Animal Plastics T8 Assembly

[CrashSammich]

Received my first Animal Plastics cage this week and I'm assembling it this evening. No hangups so far, it's well cut and pre-drilled so it's been easy. Couple questions though...

1. I've seen in pictures of others' T8's on the forums that the bottom usually has a cutout for the UTH wire/probe as well as an outline (or is it a recessed cutout?) to accommodate the heat tape. Mine has the cutout for the wire/probe but no outline or recess for the heat tape. Issue?

2. The T8 does not appear to include rubber bumpers or feet to go on the bottom of it. What's to keep the cage from resting directly on the heat tape, such that the heat tape is in direct contact with the table top surface underneath it? This seems less than ideal...

Thanks for any insights!

[CALM Pythons]

Hmmm, I thought there is a spot for the Heat Tape and probe wire on all the Ap's. I don't use UTH's. Mine are bigger and stacked, cant really look under.
Wheres Sauzo to answer this...



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[CrashSammich]

Hmmm, I thought there is a spot for the Heat Tape and probe wire on all the Ap's. I don't use UTH's. Mine are bigger and stacked, cant really look under.
Wheres Sauzo to answer this...



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There is a space for the probe wire...but the rest of the bottom side is flat, so the heat tape will be slightly raised rather than flush with the underside of the enclosure. Hope that makes sense.

[CALM Pythons]

There is a space for the probe wire...but the rest of the bottom side is flat, so the heat tape will be slightly raised rather than flush with the underside of the enclosure. Hope that makes sense.

Yup thats how they are... Actually you just triggered my memory. Its so the Probe is under the heat tape without the weight of the cage being on it.. No recess for the tape. Its fine, your not dragging it around on it.


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[Sauzo]

Hmmm, I thought there is a spot for the Heat Tape and probe wire on all the Ap's. I don't use UTH's. Mine are bigger and stacked, cant really look under.
Wheres Sauzo to answer this...



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Lol yeah there is no actual recess for heat tape. There is a thin cut line that kind of acts as a template on where you should tape it down but the only real recess is for the probe.

You can either use furniture pucks to create a gap if you want or what i did was just stack the cages flush. As long as you have the probe set in there, the temps on the heat tape arent going to get any hotter than you have it set to with the t-stat. It also will warm the top of the lower cage on the spot as well and kind of act as a semi useless RHP lol.

I personally wouldnt put the cage down on a piece of nice furniture with the heat tape lol. It will probably discolor the wood. I have my bottom cages sitting directly on a sheet of 1/2 inch plywood for my stack of 5 T8s and T10s and a sheet of 3/4 inch plywood for my stack of T25s. Just be sure not to the pinch the connectors between the cage floor and whatever its on. You want those hanging freely out the back.

Something like these would probably work on the 4 corners of the cage. https://www.target.com/p/magic-slide...t/-/A-13763857

[Sunnieskys]

I emailed Ali about this too and here is her response.

Thank you for your inquiry Sunny!! We do not recess an area for the belly heat as taking that much material out risks weakening the bottom of the cage. We do route probe slots in the bottom to accommodate your thermostat probe when using belly heat. The belly heat simply adheres to the surface of the bottom of the cage. There is typically a probe slot on the right and left of the bottom. Some will come with a probe slot in the middle too. Thanks again! Please let us know if you have any questions. Have a great night!

[Sauzo]

Whenever i talk to Ali, first thing she says when i say "Hey Ali, this is John" is 'ok, I will get the lights in the mail first thing in the morning" lol.

[CrashSammich]

Lol yeah there is no actual recess for heat tape. There is a thin cut line that kind of acts as a template on where you should tape it down but the only real recess is for the probe.

You can either use furniture pucks to create a gap if you want or what i did was just stack the cages flush. As long as you have the probe set in there, the temps on the heat tape arent going to get any hotter than you have it set to with the t-stat. It also will warm the top of the lower cage on the spot as well and kind of act as a semi useless RHP lol.

I personally wouldnt put the cage down on a piece of nice furniture with the heat tape lol. It will probably discolor the wood. I have my bottom cages sitting directly on a sheet of 1/2 inch plywood for my stack of 5 T8s and T10s and a sheet of 3/4 inch plywood for my stack of T25s. Just be sure not to the pinch the connectors between the cage floor and whatever its on. You want those hanging freely out the back.

Something like these would probably work on the 4 corners of the cage. https://www.target.com/p/magic-slide...t/-/A-13763857

I emailed Ali about this too and here is her response.

Thank you for your inquiry Sunny!! We do not recess an area for the belly heat as taking that much material out risks weakening the bottom of the cage. We do route probe slots in the bottom to accommodate your thermostat probe when using belly heat. The belly heat simply adheres to the surface of the bottom of the cage. There is typically a probe slot on the right and left of the bottom. Some will come with a probe slot in the middle too. Thanks again! Please let us know if you have any questions. Have a great night!

Hey thanks for the follow up and for pinging Ali as well, that's all great info! Helps alleviate my concerns about the heat tape on the bottom. I'll probably place the enclosure on hockey pucks anyway.

One more thought while I have you...I ordered a T8 with their included fluorescent light as well as an RHP direct from Pro Products. AP pre-drilled the mounts for the light fixture along the rear edge of the T8's lid, which incidentally places it within about 1/4" of the mounted RHP. Any concerns about those two units being so close to one another?

[Sunnieskys]

No idea. I'm getting the led lights.

[CALM Pythons]

I cant see why.. The RHP's dont get hot enough to bother anything that I can think of.


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