Reptile & Amphibian Forums

In my boa room are two three high stacks of really nice melamine cages, roller doors, cabinet grade melamine, well sealed and very well constructed. Each individual cage had dual Dial proportional thermostats, one controlling a CHE on the ceiling and the other controlling flexwat under the floor. I never liked the dial thermostats and CHE so took all that out and installed RHP's all aroound. While I was at it I removed the pedestals from the upper two cages shortening the stacks by a foot. Plenty of roon to put a fourth cage on top. Each stack is now controlled by one Herpstat Pro, one channel per cage.

Before....

After....

And the girls that live in them.....

Jasmine, Albino Arabesque, bred by Chester, Sunglow...

Ruby, Coral Albino, bred by Nick Stones Hypo Cyclone...

Coral, Coral Albino, bred by Heath, Motley...

Amber, Super Salmon pos Jungle, bred by Woody, Jungle...

Tootsie, Anery het Albino bred by York, Albino het Anery...

Candy, CBLT bred by a Cherry Salmon

Vanilla, proven Super Ghost bred by Lucky, het Coral Albino, pos het Anery. Just for fun tried tub breeding these two. They didn't seem to care but is hard to check on them without disturbing them. Probably my last attempt at tub breeding, I really like cages where I can just look in and see what's going on.

Vanilla in her new digs from this weekends cage upgrade...

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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Thanks for the update. What brand of RHP did you go with?

And how do you like the roller track? I have some that I hope to install in a cage this month. Looks similar if not the same to what you have.
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

0.0.4 Rhynchophis boulengeri

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

0.0.1 Rhamphiophis rubropunctatus

0.0.2 Morelia viridis (Aru & Merauke locale types)

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

I went with Pro-products, already have some from them and like how they ask the necessary questions to select the right one.

Love the roller track, with the wheels in the same extrusion as the glass and a removable bottom roller rail, is great for cleaning as you KNOW the occupants seem to eventually get nasty stuff everywhere!!!
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

... removable bottom roller rail

You lost me. Do you mean the extrustion the glass rests in? That's removeable?

For some reason I'm thinking mine is supposed to be epoxied in. I'll have to double check that.

Is yours just held in with some sort of glazing strip?
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

0.0.4 Rhynchophis boulengeri

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

0.0.1 Rhamphiophis rubropunctatus

0.0.2 Morelia viridis (Aru & Merauke locale types)

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

I've found the components in this catalog Most on page one, some on page two.

Going from memory on the cage looking at the catalog....

Upper channel is deep aluminum channel standard EX-3255021

Side channel is Aluminum double channel EX-3255031

Lower Channel also has two Aluminum double channel EX-3255031
Plus Aluminum single bottom track dropped in, this is the removable part I mentioned that allows track cleaning as it just rests un the double channel.

The glass door has....
Aluminum glass shoe Each door has two rollers, one at each end

More bits and pieces like plastic guides for top og glass doors, bumpers on side channels, door puls and locks but you get the idea. Not cheap but way cool and reliable.

Like I said before, when used in a cage, it's likely for the occupants to get some level of spillage in the tracks from time to time. I'd think permanent roller or ball bearing type tracks cuold get crudded up??

Last point is I bought the cages used with the tracks/doors already having seen many years of use, just working out details of how it was done since it still works just fine!!!!
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Okay, thanks. Mine just has this for the lower track. It seems open enough that cleaning it should not be a problem. I do worry about security a bit, especially with a larger snake but that is not an issue for me currently. And I have seen cages built with just that lower track before so it must be okay.
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

0.0.4 Rhynchophis boulengeri

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

0.0.1 Rhamphiophis rubropunctatus

0.0.2 Morelia viridis (Aru & Merauke locale types)

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

Yeah, I could see that being a security issue, do you have side channels the door recess into? If so would be more secure held at top and one side with lock in the middle??
-----
Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

I am going to install side channels eventually. I'm not certain they will do much if the snake presses right on the center. I may include some sort of removeable lower lip as well.
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

0.0.4 Rhynchophis boulengeri

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

0.0.1 Rhamphiophis rubropunctatus

0.0.2 Morelia viridis (Aru & Merauke locale types)

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

That looks really nice Dave. It is certainly a big inprovement over what you had. I like your animals too.

How are you liking the Boaphiles? We are going to be building something very close to those in the near future.
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Larry Stroud - Fort Pierce, Florida

Thanks Larry, It does look a lot better, cleaner, without the extra stuff.

I like the boaphiles, very good cages, heat well. Only downside I've found is the dark cage makes taking pics inside the cage hard.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Oops I just noticed in the substrate forum that your not using cardboard but indented kraft paper. Never heard of it but I might get some since the price is right. The snakes might appreciate that extra bit of traction too.

beautiful setup and design i'm jealous. BTW , where do you get the cardboard used for bedding and if you don't mind me asking how much does it cost. I keep finding products through shipping supply companys but the pricing seems kind of steep. But maybe not depending how long they last. Do you just spot clean and change them out every couple of weeks or monthy? Just curious, thanks for the detailed explaination of the tracks , it will be quite usefull for me.

Thanks and your welcome, I really like my rolling doors, always easy to open.

The paper is indented craft paper from uline.com I buy it by the 300' roll and cut it to various lengthe for my various cages. I pre-cut stacks of the smae sizes so it's ready to use when I need it. No spot cleaning, when soiled I change it out. I do use half size sheets for larger cages so sometimes I only have to clean half the cage. I also put a couple of layers of newspaper underneath for added absorbancy.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

are those Habistats? if so what voltage are you running those on? 120V? 230V?

nice set up by the way!

Pitoon

Yes they are Habistats, they were connected to 120V and ran just fine. I wanted to go digital for easier fine tuning.

A closeup of two...

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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats