Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I see in the last few days a lot of conversation on new caging and what others think. I love the plastic cages, but not any particular brand.

Here is what I am looking for..

I like the 4 foot by 2 foot size for adult Boas.. but the height on cages advertised are running 14 inches, 15 inches etc. This to me is a ton of wasted space. In the space of 3 cages 15 inches in height I could get 4.5 cages at 10 inches high.

You may say.. they need more room. I have a room full of cages that are 10 inches high as well as some Neos that are like 2 foot high.. My boas in the 10 inch high cages eat, shed, act just the same as the ones in the 18 Inch high Neos. BUT.. I can not fit as many in the same space. Plus the Freedom Breeders are only like 10 inches high and they are supposed to be the Choice of top breeders. So I have heard.

I also despise a lip on the front of any cage. Litter dam, lip, center support etc.. whatever you call it, I dont like it. When I try to pull out 8 foot females they always do the same thing, grab onto the lip as well as the center support. Then they pull the same when I try to put them back in the cage. These are not needed and only cause me headaches.

I use a plastic pan on the bottom of my cages, this ENTIRE pan slides out with the boa on it. NOTHING for them to hold onto. This pan has a 2 inch LIP that I said I despise. BUT.. this lip is part of the pan, so when I pull out the pan, the lip comes with it. No center support on my cages either. I can get 4 females out, cleaned and back in before I could do 2 of the neos.

I have been looking for cages for 3 years.. and have built my own just because of the issues described above. I dont understand how people who keep Boas AND manufacture cages have not figured this out yet. Or is this just me and my boas that have the problem?

Anyway.. if anyone makes a plastic cage, no lip, 4x2 foot 10 inches high with a single SLiding plexiglass front.. I will be all over them.

This is our prototype we built.. yes it is wood.. and not the best material for a cage I know. This is a prototype and even though it is wood.. with the plactic pan in the bottom it is ok. Would prefer the exact setup we made but in plastic. Notice the extra clean pan waiting on a dirty cage standing next to it.

and then there are the Neos. These are taking up two times the room space and get me 4 holes in the same place I could get 10 of our prototype. That to me is a waste. Just my opinion.

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Thanks
Shawn Morelan
www.SouthernBoids.com

Well I can think of a few suggestions for your cages. Doug Barrs will special order any thing you want, or at least a couple of years ago he was willing and I am only assuming that he still is. When I asked for specialty cages he built them with no problems and they came out perfect, so just show him some plans and he will make want you asked.
I personally think that 10" is just a bit too low for a boa cage, not for the snake itself but for the choice of hide boxes for it. I use jumbo litter pans turned upside down with a hole cut in them for my large boas hide box, they are about 8" tall which only gives 2" on top. My boas like to sit on top of their hide boxes almost as much as they sit inside them, at 12" tall they can do this at 10" tall they can't. I'm not sure how tall you stack you cages but I am stacking them 5 high with an 11" bottom stand so the cage is not on the ground (I'm getting to old to sit on the floor to clean snake cages) so that buts the top cage starting at 5' tall perfect eye level to work with, not too tall to work in either.
I like your plastic tray idea, where did you ever find trays that size, that would be nice to be able to just remove the tray, change that paper and put the tray back in! Sweet set up, just like a bird cage.
As far as the 4x2 size, I try and stay with one square foot of cage size for every one foot of snake. Unfortunatly I now have two female boas that exceed 9' long and the 4x2 cages are a bit too small, that is why I liked the idea for the 2x2 added blind hide from Jeff Ronne's cages this adds another 4 square feet of cage plus a built in hide box for the snake.
I do have the same issue with the litter damns with my smaller boas, oddly enough my big boas, I just open the cage and unless they are in shed they just come out on their own, it is almost as if it is play time for them and they know it. I don't have and center supports on any of my cages, just don't need them I guess.
Good luck in getting them built, but try Doug Barrs, he was pretty willing to build anything and very reasonable about it.
Thanks
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Jim Hopkins "Hoppy"
Hopkins Holesale Herps
Hopfam1@aol.com

Please contact me @ junglehabitats@charter.net or call me @ 1-828-584-6769 i would like to talk to you
Alan
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