PVC Husbandry (Animal Plastics, Boaphile, Vision Cages)

[jylesa]

Hi guys again,

Sorry to keep bringing this post back from the dead. I'm finally talking to AP about getting the T8. They said they don't drill t-stat probes but will for no charge. I ended up going with the Intro+ by Herpstat. I definitely did not think about this haha, so I wanted to ask how people went about doing this or if they did at all. My only heat source will be RBI 80 watt heat panel. Thanks again in advanced!

[jmcrook]

Hi guys again,

Sorry to keep bringing this post back from the dead. I'm finally talking to AP about getting the T8. They said they don't drill t-stat probes but will for no charge. I ended up going with the Intro+ by Herpstat. I definitely did not think about this haha, so I wanted to ask how people went about doing this or if they did at all. My only heat source will be RBI 80 watt heat panel. Thanks again in advanced!

I just feed the Herpstat probe through the hole for the heat panel power cord. Fits through pretty easily and then it's hanging just barely behind the RHP. I leave it dangling about halfway down the cage height. I've got an Acurite thermometer probe one the cage floor right under the panel to double check the temps. It's gonna take a little bit of playing around to dial temps in perfectly but once they're set you'll be good. My stat is set to 87-88 to get a floor temp of 90 and that's with the probe hanging just behind the panel. It will be way more clear once you start setting it all up


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[Prognathodon]

The PVC AP uses is, I'd say, a bit softer than wood, and easy to drill/screw into. Drilling holes isn't scary, and doesn't even require big power tools - an inexpensive hand drill or small "power screwdriver" is enough.


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[Doggtyred]

Hey guys! It's been awhile since I've posted on here. I've been thinking about upgrading Bazzy (BP) from his Sterlite bin enclosure to a professionally made PVC enclosure. I am interested in several brands at the moment (listed in the title) and have poked around here. It seems like the consensus falls in favor of Animal Plastics in terms of product quality and customer service. The more I read, I am leaning more and more towards AP as well.

I found this review here particularly helpful: http://www.reptileinsider.com/showth...n-Use-and-Not)

That being said, I have a few considerations I wanted to ask you all about:

1. If I go with the AP enclosure, I'm thinking about installing a radiant heat panel to help maintain ambient temps especially in the winter. However, I am not a handy person. How easy is it to do this?

2. I'm hoping to get a red-tailed boa one of these days. The stackability of the AP and Vision enclosures make this appealing. Considering my current snake (3 yr old, about 1kg), what is the most appropriate size for him? I'm thinking T8 for my BP and T11 if I get the boa.

3. Do you all have a preference for sliding/swing doors? I prefer glass to acrylic.

4. In the review linked above, it says the AP tanks can be equipped with flex-watt; however, it is fixed in place by crimping and using plastic clips. According to the article, it mentions that the use of plastic clips be a little more dangerous. This makes sense, but I've never heard of this happening. What is the best way to remediate this (other than to do it myself...not very handy; not sure I'd trust myself to do it right)?

I look forward to hearing your opinions! Thank you

Attached some pictures of my Baz, just for fun and since it's been awhile

Regarding AP, I have one 18" tall enclosure with divider, housing one BP in each 24 x 24 x 18H space.

I have a pro products 40 watt radiant heat panel in each half. Reptile basics is supposed to be just as good. To order ProProducts you contact them, answer questions about your enclosure and climate, and they will give recommendations on proper sizing and placement.

The pro products RHP has two mounting holes on opposite ends of the square panel. In my case, I gorilla glued the panels to the roof of my enclosure (liberally applied, its a permanent solution). I also through-drilled one of the holes in the RHP through the roof of the enclosure, and used a pop rivet (flush side showing) to serve as secondary securement.

All of this is driven by a Herpstat 4, with one probe under each RHP, one probe in the cool spot/opposite corner to monitor my gradient, and a humidity probe on the roof over the cool spot of one enclosure.

I have glass sliders. I have the red LED light strip installed... the RHP's cover about 40% of each half of the light strip, but there is plenty of light nevertheless. I leave the red on 24/7/365. The stock power supply failed about 2 minutes out of the gate, I replaced it with something from Fry's and its gone steady since.

One mod: With the stock arrangement, the front face of the enclosure is not entirely symmetrical. The upper lip is thinner, the lower lip is thicker, presumably to hold in a thick bed of substrate. Our critters come out at night and poke around, and the thick lip obstructed our viewing of them from our seating angle on the couch.

I took the cage partially apart, and flipped the front face, putting the thicker lip on top and the thinner lip on the bottom, and resecured it. In doing so, I discovered that the milled slots for the glass sliding panes were not uniform, and to make the glass fit as it should, I had to reverse the panes, and to reverse the panes, I had to remove the lock, and reverse it as well. Not anything difficult or requiring special tools, just a testament to how precise a fit everything on the AP enclosure is.

Regarding flexwatt, with an AP enclosure and a properly sized RHP, you wont NEED any flexwatt or belly heat. I did try to put my adhesive backed heating element on the bottom of the AP enclosure to put heat under the water bowl (had a temp probe on the water bowl), and it made NO MEASURABLE DIFFERENCE. The heat did not penetrate the PVC to meaningfully warm the water or bowl in my instance.

[Sauzo]

Like mentioned, drilling for t-stat probes is easy on pretty much any of the pvc cages. I use a RHP on my Constrictors NW cage but for my 3 AP T10s, I just use flexwatt with the herpstat probes slotted into the routed channels they put on the bottom of the cages. It really depends on how warm you keep your snake room/house. For me, I keep my house around 75-78F during the winter so either works for me. Just a cleaner look with flexwatt on the Ap cages especially since I ordered all mine with shelves and the pre installed LED lighting they mount in there. Definitely worth the extra $40 as they are recessed and very clean looking and they route a channel in the top so you can still stack cages.

Bottom line is unless your house gets really cold during the winter, you wont need both. If your house is kept on the lower end of 70F, i'd go with a RHP. Around 75F+, flexwatt should work just fine. BTW in a 4x2 Constrictors NW, i'm using the Pro Products PH3 65watt RHP and it is plenty.

Oh forgot to mention also. Installing a RHP is really easy. I just laid mine down on the top of the cage where I wanted it and marked the holes with a pen. Then just drilled the 2 mounting holes and used the supplied bolt and nuts and it was done. That's for the Pro Product. If you use a RBI one, I heard they come with wood screwed so you don't have to drill at all, just screw it into the roof of the cage.

[jylesa]

I finally got my shipment and set up the enclosure a few days ago. Sealing it was a little messy, but here's the final product Thanks for peeps who replied with advice!

[jmcrook]

Looks great! How do you like it? Give us the specs on all the bells and whistles you got! Congrats!


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[Prognathodon]

The cat clearly approves!


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[jylesa]

Hey! I ended up getting the 70 watt panel by RBI and had them drill a hole for the t-stat probe (seen hanging on the left side of the enclosure. I ended up using those lights jmcrook recommended from ebay and they are great . The t-stat I am using is the Herpstat Intro+. So far, I'm satisfied with the overall quality and asthetic of the enclosure. Keeps the snake in and the cats out although I tried (tried) to get a family picture of the three of them yesterday.
Thank you all for helping me figure out the specs