Reptile & Amphibian Forums

for everyone who has used both, or even another type of cage, what pros and cons have you noticed for each? and what is your preference?

Thanks,

Mat

Rich makes great cages!
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Chris & Alliey
www.bloodyleopard.com
E-mail Us

Whole heartedly agree with that. It took a while for me to pick a cage and after the homework was done, RBI's quality was hard to beat. Their Racks are great to by the way.

AJ Schneller

Schneller Reptiles

np

reptilebasics.com

I'm interested, too.
Plastic -vs- glass doors?
bypass -vs- hinged doors?
jsc

I have both. Well, I do not have boaphile, I have Junglehabitat plastics (Which are the same profile). I like them both. I like the visions for my dwarf boas. The rounded corners are great for cleaning, they are light and easily stacked. I do not like the sliding doors however. These can be a pain as the visions do somewhat warp. The Boaphile style are great. I love the open out doors, I like the dimesions, however, if I get more, they will be 15" high, as getting into a 12" high for cleaning is a real pain, and also getting a large aggressive boa out is not easy. I like also the idea of the basking shelf in the boaphiles.
I hope my contribution helps you.
Warren
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Dr Warren Booth
North Carolina State University
Department of Entomology
3309 Gardner Hall
Raleigh, NC 27695-7613

vision pros
areas to put both a small heat light for extra air warmth and also add light to the cage no problem. or jsut a space for a strip light for just added light no heat.

the fact of it is a sliding front

air vents

vision cons
all my snakes that were in the visions all crawled up ontop the lil inside lip and it was a pain getting them out also hard to clen due to they usualy went under the lil lip on the bottom.

the doors were glass instead of a platic i feel with glass if a big snake hits it or any snake for that matter it has no give and can cause more damage to snake. also im a clutz and dropped the glass before when cleaning.

to many air holes lol

boaphile pros
easy to clean

plastic doors

hold in heat and humidity very well

just all around work great

boaphile cons.
hinged doors are nice for some snakes but not others.

needs a few air holes or slots in back of cage only a few tho.

the lil turn lock thimgies after a lil over a year are starting to be stiff and dont turn as easy.

BOAPHILES HANDS DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The white cages are Habitat Systems great cages, but a little on the expensive side! I have over 80 Boaphiles cages they are top notch and the ones I have are about six years old! Awesome cages from the Boa Guru!!!

Al Brown/Brown's Boas

There's a few other manufacturers, too...

Animal Plastics (I don't have any, personally) and BARRs (herpcages) come to mind.

I have some Visions. I like most things about them, but have similar issues as some other people - they do warp and have the upper/lower lip that snakes can hide in. The ridges that are supposed to interlock stacked cages together can sometimes get in the way of adhering UTHs and larger water bowls or hides can be propped up on one side by the ridges.

But - easy to clean and generally nice to look at. I like the sliding doors because locks for them are cheap, and the doors last a long time, and aren't hard to replace if necessary.

I have a few BARRs as well. They hold humidity very well because of the tight-fitting doors. Easy to heat from below, but not so easy if you want to heat one side (side material is thicker, which insulates more - only an issue if you need side heat like for an arboreal snake). But, the acrylic doors can warp and scratch.
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Lauren Madar - OphidiaGems.com | CageMakers
1.1 Ball Python, 1.0 Hog Island Boa, 1.1 Hypo BCI, 1.1 Surinam BCC, 1.1 Saharan Sand Boa

As I have stated a few times before, for the price and the quality with shipping included! dont think you can go wrong with BoaPhiles. Jim Elliott

HMMMM
Well, RHINOVIVS have just launched a glass sliding door viv here in the UK.
Sorry no image yet - but I still prefer the drop down door viv made by RHINOVIVs (Iam a little biased as I ma the owner)
I personally find that - If You have your viv very low down, then maybe a glass sliding door model. And.. if you are a shop owner selling reptiles, yes I would use glass sliding doors (easy to clean off those mucky paws!) But for me, I prefer the drop down door - easy access, and less crevices for urates and deficates to hide in!
http://www.rhinovivs.eu/large/double%201500.jpg

www.rhinovivs.eu

i have visions and hate them they are way too hard to heat(to much ventilation) and my larger boas want to grip the glass when trying to pull them out, the smaller ones like to hide on the top and bottom lip around door and thats also where they like to poo so it does not get seen right away, any cage i buy in the future WILL be Boaphile's. I have a boaphile rinorax and love it.

I have 7 Vision cages, 3 4 foot and 3 three foot, and one cage by pvccages.com, 4x2x1.. Both have advantages and disadvantages. The pvc cage was the first cage that I ever purchased. Then at Daytona I saw the Visions in person and I am sold on them. Yes they do bow and are a little hard to heat but other then that I see no problems.
The lips are a little tough sometimes but so are the square corners. I have never had a problem with the snakes in the visions shedding, not one bad shed in 2 years.
The only advise I could give anyone on cages is get what you want and you like. Everyone will have an opinion, but if you own it its yours that counts. Do some research and pick what you think is right for you and your snakes. If unsure order one of your favorites and give it a shot for a month or so. I do not currently own a Boaphile but I am considering ordering one to see how it is.
This is just my .02

I only have one Boaphile cage and numerous cages i built but Jeff's product is great. I can't speak to the quality of the other products so I will simply reiterate that Jeff's cages are awesome. I have three friends that have numerous boaphile cages between them and they are all very happy. Keep up the good work Jeff. Oh yeah I need another cage.

Boas you are keeping... this has alot to do with it.

