Quote Originally Posted by Crowfingers View Post
I have finally saved up the money for an AP cage, but I have some questions from those of you that use them. I'll start by saying that I have a particular set up that I like and that works for my snake now and I want to transfer that to the new cage somehow.

- What is the best heat source? I only use thermostat controlled CHE's right now and they work great, but I'm not sure the AP cages wire cut outs can handle that temp. (I really don't like the radiant heat panels very much from previous experiences)

- On that note, are the reptile basics hides thin enough for heat to pass through and warm the hide without cooking the top? (his hot hide currently is an upside-down terra cotta pot with the bottom hole enlarged as the entrance)

- Can an UTH even be used with the plastic cage? And if so, how do I keep the hide temperature up given that I use deep (1-2 inch) substrate since he burrows on occasion?

- How easy are they to custom drill for thermometer / thermostat probe placement?

- I know you have to assemble and let the sealant cure before adding the snake and have been told to let it air out outside for a few days, but I don't have an outside (or garage) that I can leave an expensive cage . Will the fumes be too strong to let it cure in the house? (I have a very small 1 bdrm apt, so the snake can't really be isolated from the fumes easily if they are actually dangerous)

- Which door system is best for holding in humidity? I like the hinge, but they look like they have a big gap around them and I can't tell from the picture on the site how they are locked. Does the acrylic yellow and deform over time?

Thanks for taking the time to read this and for any replies.
To answer your questions, I have 3 AP cages and a Proline cage. For my AP cages, I use flexwatt only with herpstats and it works fine. I have the herpstats set to 95F for my BP which gives around a 90F hot spot inside the caging and I have my boas set to90F on the herpstat which gives around 85F or so. They like it cooler. For my Proline, I use a Pro Products PH3 65 watt RHP on a herpstat and that works fine too. So either will work fine assuming your house temp is kept 75F+. If not then you might need to add a RHP to help bump up the air temp inside the cage. I personally wouldn't add screen on top for a CHE dome as that will kill the humidity. I use less than 1" of aspen for the UTHs which works fine since the snakes will push the aspen aside if they want heat. I also use RBI hides for all my cages and they work fine as well.

PVC is easy to drill through so mounting a t-stat probe should be easy. I use the UTH simply so I don't have any wires inside the cages. I also opted for the LEDs they install, again so I don't have any wires inside the caging. I learned this as my big boa girl would yank down and kind of wiring inside the cage when she was hungry and destroying stuff.

As for sealing, I sealed mine inside the house and it was fine. It smelled for the first day, then after that it wasn't bad. It took about 4 days for the smell to completely go away. The snakes didn't seem to care but I waited those days before putting them in. I would avoid breathing it as it does contain toluene which isn't good to sniff but again, it wasn't terrible and this was sealing 3 cages at the same time so if you are only sealing 1 cage, you probably will vaguely smell it.

Good luck and I love my AP cages. They are sturdy and AP definitely pays attention to the details like smoothing any rough edges and stuff. They did miscount a few screws though as I ordered all of mine with shelves, locks, leds and flexwatt but when I mentioned it to them as just a FYI, they offered to send me more screws. Wasn't a big deal for me as I had that size wood screws laying around and just used them in the back of the cages where you wouldn't see them anyways. Just nice that they offered to actually send me the 4 total screws that were missing from all 3 cages combined.