is very straightforward. Here’s a large custom Corucia enclosure they recently did for us. All of our snake racks are AP as well. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...48999471c6.jpg


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AP cages are easy to put together. Basically you just screw the 2 sides and back to the floor and each other. Then you slide the front center brace/litter dam into channels in the front and screw it to the floor and sides. Then the top fits on top and you screw it down. If you get a shelf option, screw the braces on to the back wall before you put the top on. Thats pretty much it. It comes with instructions but honestly, all the pieces have stickers to say left, right, back, front, top, bottom. You would really hard pressed to screw it up lol.

Then the Lexel they send is easy to use as well. My advice though is use a very thin bead and then with a latex glove on, wet a finger of the gloves and run your finger along the bead to press it into the seam of the corners. The stuff is like concrete once it sets. Also when i was talking to Ali about the stuff and my experience with using a thick bead vs a thin finger smoothed bead where there is really nothing 'standing' up if that makes sense, the thin amount collected less gunk and was easier to wipe clean. The thick bead catches urate and stuff and you have to soak and scrub to get everything out. So a little goes a long ways with that stuff. Plus using a very thin strip of it dries a lot faster. The first cages, i used 2 tubes to seal 3 T10 cages. After i learned, i used 1.5 tubs to seal 3 T25s. Also be sure to go up about 3-4 inches vertically at the spots where the walls, back and front meet.

Boaphiles are nice but way overpriced imo. When i was switching cages from Constrictor NW ones, i was debating on Boaphiles or AP cages. After pricing, you get WAY more bang for the buck with AP. Plus glass sliding doors are better than Acrylic doors imo as the dont haze, warp, or scratch as easily. Plus having double sliding doors can save your blood supply if you have extra enthusiastic eaters.

Only down side is the wait time for them. But that is expected from a small family run buisness. Last i talked to Ali, i believe they only have one cutting machine. Plus side to that is you can order a bunch of cages at once and then pay them off before 3 months lol. Thats what i did for my 3 T25s. I just ordered them all loaded with a stand and then put down $1000 and paid off the other $1000 before they shipped in 3 months.

PVC enclosures are sooo easy to just build yourself and sooo much cheaper. There just isn't anything to them and I feel that the prices some of these companies are charging for them are absurd. Especially since you still have to put them together and seal them yourself and be on a waiting list for weeks/months to get them. Literally, the only difference building your own is making a few simple cuts and drilling some holes. I think i'm in the wrong business... lol

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Originally Posted by Aedryan Methyus

PVC enclosures are sooo easy to just build yourself and sooo much cheaper. There just isn't anything to them and I feel that the prices some of these companies are charging for them are absurd. Especially since you still have to put them together and seal them yourself and be on a waiting list for weeks/months to get them. Literally, the only difference building your own is making a few simple cuts and drilling some holes. I think i'm in the wrong business... lol

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They only go 4ft long so it wouldn't work for me....

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aedryan Methyus

PVC enclosures are sooo easy to just build yourself and sooo much cheaper. There just isn't anything to them and I feel that the prices some of these companies are charging for them are absurd. Especially since you still have to put them together and seal them yourself and be on a waiting list for weeks/months to get them. Literally, the only difference building your own is making a few simple cuts and drilling some holes. I think i'm in the wrong business... lol

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Only applies if you have all the power tools needed plus the room in the garage. Also you have to factor in the cost of 1/2 inch CDPVC sheets, not the cheap expanded stuff. Plus unless I'm mistaken, glass is pretty expensive.

But i do agree, you could make them cheaper yourself as you dont have to pay for some other guys time. But heck if you are building your own, just buy a plastic welder and weld your cages like Boaphiles. I do like the welded cages.

And honestly, for the smaller cages, I'm not sure how much cheaper they really are. AP T8s are $150. Thats pretty cheap. A sheet of 4x8 CDPVC would probably cost around $90 and the glass would cost another $50? The bigger cages do get more expensive but again a T25 72x30x18 cage is $399. I imagine that would take at least 2 sheets of CDPVC plus 2x 3 ft glass doors. The killer on the big cages is the shipping. I paid over $300 in shipping for my 3 T25s as they are considered oversize and had to come by freight.