Another thing is if we're comparing big cages or racks.

I keep several hundred Boas at one time, and to deal with all the issues of the big Vision cages was a TOTAL NIGHTMARE.

Imagine the light (heat lamp kept over the steel grate indent on top) shorts or causes fire, which happened to me.

Now imagine having to slowly tear this pile apart to get to it.

Remove glass from top cage #5,lean it somewhere where it won't break, remove 20-30 pound snake, find somewhere to put it, remove water bowl, hot heat lamp, anything else in there, then lift cage off.
Continue with cage #4, then lower to #3, then #2, then finally down to the bottom cage.

This once took me close to an hour of scrambling, broken glass, being bitten by 9 foot monsters, spilling waterbowls, backpain from large size and awkward movement of these huge, unstable cages when that fire started.

Then pile them up again, one by one, and watch as the sides bow out. lol... make sure to leave 4-6 feet of space on either side of the cage for the sliding glass doors.. lol... yeah right.

My snakes never had a good shed in those cages.. NOT ONCE. Not to mention all the nose rubs, and litterally having to climb in the cage to really clean the damns right (indented lips). No thanks.

With Boaphiles, I own many, many 421D's, i've NEVER had these problems, never had a bad shed, never a light short, never a fire, nada, zip. EFFICIENCY, EFFICIENCY, EFFICIENCY!

When I wanted to move them across the room, I would leave them stacked, DO NOTHING, and simply push the ENTIRE STACK EFFORTLESSLY across the room. Done, 2 minutes.

When you have a few hundred animals, you simply cannot afford to have inefficiency (waste of time, effort, risk of fire, lack of heat/humidity control, longer cleaning times, structural degredation, etc., etc., etc.)

NO comparison, in my honest opinion and in my decade plus of experience with hundreds of snakes of different species in these cages.

If I thought there wasn't enough airflow, or the hunidity would be too high, I can drill holes, but never had to.

If the hinges or locks became loose, I tightened them. If they became tight, I lubricated them. If the built in fluorescent light shorted or failed, I replaced the bulb, or the strip, with NO risk to my animals, and minimal work.

Now to racks...

I also used mostly boaphile racks - shoe box racks (clear poly and regular), sweaterbox racks, sideways sweaterbox racks, blanketbox racks, RhinoRaxx. They have also handled like a dream.

Probably my only complaint with them is that if they are not supported perfectly from the bottom (on the edges where most of the weight lies), some drawers may be a pain to open.

I also recently purchased 3 of the 11 high Vision V70 racks with the tubs they make for them, similar to the CB70's.

I love the added size, lightweight but rigid construction, caster wheels and more. I haven't installed the heat cord so I can't comment on that.

I like the fact that each and every drawer is simple to open, and overall there is less material to clean.
I just cringe on the thought of something like a mite infestation with these, because they are so many angles, folds, bends, holes and such in the frame. I would think that to be a nightmare, but haven't had the 'pleasure' (YEAH RIGHT! LOL) of dealing with that yet... fortunately 8)

Well, hope that helped!

and just for the record, concerning Boaphile 421D's and such, I never saw the point in trying to save a few bucks by going with someone who just tried to copy them, years later, without the years of research and top grade materials and accessories.

It's not worth the risk, the time of trial and error, etc. Not for me and especially not for my snakes.

Take care, Be well - Joe Rollo - Bci Joe
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Thanks and take care - Joe Rollo
'Tis not the stongest of the species that will eventually survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change' Charles Darwin

almost forgot!

OLDER SETUP, BEFORE I SOLD ALL VISIONS

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Thanks and take care - Joe Rollo
'Tis not the stongest of the species that will eventually survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change' Charles Darwin

Hmmm...I'm not sure if my opinion will count because I'm using the cages for other things besides boas. I have a 6'X3'X18" vision that houses a tegu and it's great for her. She's in a humid environment on cypress, misted regularly so humidity is not a problem with the numerous air holes. Also, the lighting vents work great for a lizard. I don't like the sliding doors and I don't like the flimsy one piece construction. I don't think I would ever use a cage like this for a heavy bodied snake. It just doesn't seem safe, clean, or practical for reasons everyone else has stated.

I recently ordered Animal Plastics cages for my large snakes. I thought the 3/4" material would be better suited for a Burm over the long haul. Since I was ordering the biggest cage from them, I ordered a boa cage as well. I didn't see a lot of difference in the manufacture of the two except for the thickness of the material. Overall, I think AP and Boaphile both look like well-constructed enclosures that will last a long time. I think that choice comes down to personal preference or pricing. It was a difficult choice for me!

I'm a swinging/hanging door kind of person as opposed to a sliding door. I also like to be able to choose black hinges or a hinge that will match the color of the caging. Little things like that make a difference since I keep the enclosures in my house.

Here's a pic of my Boaphiles, Best product out there.

The material in Visions is HDPE. It does not hold heat very well if the room is much cooler than the cage. Durability is great: It is extremely tough and cleans easily and will outlast your hobby. I am not a fan of slide doors in most cases. I'm always taking the doors out, leaning them up against something, invariable knocking them down accidently, etc.

The material in Boaphiles is expanded PVC. Not the strongest material but very easy to repair, machine, saw, glue, etc and is very light-weight. For boas, this form of PVC is strong enough for a cage. Some mfgrs are using 3/8" thick or even 1/2" thick material, where Boaphile uses 1/4" thick to save on weight, and it works. I like the doors alot. Simple and effective. The cage insulates quite well for plastic perhaps because of the foam core of the PVC material.
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Mark