Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've been comparing animal plastics, moonstruck exotics, and boaphile cages. To me it looks like boaphiles may have the best locking mechanism, but I wondered about one thing. Okay, the knobs are ran through the "door" and I take it they turn a metal bar of some type to hold the door closed. Now, do you have to push the knob in to be able to turn it or do you simply turn it? The reason I am wondering is because if there is no need to push or pull the knob to turn it, what keeps snakes from pushing the internal mechanism down allowing the door to open? While I'm asking questions, how bad do urates tend to stick to the plastic? How are the doors holding up to normal wear and tear? Any scratches, fading, clouding up, etc. What do you clean the doors with? If you order them w/o his heat, is it possible to run your own regular wattage heat tape hooked to a thermostat w/o problem? Have you had any problems with the hinges coming loose, cracking the doors, etc? There is no perfect cage, so what are the defects in your opinion? Thanks to anyone that takes time to reply. Take care!

Paul

>> Now, do you have to push the knob in to be able to turn it or do you simply turn it?

simply turn, unless you order it with locks, then you need a key.

>>The reason I am wondering is because if there is no need to push or pull the knob to turn it, what keeps snakes from pushing the internal mechanism down allowing the door to open?

they would have to get above it with their tail using an indredible amount of leverage wich isnt available and push downward. also the latch on the insde rests in a groove you can feel it opo in and out of when you turn the nob to open or close,... a snake simply isnt going to be capable of opening it without a set of thumbs.

>>While I'm asking questions, how bad do urates tend to stick to the plastic?

if it gets in the corner, wich is often enough you can spend some time scrubbing, but virosan and a sponge does the trick pretty good.

>>How are the doors holding up to normal wear and tear? Any scratches, fading, clouding up, etc. What do you clean the doors with?

do NOT use quatt plus, somethign about it will shatter the plastic on the door, had it happen to me, other wise, minimal wear and tear, very strudy.

>>If you order them w/o his heat, is it possible to run your own regular wattage heat tape hooked to a thermostat w/o problem?

that i would have to assume as a yes, but i dont know, i ordered the heat built in, worth the extra coin IMO

>>Have you had any problems with the hinges coming loose, cracking the doors, etc?

cracking door ONLY with quatt plus, no loose hinges, nothing of the sort.

>>There is no perfect cage, so what are the defects in your opinion? Thanks to anyone that takes time to reply. Take care!

no real defects, im pretty happy. a couple more would be nice, other than that, i have no issues. humidty, heat, room, escape proof all check in, and they arent over priced in my opinion, but do cost more than others.
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recycle your pets

That is pretty cool that the latch "pops" into place. I was thinking it just rested against the backside of the plastic. I use virosan, so that is great to know it works well on these cages. Are you using the 11.5" high or the taller cages(17.5" or whatever they are)? How is his heat installed? If the piece of flexwatt he puts in goes bad, could you easily replace it? Thanks for helping me out, looking to replace cages, and want to try something other than more visions. Take care!

Paul

>>Are you using the 11.5" high or the taller cages(17.5" or whatever they are)?

ive got the 17 high with the shelves, they spend most their time up on the shelves, except for after meals, they sit on the hot spot. i like the extra square footage the shleves offer, and they all seem to utilize it.

>>How is his heat installed?

its installed on the bottom of 1/2 the cage, sealed in with another piece of plastic on top. check jeffes site for more info.

>>If the piece of flexwatt he puts in goes bad, could you easily replace it?

it doesnt seem so, again though, see jeffs site, i dont hink hes ever had one burn out, or go bad.

>>Thanks for helping me out, looking to replace cages, and want to try something other than more visions.

man i cant stand the one vision i have, doesnt hold heat or humidity in for the life of it... it would be better suited as a ottoman in my living room, but for the time being its occupied.

no probs, im up late at work, enjoy.
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recycle your pets

I dont think he uses heat tape, rather a heat mat type thing. It is sealed under a pieced of the same material the rest of the cage is made of (kinda like sandwich) and could easily be cut out and resealed if needed.