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Originally Posted by robert7107

They only go 4ft long so it wouldn't work for me....

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You could probably find longer sheets if you called a plastic store/company. Like here in my area we have a place called Tap Plastic which will cut stuff for you to your size and color but you do pay lol.

Lowes has 4' x 8' sheets of 1/2" PVC board for $80.00... But, yes, you can find perfectly good 4' x 2' enclosures on the market for as low as $160.00. I see them all the time at the reptile expos for $225.00. For the cheaper enclosures like that you can definitely buy them for almost as cheap as it would cost to build them. The little extra it would cost to buy the cheaper ones would be well worth not having to mess around building your own for sure!

Check this site out:

http://boamaster.com/


That site has their economy 4' x 2' x 12" PVC enclosures for $175.00 SHIPPED. That's pretty hard to beat! It would cost somewhere in that same ball park to build one. Have any of you guys had any experience with that company and their enclosures?

PS I see plastic welder kits are dirt cheap, Sauzo. I don't know anything about them, but i'm definitely going to learn about them! I'm guessing you would be able to use them to bond PVC board together? If so... Wow! That would definitely be the way to do it!

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Originally Posted by robert7107

They only go 4ft long so it wouldn't work for me....

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The biggest on their site is 8x3x2. They also have an arboreal 6x2x4.

4x2x12" for $150
4x2x15" for $195

I actually ordered the 4x2x2. Hopefully it will show up in a couple weeks.

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Originally Posted by cba191

4x2x12" for $150
4x2x15" for $195

I actually ordered the 4x2x2. Hopefully it will show up in a couple weeks.

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From which company, cba?

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Originally Posted by Aedryan Methyus

From which company, cba?

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Animal Plastics

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Originally Posted by Aedryan Methyus

Lowes has 4' x 8' sheets of 1/2" PVC board for $80.00... But, yes, you can find perfectly good 4' x 2' enclosures on the market for as low as $160.00. I see them all the time at the reptile expos for $225.00. For the cheaper enclosures like that you can definitely buy them for almost as cheap as it would cost to build them. The little extra it would cost to buy the cheaper ones would be well worth not having to mess around building your own for sure!

Check this site out:

http://boamaster.com/


That site has their economy 4' x 2' x 12" PVC enclosures for $175.00 SHIPPED. That's pretty hard to beat! It would cost somewhere in that same ball park to build one. Have any of you guys had any experience with that company and their enclosures?

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Sweet Jebus man!! Run for the hills and dont look back!! I have heard soooo many horror stories about Boa Master. Anything from shotty cages to flat out not getting cages. Go check out the BOI section of FaunaClasifieds and you too can read the horror stories lol.

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Originally Posted by cba191

The biggest on their site is 8x3x2. They also have an arboreal 6x2x4.

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Think he meant sheets of PVC.

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Originally Posted by Aedryan Methyus

From which company, cba?

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AP T8s which are 48x24x12 are $150 and shipping is $45 so that is $195.

That is bare bones though. If you want one loaded with lock, shelf, flexwatt and LEDs, it's going to run you around $280 plus the $45 shipping. My 3 T8s loaded with the stand and shipping ran me $1000.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Sweet Jebus man!! Run for the hills and dont look back!! I have heard soooo many horror stories about Boa Master. Anything from shotty cages to flat out not getting cages. Go check out the BOI section of FaunaClasifieds and you too can read the horror stories lol.

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Figures... *SMH* Thanks for the heads up on that! Even $200.00 - $225.00 for 4' x 2's isn't bad and worth the little extra for not having to build one. When you start getting into $500.00 - $600.00 + for 6' + enclosures that's definitely when building your own becomes waaay more reasonable than buying them. I'll be building my own and using the money I save to buy more snakes. Then build more and use the money I save from those to buy more snakes and... and... and... When does it end? lol

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Originally Posted by Aedryan Methyus

Figures... *SMH* Thanks for the heads up on that! Even $200.00 - $225.00 for 4' x 2's isn't bad and worth the little extra for not having to build one. When you start getting into $500.00 - $600.00 + for 6' + enclosures that's definitely when building your own becomes waaay more reasonable than buying them. I'll be building my own and using the money I save to buy more snakes. Then build more and use the money I save from those to buy more snakes and... and... and... When does it end? lol

