So much talk about AP T8s!

[Mangiapane85]

I've gotta wait 3 months for my t10 to be delivered. Grrrrrr...

But I personally would give a full grown BP the whole T8 cage. And stack a second one on top for your addition. If they are just display animals, might as well give them the lay of the land. My opinion. I'm sure they would be OK in a 2x2 though


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[Sauzo]

Sooooo I've been seeing a lot of posts about the AP T8s recently, which seems to be the popular choice for enclosures. I do want to switch my one and only (for now ) bp out of the 20G breeder when he's full grown..

I've searched the forum for some info compared to other brands for enclosures but they seem dated so here are some of my questions (please feel free to link past threads if any of these have already been answered!):

1. Comparing price & quality with the boaphile 321D how does it fair? How come there isn't that much talk about boaphiles as much as AP?

2. If (and most likely when) I do decide to get another bp and split the t8 into halves, would a 2x2ft area be enough for an adult? (Read on one of the threads that it was, but I wanted more opinions on this)

3. RHP vs Flexwatt: obviously flexwatt provides belly heat & with the T8 split into 2, the flexwatt would be in the middle (?). I've tried researching about RHPs but still confused as to how this works. Is it like a CHE? How does it provide belly heat or does it just heat the general enclosure? Would this still provide a temp gradient? (Lol sorry if this is sounding ignorant!)

Yeah, that's all I got for now. Thanks in advance!

1. Boaphiles are nice cages too since they are 1 piece. The problem is for the price, you can get a lot more from AP. Boaphiles prices include shipping but stuff like the shelf and other "extras" are pretty pricey.

2. No. One T8 should be for one snake. I mean sure you can split one but imo, that is not much room. my BP uses all of her T10 with a shelf.

3. A RHP is basically a cage safe CHE. It heats items under it which in turn heat the air.

Me personally I use only flexwatt in 3 of my AP T10s and will use flexwatt also in my T25s when they get here. I order all mine with sliding glass doors, locks, shelves, flexwatt and white LEDs installed. Think my T10s ran like $370 each and the T25s are about $770 each.

If you order them, don't cut screens in the top. You will just kill your humidity. For a lizard, sure, but for a snakes that need fairly high humidity, don't bother. Just put a RHP in it if your room gets below 75F or if you keep it around 78-80F like I do, you only need flexwatt. And of course you need a good t-stat no matter what heat source you got with.

[KMG]

OP, I forgot to mention the RHP vs CHE thing. Notice also that the price I got did not include any heat as the cage is going in my heated snake room and I will be adding a UTH to it here.

If your home has A/C and stays cool at any part of the year it would be a good thing to add.

[jbzapanda]

Thanks for all the replies guys! Definitely was leaning more on just keeping one in a T8 rather than splitting it in half. I know Jumbi likes to explore at night and he uses his bamboo sticks a lot to just slither through or coil on so I'm sure he'll appreciate all the extra space! Also looking at flexwatt from reptile basics and most likely will go that route and save a few bucks. I'll look into RHPs more and see if that's the better option.

Thanks again everyone!

[KMG]

Thanks for all the replies guys! Definitely was leaning more on just keeping one in a T8 rather than splitting it in half. I know Jumbi likes to explore at night and he uses his bamboo sticks a lot to just slither through or coil on so I'm sure he'll appreciate all the extra space! Also looking at flexwatt from reptile basics and most likely will go that route and save a few bucks. I'll look into RHPs more and see if that's the better option.

Thanks again everyone!

I don't know that Id call a rhp a better choice. For my BRB, Bloods, and Ball I prefer the belly heat. In my 4ft x 2ft x 15in cages I have both a rhp and a uth. In my heated room it is not as needed and I run the rhp at a lower temp as they are really only needed on colder nights to keep the cage temp up. This lets me keep the room heater around 75 which makes the room more comfortable for me.

When I had my cages in a unheated room I needed the rhp and uth to provide proper temps. It really depends on what the temps of the room the cage will be in are usually at. If it gets cooler Id say add both a rhp and uth. Of course you can buy them and add them yourself when you are able if you cant afford or don't know if you will need both at the time you order.

[Sauzo]

Thanks for all the replies guys! Definitely was leaning more on just keeping one in a T8 rather than splitting it in half. I know Jumbi likes to explore at night and he uses his bamboo sticks a lot to just slither through or coil on so I'm sure he'll appreciate all the extra space! Also looking at flexwatt from reptile basics and most likely will go that route and save a few bucks. I'll look into RHPs more and see if that's the better option.

Thanks again everyone!

Definitely spring the extra $35 for a shelf. All my snakes love their shelves. My Bp actually used it more than anyone except the retic who loves that thing at night.

I've used both RHPs and flexwatt and personally I like flexwatt better. Its easier to keep a nice warm 90F hot spot while still keeping a nice cool 78-80F cool side. With the RHP in a warm room, it's a pain. The RHP doesn't turn on much as you set the t-stat probe to the cool side and set it to 80F. So it never really built a hot spot, just a warm ambient which honestly is fine for a snake as well since they don't NEED a hot spot as long as the ambient is warm enough but all my snakes seem to really love a nice warm spot they can curl up on and sleep.

[jbzapanda]

all my snakes seem to really love a nice warm spot they can curl up on and sleep.

I notice this with mine, too. He'll rearrange the substrate to get as close to the glass so I just cleared that area and put paper towel on top of the glass so he has a clear spot to curl up in! For now, I don't think I'll be needing the RHP as my room stays at 75-79. It's been constant at 77F the past few nights and that's with the weather outside at ~35F at night.

[Sauzo]

Yeah you are probably fine with just flexwatt then. If the weather is cold, just bump the flexwatt up a couple degrees. All of my cages stay around 78-80F and the snakes all seem fine. And yeah they love to dig a little pit to sit in on top of the flexwatt lol.

[jbzapanda]

Oh yeah, heating! Wow how did I miss this question..

What do you normally set your tstat to so you can get a 90F hot spot with flex watt?

[Sauzo]

For my T10s in a 78-80F room, I set all my Herpstats to 95F.