Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello:

Going back about 5-7 years ago the only cage options available were neo’s, visions and boaphile. Since then, a lot of new cage manufacturers have entered the market. Many of them offering thicker material than the quarter inch material used by boaphile.

I know many of you are fans of the animal plastics cages. I like their stuff, but visually it has a rougher look to it. I prefer the smoother look of the boaphile cages.

Has anyone purchased cages from one of the many of the new cage manufacturers listed on kingsnake (who use a thicker material than boaphile cages)? Interested if it was a smooth transaction and the quality of the product.

I’m looking to house a Columbian boa and blood pythons.

Thanks,

Peter

I like the Animal Plastics cages a lot. A friend has several of different sizes and another friend liked those enough that he chose Animal Plastics for some display caging at his educational facility which is opening a new addition. They do have a little more industrial look to them, but overall I personally think they're a lot more sturdy than Boaphiles [and Visions = warpage!] and have a lot more size and shape options. With snakes as big and heavy as Bloods I'd rather have a stout industrial looking cage than something thin and flimsy feeling.
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Matt Campbell

"I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in." John Muir

Matt, if you put one of every type of cage on the market in the back of a truck doing 80 mph on the freeway and threw all the various cages out onto the pavement, the only cage that would likely still be functional after the cartwheels would be the Vision cage.

Look in the classifieds and see which cages sell "used" for about the same price that they sold for when they were new.

I have three stacked 48x26x14 Vision cages.They are all bowed up in the middle.It sucks trying to get even heat.Heck even the water bowls sit uneven.The warped floors make the doors harder to open as well.I will say the price was right, I paid 200 ea. new shipped to the door, I like the heavy glass doors and they are indistructable.But two were warped right out of the box.Just my take.Never owned any of the others;.
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Cee4, it sounds like something might have happened in shipping.

Give us a call and I am sure we can figure out a solution.

Its already been two years or so since I bought these and I wouldnt have been able to afford the shipping to send them back so I just deal with it.
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>>Matt, if you put one of every type of cage on the market in the back of a truck doing 80 mph on the freeway and threw all the various cages out onto the pavement, the only cage that would likely still be functional after the cartwheels would be the Vision cage.
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That would be great if I were interested in throwing cages off the back of a truck (sounds fun!). But my poor warped Visions are doing 0 mph in my application.

As you know, this is a problem common to the larger-sized cages, particularly the 6 footers which can sag in the middle at the top, making the doors next to impossible to slide open all the way.

I also have a 4-high stack of 54 inch Visions which do not have the door-opening problem, but on which all the floors have a really big sag in the middle, like the poster above noted on his 48 inch cages.

This is not to say that Vision doesn't have its good qualities, too. It does. People just need to weigh their options.

-Joan

I am about to buy some new cages for my Chinese beauties, and Animal Plastics' cages seem like they are strong and well made, and I am sort of leaning toward them now, because they are priced well and have double doors on the 36" models. My questions are: What is your preference - sliding glass or swing open doors? Which are more secure? Do you need to have a lock on the doors to keep the snake from opening the sliding doors?

I was going to get some Barrs (herpcages) but they are single swing doors for the entire front, and I can imagine having to chase the beauties down every time I open the door with that system.

Thanks - Toby
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The Ratsnake Foundation

Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

For the last 5 years I've kept a pair of Taiwan Beauties in 260 gallon Reptarium cages. I set the cages up in the vertical format so that they're primarily arboreal. My Taiwans use the entire cages top to bottom but show a marked preference for the upper portions. Reptariums aren't for everyone but I have a pretty hot and dry environment in my apartment much of the year and with a misting system nozzle in each cage my snakes do just fine. Most people will talk about how a screen cage is horrible for humidity, shedding problems, etc. - I have never had shedding issues with either of my snakes. It's hard to beat roughly $90 for a cage that's 6 feet tall by 3 feet by 3 feet. Just something else to consider when you're making your decision.
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Matt Campbell

"I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in." John Muir

Wow Matt, that's a big cage! Bigger than I really have room for in my snake room. The Chinese beauties are a smaller subspecies of beauty, and don't need such a large cage. It's great that your Taiwans have done so well for you in screen cages. I live in a very humid area and even in the air conditioned house (lower humidity than outdoors) I never have shedding issues with any of my snakes. My main worry would be nose rubbing in a screen cage. However, my adults were kept in glass tanks with screen tops for a long time, with no nose rubbing issues - hmm... Thanks for the food for thought.

-Toby Brock
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The Ratsnake Foundation

Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

I would check out www.repti-racks.com
Their new HDPE Pro-Series cages are really nice. I just ordered two custom cages from them, after having researched for a long time with all of the other cages.
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Roy Blodgett
Green Man Herpetoculture
royreptile@yahoo.com

1.1 Drymarchon corais
4.4 Pseustes sulphureus
1.1 Pseustes poecilonotus
1.1 Lampropeltis getula californiae (desert phase)
1.1 Boiga dendrophila dendrophila
2.3 Pogona vitticeps (snow and red/gold)
1.0 Iguana iguana

“All men lie enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with halters round their necks; but it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life.”- Herman Melville

I use Animal Plastic's Rack,,and for my cages I get them from Reptile Basics. They already have heat in them. Love them.
This is a pic of 1. I also have two 4 x 2 divided cages.
The web site is reptilebasics.com

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Ball Python
Jungle Carpet Python
Eastern King
Mexican Black King
Sonoran Gopher
Aberrent Cal King
Anduran Milk
Hypo Brooks
Amel Motley Corn
White Sided Bull
Striped Pacific Gopher

I love the smell of aspen shavings in the morning...lol

"To serve man..it's...it's a cookbook!"

Some of the newer cages may be made of thicker material than the Boaphile cages but the Boaphile cages seems to be thick enough.
I like you like the way they look and they stack/work perfect.
My only thought would be to add the extra latch ,as they suggest, for powerful snakes such as yours.