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Haha true. I would consider building my own as well but all my tool consist of auto mechanic tools...i should have gone into the woodworking field instead of auto mechanics :P

I wonder if you could do the whole thing with a circular saw. That's all I've got. Lol

I'm getting my cage for a blood python from Animal plastics. All I've heard are good reviews :)

I don't personally have the greatest tools for woodworking, either. My step dad has just about every woodworking tool known to man, though. So, I build a lot of my magic props in his garage. It just sucks that him and my mom live about 100 miles away. But, consider this... For what some of you guys are paying for some of these enclosures you could buy a few basic tools in addition to materials and still be waaaay ahead. $20.00 additional for locks? Come on! lol There's a new jigsaw right there! Then you would have the tools to build more enclosures, which you will undoubtedly need since we will never have enough snakes... lol Also, I know a lot of times high schools will have programs that allow people to come in a night or two a week and use their shops for a couple of hours. Maybe some of you might want to check into that...

I haven't ever worked with PVC board yet, but everyone says it is super easier to work with. Even easier than wood and definitely easier than melamine! I think the trickiest part to building these enclosures is routering about a 20" section out on the bottom piece down to about an 1/8" for the heat tape and that's even pretty simple. If you want a light and/or shelving in it, jeeeez... How simple and cheap! The only tools you really need to build these is a skill saw, jigsaw, router, sander, cordless drill, a square and a tape measure. A set of clamps would make life easier as well. Also, Lowes will cut out all of the initial pieces for you for free. I built two 10 tub melamine racks and both times I had them cut out every single piece for me right at Lowes. Then I loaded the pieces up in my Mustang (Aaargh! lol) and took them home and put them together...

Anyway, I didn't mean to hijack this thread and turn it into a whole DIY thing, but man... I know I would rather be spending hundreds/thousands of dollars on more cool snakes than way overpriced enclosures and shipping costs! lol

AP cages are fantastic but the wait is something you might not be too happy about. 2-4 months depending on backlog and available material. Seems they order PVC in bulk so they wait until enough orders are in to stock.

That's my only concern with them. I do not want to wait up to a quarter of a year for something I buy to come in. Sometimes you get lucky and get it in a month and a half but sometimes you have to keep contacting them to get a response on shipping.

I've never really seen a PVC up close. I'm planning on documenting it so I can reproduce it if I want. With an RHP, i don't really have to worry about bottom heat.

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Originally Posted by Aedryan Methyus

I don't personally have the greatest tools for woodworking, either. My step dad has just about every woodworking tool known to man, though. So, I build a lot of my magic props in his garage. It just sucks that him and my mom live about 100 miles away. But, consider this... For what some of you guys are paying for some of these enclosures you could buy a few basic tools in addition to materials and still be waaaay ahead. $20.00 additional for locks? Come on! lol There's a new jigsaw right there! Then you would have the tools to build more enclosures, which you will undoubtedly need since we will never have enough snakes... lol Also, I know a lot of times high schools will have programs that allow people to come in a night or two a week and use their shops for a couple of hours. Maybe some of you might want to check into that...

I haven't ever worked with PVC board yet, but everyone says it is super easier to work with. Even easier than wood and definitely easier than melamine! I think the trickiest part to building these enclosures is routering about a 20" section out on the bottom piece down to about an 1/8" for the heat tape and that's even pretty simple. If you want a light and/or shelving in it, jeeeez... How simple and cheap! The only tools you really need to build these is a skill saw, jigsaw, router, sander, cordless drill, a square and a tape measure. A set of clamps would make life easier as well. Also, Lowes will cut out all of the initial pieces for you for free. I built two 10 tub melamine racks and both times I had them cut out every single piece for me right at Lowes. Then I loaded the pieces up in my Mustang (Aaargh! lol) and took them home and put them together...

Anyway, I didn't mean to hijack this thread and turn it into a whole DIY thing, but man... I know I would rather be spending hundreds/thousands of dollars on more cool snakes than way overpriced enclosures and shipping costs! lol

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Me neither.. my dad after retirement has become quite the Craftsman with wood.
I asked him to build me a couple cages he did but he doesn't have any further interest in building anymore unfortunately I have interest in getting more snakes LOL that I'll need parts cages..

