Door lock on T8?

[BumbleB]

Seriously AP should just ship the cages with a set of these: http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/...l-door-handle/

Omg thank you for that link!! Been looking everywhere for those. They really should ship the doors with these handles. It feels like everyday I'm cleaning smudges off of the glass from struggling with them.

[NH93]

I just thought I'd add, I'm not sure how heavy those doors are, but on another forum today someone posted a thread about their cats who opened their sliding glass doors to their cage and cornered her snake...
Not sure if it was this type of cage or not, but if you have cats I would be cautious!
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=135001

[OsirisRa32]

I have locks on both of mine and honestly don't use them. They're a pain to actually use. No escapes yet. *knock on wood*

Your playing with fire....ive had several escape attempts even with my T8s that are several feet off the ground...and even my littlest snakes will try and wedge the T8 doors open if the locks are not in place.

[The Serpent Merchant]

I just thought I'd add, I'm not sure how heavy those doors are, but on another forum today someone posted a thread about their cats who opened their sliding glass doors to their cage and cornered her snake...
Not sure if it was this type of cage or not, but if you have cats I would be cautious!
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=135001

The doors on a T8 actually sit into a slot on each side panel so I wouldn't be too worried about a cat. Now if you are prone to leaving the doors cracked then you might have issues. The only time I ever had a snake almost escape was a time then I accidentally didn't close the doors all the way.

I think it should be said that if you have an AP cage with the swing doors and not the sliding glass or sliding acrylic doors the locks are much more important.

I always get locks on my cages, but that is to keep other people out and not to keep snakes in. OsirisRa32 has a good point about how high off the ground the cages can be and the locks do add a extra layer of security which is always good. I do think though that as long as you remember to close the doors all the way a BP inside won't be able to get the door open. The locks do force the doors all the way closed, but just like you have to remember to close the doors all the way you have to remember to lock the doors.

[Marrissa]

Even my big male "climbing" and pacing the glass while waiting for food has never shifted the doors. Like Merchant said, if you get the doors closed all the way I don't see how they are going to be able to drag them open.

[KyleZ]

Yes, I would say definitely use the locks.

While I don't keep BPs, I do keep boas, and a retic in APs, and a small-bodied carpet in a very similar PVC cage, and without using door locks, the pythons WILL and HAVE escaped. Each python has escaped one time each, with no gap left open on the edge. I haven't kept a BP since the 90s, so I'm not exactly sure of their dexterity, but for sure my pythons are active and determined enough to open their doors if the locks aren't in place. The time with the retic I simply forgot to put the lock on one night after a water change, and with the carpet, I simply didn't believe she'd be able to open the doors if they were closed all the way until I found out that yes, in fact she could... Luckily my snakes are kept in their own locked room without any real places to hide, so each time one got out, I saw them immediately in the morning crouched on top of others' cages. My retic is so crafty with his nose that I had to remove the basically-sealed light fixture in my retic's AP cage because he kept completely taking it apart (every single piece) on his active nights.

Anyway, through lessons learned, I am a firm believer in the sliding door locks and am totally OCD about making sure they are locked every time I close a cage for the day/night. I also don't find them to be a pain at all, as was described earlier in the thread, and think that the version AP uses are nice and streamlined-looking as well.

As for the need for door handles, I use these from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/C-R-LAURENCE-S...pr_product_top They are subdued, blend in with the glass, and help eliminate the fingerprint issue. Work really well for me.

[BPGuy]

Seriously AP should just ship the cages with a set of these: http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/...l-door-handle/

No kidding! I wish I had seen this post one day earlier. Ever since I set up my T8 about 9 months ago, I've been frustrated by only one thing: The difficulty I have sliding the glass doors, particularly if my hands have any bit of moisture on them and all the fingerprints that end up on the glass doors from my kids and me sliding the doors open and shut (I realize that, technically, those are two things, but they really stem from one item: no handles/finger pulls on the doors). In a bit of ironic timing, yesterday I added little 3M Command hooks (the clear ones) to the outside of the glass doors to use as pull handles. I wish I had seen the LLL Reptile Plastic Finger Pull before I added the hooks. The hooks are definitely functional, but they aren't the nicest looking things (however, they do make a convenient place to hang the keys for the lock).

To address the OP's question, I don't think a lock is critical if you have the sliding glass doors; however, as others have mentioned, the locks do have several advantages, including: (a) keeping out people (e.g., when my kids have friends over, we hide the keys for the lock); (b) ensuring that you slide the doors all the way closed and don't leave any small openings for your ball python to use as leverage (to squeeze through and slide open the glass doors); and (c) making your spouse/signficant other who might not be as fond of snakes as you are (relatively) comfortable with the T8 setup.

[martin82531]

Omg thank you for that link!! Been looking everywhere for those. They really should ship the doors with these handles. It feels like everyday I'm cleaning smudges off of the glass from struggling with them.

Doesn't really make a difference, these are more expensive (same exact thing), but in case you are looking for another color.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1