Reptile Basics or Boaphile?

[Chuckels]

I've actually dwelt with both Rich and Jeff a good bit. As far as customer service goes, Rich hands down has the best of any reptile supply dealer I've ever met. He's always available to answer any questions, and if ant if his equipment fails it malfunctions, he'll have a replacement shipped out the same day.

Jeff on the other hand seems to slack on his customer service in both phone calls and email aspects. That to me puts him a little behind the curve because no matter how quality your products are, they will fail at some point, and if you're not there to answer three phone/email, then you'll end up having an angry customer. Then you start sacrificing points off of your reputation and trustworthiness.

If Rich had the selection that Jeff has, it would be absolutely no competition, Rich would be the leader hands down.

If you want a better selection, and are willing to wait 5-7 days for a response, go with Boaphile. If you want a lower selection, same quality, and 24/7 customer service, go with Rich.

Just my $0.02

Trey

Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

[Skiploder]

I was just going to mention your first point, and agree with it completely, they all use the same materials. However I can't agree with your second point. It's unfair to point out that the Boaphiles racks and cages sag over time and not mention this about the others since they all use the same materials

I've got some boaphile racks that are around 15 years old and they are just as usable today as they were when I bought them. No sagging, and even the heat is still good.

My AP cages have not sagged to the same degree nor split under the apparently "excessive" weight of pro-products RHPs like the Boaphile 421s have. Nor have my old HerpEnclosure Cages or my AP cages.

Regardless of the fact that they use the same materials, they are not built with the same thickness of material nor the same construction. The AP racks use thicker panels. Compare them side to side.

[prettyballsy]

Make sure you get an IR temp gun to go with your new rack. It will be your best friend with your thermostat.

Its going on my list. Thanks!

- - - Updated - - -

RBI makes their racks out of the same material - as does AP and others.

This was very helpful. Thank you. The self-extinguishing selling point was pretty huge for me and I have to admit it seems strange to me that the other companies wouldn't add that to their product descriptions--just from a business point of view. There are probably a lot of uninformed people out there (like me lol) who don't know that about PVC.

Due to the overwhelming response supporting RBI, thats probably who I'm going to go with. Since I am such a newbie, there's a significant chance I'll need the kind of customer service minded company that will be willing to hold my hand a little (or a lot lol).

I really appreciate everyone's input

[prettyballsy]

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...d.php?t=264395

http://www.reptileinsider.com/showthread.php?t=5955

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=115727

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...phile-Outcome*

http://www.faunaclassified.com/forum...ad.php?t=89594

http://www.reptileboards.com/threads...oaphile.21655/

http://moreliaviridis.yuku.com/topic/9247

Are you seeing the trend here?

I started to look at some of these. This is the only forum I joined so I don't really understand some of the terminology. I keep reading about a BOI. What is that? I assume its a bad thing?
I'm just curious

[Chicagoherps]

I have Boaphile cages/racks and they are great. I didn't have to get them shipped because I purchased them at a Reptile Show, so I can't really speak on the customer service aspect with Boaphile. But I have brought items from RBI and his customer service is incredible, hands down the best in the business IMO. I think you will get great service from both companies, but if i was purchasing the same rack at the same price I would go with RBI because I know Rich has excellent customer service.

[MarkS]

My AP cages have not sagged to the same degree nor split under the apparently "excessive" weight of pro-products RHPs like the Boaphile 421s have. Nor have my old HerpEnclosure Cages or my AP cages.

Regardless of the fact that they use the same materials, they are not built with the same thickness of material nor the same construction. The AP racks use thicker panels. Compare them side to side.

Well I don't have any cages, only racks so I can't speak to that. I do have 8 boaphile racks that are around 15 years old, they are the original racks he first started producing. There is no noticeable sag, every drawer is still usable. I also have three of the ball room racks which were made from a different thicker plastic and none of them are sagging, I think I've had them for about 8 or 9 years. I have 3 of the AP racks which are still thicker plastic (BTW thicker also means heavier) The oldest being around 5 years and none of them are sagging either. The only rack that I have with a great deal of sagging was one built by www.monster-cages.com which was made with corrugated plastic sheets laminated together Also my Vision racks were sagging and binding a lot when I had them fitted with CB70 tubs, but I took them apart and re-outfitted them with hatchling tubs and they seem to be fine now. I did have some problems with my original boaphile racks with the top drawer binding when I was using the top for the storage of stacks of extra tubs, but I removed those and they're fine now.

[Skiploder]

Well I don't have any cages, only racks so I can't speak to that. I do have 8 boaphile racks that are around 15 years old, they are the original racks he first started producing. There is no noticeable sag, every drawer is still usable. I also have three of the ball room racks which were made from a different thicker plastic and none of them are sagging, I think I've had them for about 8 or 9 years. I have 3 of the AP racks which are still thicker plastic (BTW thicker also means heavier) The oldest being around 5 years and none of them are sagging either. The only rack that I have with a great deal of sagging was one built by www.monster-cages.com which was made with corrugated plastic sheets laminated together Also my Vision racks were sagging and binding a lot when I had them fitted with CB70 tubs, but I took them apart and re-outfitted them with hatchling tubs and they seem to be fine now. I did have some problems with my original boaphile racks with the top drawer binding when I was using the top for the storage of stacks of extra tubs, but I removed those and they're fine now.

Mark, I had (still have one left) some of the old 6 drawer sweaterbox racks in white. They are in the range of 8 years old. On every one, despite being on a level tile floor, the bottom drawer eventually stuck quite a bit.

I never had any sagging issues with the 41 qt racks - just the cages and the sweaterbox racks.

[mainbutter]

My 4x2x2 AP cage is starting to sag a little at the top from the weight of a pair of side-by-side cages on top. In the long run, any of these products will suffer from the unrelenting power of time.

I've had my boaphile "ball room" rack for a couple years and still love it. It fit the bill for what I wanted (double strips of flexwatt, 4 tiers, and the price point I wanted with shipping included). I'm likely going to pick up two more sometime soon. I've had excellent customer service over the phone, and no reply to emails.

Next time I'm looking at picking up cages, I'll be heavily considering Constrictors NW. I've seen a few of their cages firsthand and they come highly recommended from a few people I've bought snakes from.

Constrictors NW's cage gallery also shows a pic with a rack, though no racks are available for purchase on their website. They might reply to an inquiry about making racks.

[tatboy89]

I have had good experinces with RB and as far as affordable racks go check out animal plastics. The only bad thing about them is if you choose an item not on the quick ship list it will take about a month for you to get it, its built for order

[MazAnth]

As customer service goes Rich is one of the best.... As for the racks boaphile is second to none!