Some of my dad's handy work. Off topic off coursehttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...5c28b2bd6f.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...d33af7e2fd.jpg

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I feel your pain, Robert! My step dad used to help me build a lot of my magic props. Sadly, he is getting old and is battling cancer now and he just can't do the things he used to do. So, i'm on my own now. Compared to building magic props these enclosures are a piece of cake! There just isn't anything to them... Like I said before, I think I got into the wrong area of this hobby/sideline business for making money! lol Who knows... Maybe at some point I will start making enclosures on the side for money, too. Honestly, I hate building stuff, though! I only do it because I would rather save my money for more cool things than give it to someone else to do what I can just do myself... What really blows my mind is how much some of these companies are raping people for simple little rack systems and tubs! lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aedryan Methyus

I don't personally have the greatest tools for woodworking, either. My step dad has just about every woodworking tool known to man, though. So, I build a lot of my magic props in his garage. It just sucks that him and my mom live about 100 miles away. But, consider this... For what some of you guys are paying for some of these enclosures you could buy a few basic tools in addition to materials and still be waaaay ahead. $20.00 additional for locks? Come on! lol There's a new jigsaw right there! Then you would have the tools to build more enclosures, which you will undoubtedly need since we will never have enough snakes... lol Also, I know a lot of times high schools will have programs that allow people to come in a night or two a week and use their shops for a couple of hours. Maybe some of you might want to check into that...

I haven't ever worked with PVC board yet, but everyone says it is super easier to work with. Even easier than wood and definitely easier than melamine! I think the trickiest part to building these enclosures is routering about a 20" section out on the bottom piece down to about an 1/8" for the heat tape and that's even pretty simple. If you want a light and/or shelving in it, jeeeez... How simple and cheap! The only tools you really need to build these is a skill saw, jigsaw, router, sander, cordless drill, a square and a tape measure. A set of clamps would make life easier as well. Also, Lowes will cut out all of the initial pieces for you for free. I built two 10 tub melamine racks and both times I had them cut out every single piece for me right at Lowes. Then I loaded the pieces up in my Mustang (Aaargh! lol) and took them home and put them together...

Anyway, I didn't mean to hijack this thread and turn it into a whole DIY thing, but man... I know I would rather be spending hundreds/thousands of dollars on more cool snakes than way overpriced enclosures and shipping costs! lol

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I believe when i talked to Ali, they actually use a CNC machine to do their work but they only have 1 machine which is why it takes so long to get cages.

And I'd rather use the money for more snakes too but hey, if someone is skilled or has the machinery to do something and you dont, you pay lol. It's like when customers would say 'omg $4000 to change out my engine in my car'. Well if you know how to do it yourself, go for it. Otherwise you are paying for my knowledge and training to do it for you.

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Originally Posted by Aedryan Methyus

I feel your pain, Robert! My step dad used to help me build a lot of my magic props. Sadly, he is getting old and is battling cancer now and he just can't do the things he used to do. So, i'm on my own now. Compared to building magic props these enclosures are a piece of cake! There just isn't anything to them... Like I said before, I think I got into the wrong area of this hobby/sideline business for making money! lol Who knows... Maybe at some point I will start making enclosures on the side for money, too. Honestly, I hate building stuff, though! I only do it because I would rather save my money for more cool things than give it to someone else to do what I can just do myself... What really blows my mind is how much some of these companies are raping people for simple little rack systems and tubs! lol

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I was totally shocked my dad wanted to do it for me he doesn't like snakes I think because his granddaughter wanted it and it was something different from what he's done in the past. He built me a six foot long 28 in wide 16 inches tall for my dwarf female and he's currently building a four foot by 28 inch wide by 16 in for my male super dwarf...

I don't plan on buying any more reticulated pythons until I get a house which I'm looking at a three bedroom one for the reptile at that point in time I may want to venture into the mainland's and want to invest in a 8 foot long cages an also to have at least one on hand in case my dwarf Exede 14 ft..

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