Reptile & Amphibian Forums

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We are very happy with the construction of the cages. They are very strong and we like the 1/2" thick sides for support when stacking the cages.

They hold humidity well due to the lack of vents and air circulation that comes from the 1/8" spacing in the doors.

They do hold heat well and the 1/4" plastic disperses the heat evenly across the bottom of the cage. The best cage for heat is a melamine cage hands down, but the weight of the wood is ridiculous! LOL I have about 50+ melamine cages!

Overall we are very happy with the cages and it has allowed us to get more cages, ....MORE BOAS in the current space we are working with.

Hope this helps,
Mike
BASICALLY BOAS
'Specializing in True RedTails & Designer Boa Morphs'

I've been thinking of making my own melamine cage, but was wondering how to heat it. Heat tape wouldn't penetrate the wood, would it? Would you have to use a heat mat (like a Cobra) or some sort of heat from above?

I think the Moonstruck caging looks nice, but right now I'd like a much cheaper version.
-----
alstiver@hotmail.com

Currently own:
1.0 '01 Hypo snow cornsnake (Tesla Coil)
0.1 '02 Ghost (pastel) cornsnake (Banshee)
1.1 '02 Bloodred cornsnakes (Desi and Luci Too)
0.0.3 Goldfish (Kabuki, Isamu, and Yuki)
1.0 '99 American Eskimo x ? mutt (Rusty)

Soon to be added:
1.0 '04 Type II Anery Nicaraguan boa
0.1 '04 Hypo Nicaraguan boa

I am in the process right now of building a large melamine cage for an adult burmese python and have selected to heat with an overhead heat lamp with a ceramic heat emmiter placed outside the cage. I'm cutting a hole the same diameter as the heat lamp in the top of the cage then I'm mounting a metal air vent (found in Lowe's with the heat registers) from the inside to keep her away from the bulb while still allowing the heat to come in. This is really not my first option for heating, but it's the one I can afford right now. If I had my 'ruthers', I'd be using a Pro-Products radiant heat panel mounted inside the cage and may upgrade to that when money allows. Some other options are the Kane heat mats (sold by Big Apple), Desert Rays radiant heat panels sold by Big Apple (www.bigappleherp.com), or the Ultratherm heat mats sold by Bean Farm (www.beanfarm.com). I've received good reviews on all of these when I was researching how to heat this cage. Of those three, the Ultratherm heat mats are the least expensive. Sometime in the not-too-distant future, I plan on building a smaller melamine cage setup for some of my smaller snakes (4-5 cages in one unit with each cage measuring roughly 2'D X 3'L X 9"H). For that I'll be using the Ultratherm heat mats or possibly the Desert Rays heat panels.

Hope this gives you some ideas.
Raven

Thats funny you asked, mine came in today. Looks great, I havent pluged it in yet, but I would buy more when the time comes.

I saw Mike's cages in person and was very impressed. I have 12 on order right now. They are going to be stacked, but on top of regular melamine cages to support the weight of all of it on top. You sure can make much more use of a wall when your cages are stacking at 12" tall rather than 18-24". Boas don't really seem to use the extra height anyway(although the melamine cages on the bottom are taller for the few monster-size boas).

I'm currently working on their website and just wanted to give everyone a heads up that the site will be up soon on KS. So look for it as it will have far more information and pictures then are available now. Best,

Justin Higgs