I got mine with the heat, and my only concern is that they would get very cool if not on the heated side, that wouldnt get quite as warm as I would like. Often I found mine to be no warmer then 82 body temp, a bit too chilly for my lickings after a meal. As such I added heat to the non-heated sides of them with flexwatt (11" on a reo. Works great.

Mickey Hinkle
The Lizard King Reptiles

>>I dont think he uses heat tape, rather a heat mat type thing. It is sealed under a pieced of the same material the rest of the cage is made of (kinda like sandwich) and could easily be cut out and resealed if needed.

its flexwatt to my knowledge

>>I got mine with the heat, and my only concern is that they would get very cool if not on the heated side, that wouldnt get quite as warm as I would like. Often I found mine to be no warmer then 82 body temp, a bit too chilly for my lickings after a meal.

thats interesting, i have no probs getting mine into the 90s on the warm side,... whats your ambient room temp? are they stacked against and exterior wall?
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recycle your pets

They are stacked against the wall in a spare bedroom, 3 tall in each stack. They are all off the ground on stands or dressers. The house is set at 72 but the room is generally only around 69 on the old temp gun.

I have had my get about 90 in late attumn, but havent had them in summer or spring yet, so Im going to have to check the temps often. Like I said withought the heat tape added, it would only get around 87 at most, and if the snakes were off the heated area they would get very cool, as low as low 70's.

Also are you sure its heat tape? if soo how does he mount it to the cord? The normal clips would be too thick for the area he uses I would think. Also if you run heat tape withought a reo it will get well above 115 no matter what the room temp is. I find it odd that the boaphile cages will generally only go about 5-10 degrees above room temp without a reo. Then again Ive never pulled one open, and honestly never asked Jeff what he uses on them.

Mickey Hinkle
The Lizard King Reptiles

>>They are stacked against the wall in a spare bedroom, 3 tall in each stack. They are all off the ground on stands or dressers. The house is set at 72 but the room is generally only around 69 on the old temp gun.

-generally i try to keep the ambient in my room a bit warmer than that. the wall in your spare bedroom, whats on the other side? outside? or another room?

>>Also are you sure its heat tape? if soo how does he mount it to the cord? The normal clips would be too thick for the area he uses I would think. Also if you run heat tape withought a reo it will get well above 115 no matter what the room temp is. I find it odd that the boaphile cages will generally only go about 5-10 degrees above room temp without a reo. Then again Ive never pulled one open, and honestly never asked Jeff what he uses on them.

im fairly certain its flexwatt like i said in my last post, i still find it strange its not getting warm enough by itself, you shouldnt need additional heat, i keep my room ambient at 78ish, but i know if it dropped the thermostat on the cages would kick up and they would maintain the temps....

"We are now installing heat in our cages. The cage above is gray. We installed the Flexwatt heat mat and covered it with a white plastic panel in order to show how this looks. When installing heat in black cages the black cover is nearly impossible to photograph. Hence the reason for the white on gray. The heat source covers are either black or white."

http://www.boaphileplastics.com/heating.html
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recycle your pets

Well I guess heat tape it is. I still find it odd the tape only get soo hot, as I said I have routinely temped heat tape at well over 115 without a controll on it.

The wall is to the outside, and it is a older house (1920). I also live in the midwest, for example it has been below zero at night for weeks it seems.

I just went in and took pics with the temp gun, the alblum is attached.

The wall that touches the outside it 64-65
The walls connected to inside walls are 70
The floor is 68

As for the cages, funny the heat tape must be off (the reostat must have clicked) as the heat tape side installed by Jeff is actually warmer then the no heat tape side. I have also noticed since I installed the heat tape, the "factory" tape is burning a bit warmer, likely from the rise in ambient temp, but still never above 90.

Most of the cages were at 90 on the factory tape, and 84 on the installed tape. The middle of the cages were all around 78.

Funniest part, if you look closely at the 3-4th pic, you can see my little ghost girl. She is sitting on a spot that is only 85, but her body temp is only 74-76. Thats half the reason I installed extra tape, as I had temp gunned them as low as 70 before installing the extra tape, and that was before the temps really dropped.

My conclusion is each house is going to be different. Im sure during the summer I will not need extra heat. Who knows I may end up not useing the factory tape, and haveing to use my installed tape with the reos in the summer to keep it from getting too hot.

Mickey Hinkle
The lizard King Reptiles
BOAPHILE CAGES

Paul you can run heat tape under them on a reostat and the heat will go through just fine.

I opted to have locks added so I can answer you questin there as my "knobs" are now keyed locks, and no the snakes cant open theese. Was a bit more, but worth it.

The urates dont seem to be a problem on mine, clean just fine. So far I havent had any clouding, but have only had them a few months. I do have a couple scratched fronts, but thats from me moving them too often from the basement to the upstairs.

I love my boaphiles, and would reccomend them to any boa nuts.

Mickey Hinkle
The Lizard King Reptiles

Are you using the 11.5"? I am thinking of going with these to get more room. The visions just limit space too much being 18" tall. If I were to buy boaphiles, I would probably just run my own heat tape, so glad to know you've had no problems with it. Also considering Roylance racks....just have to put out so much cash at one time though for those, but I think they would be great as far as ease of maintenance for large collections. Tubs seem so much quicker when it comes to thorough cleanings. Plus, you can easily take a hose to them, and dry them out no problem unlike box type cages which tend to hold puddles of water. ESPECIALLY VISIONS! Take care!

Paul

I have the 421ds, not sure what height they are, but they are not very tall.

I have had no problems cleaning the boaphiles at all. For one they weigh a whole 2 lbs at most, so are very easy to carry outside if you need to get that indepth on them. Im lucky that soo far I still only have smaller boas on hand, soo cleaning to this point has been very easy.

I havent seen the Roylance racks, but from my experience with the boaphiles, I am pretty hooked on them. Great cages in my book, and Im sure I will buy many more.

Mickey Hinkle
The Lizard King Reptiles

They are great! I have the black 3 and 4 ft ones in both heights. All are connectable with the expandable-dividable ends and the installed low wattage belly heat. They are light-weight, easy to clean. I have the ProProducts radiant heat panels in mine - all connected to the Ranco thermostats he sells. This setup works great for me. I have the enclosures in my home and I keep the house temp set in the low to mid 70's. The snakes stay nice and cozy and I get to stay cooool. Another thing I love about his cages are the way they hold moisture. Here, it is very dry. I mist my snakelings every day or two and the enclosures hold the moisture well. The sheds are always perfect and I don't have to run any humidifiers in my home. I love these cages! I keep ordering more and more

Linda,
You have the setup I am planning on getting this year. Due to the Pro-Products panels taking some space on the inside I will go with the 17" cages. Do you have cages with the shelves and if so does it interfere with the heat panels (lack of vertical space, excessive heat on the shelf, etc.)?

Thanks,
Dan

Hi Dan, I don't have the shelves. I have found that even with the 11.5" high ones, the heat panels are no problem. None of my boas pay any attention to them at all.

I started with Boaphile. Have a couple of 4'x 11" in black and a couple of 2'x2'x11. All have heat installed (best in my opinion)and are set up on the Ranko thermistat system. Also had lights installed.....also worth it to me!
Now i am ordering from Moonstruck and i like them too! They are not as pricey as Boaphile, they have 2 doors on the 4' instead of one long one....i like this better. They come with keyed locks standard. You can get the 4' ones with removable dividers...which i have ordered now. I install my own lights in these. Heat is on underside of cage and works great and is easy to get to in the event it goes bad (hasnt happened).
BOTH folks are easy to work with. The two styles stack together just fine.
Hope this helps...susan