Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was thinking of buying a boaphile or similar type cage and cutting a round hole in the top and adding screen to hold a heat lamp. Is this a bad idea?

This is probably a question you should ask the manufacturers since this mod could void their warranty.
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BigT
There is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. The ignorant can be taught, stupidity is beyond our control.
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I'm not really worried about the warranty, more so if it's safe to do so. I'm hoping someone here actually has done it and can tell me how it worked out for them. I will try and email the manufacturers as well though.

After a few emails and a phone call he won't sell me a cage now lol.

He told me no matter what the cage is constructed of, a dome lamp on top of a cage is unsafe.

He declined to tell me what temperature the material of his cages are rated for.

To create a floor temp of 115 in a 4' cage would result in too hot of a cool side. I told him I imagine 78-80 degree cool side in that scenario, he told me it would be 110. I told him well with some ventilation I'm sure that would not be the case. He said I could do something like that if I could buy a cage off him, but he won't sell me one now. LOL What a joke. I told him thanks for his time and that he's a real stand up guy. He told me "OOH I'm such a terrible person for trying to protect people and their pets from dangerous situations!"

Dude is not being up front with his product at all. Yeah there could be an earthquake or a heatlamp could get bumped off a cage, or magically jump off the cage top and cause a fire, but that's still evading the question. Plenty of cages are heated this way. When I drive on the freeway I could be involved in a pile up and die, maybe I shouldn't drive.

I do understand where Jeff is coming from, being that he is the cage mfgr.

Aside from all of that, I have done just what you asked about. I have done this on 3 cages each from a different mfgr and each made from different plastic material, one being expanded PVC material just like Boaphile cages, one being HDPE and the other being HDPS. All worked.

Jeff is correct about the dome being knocked off and burning the plastic. What I eventually did was to use little strips of metal to secure the dome to the top (drilled holes and put screws.) Although a bit ugly, I didn't have to worry about my dog potentially knocking it off or an earthquake doing it (I live in LA - earthquake central).

Here is a pic with one of the cages off to the left. You can see that I cut a hole on top. Cage didn't come that way.

One note - expanded PVC is tough but does bend a bit. If your dome is very heavy, you may want to use a piece of extruded aluminum angle glued (silicon works) under the ceiling to provide some rigidity. Doubt you'll need to.

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Mark

Thanks that was really helpful!

So MarkG what kind of temps have you ran on the hot side in these type of cages? And the way you fastened down your heat lamps is a pretty neat idea. I was considered a suspended lamp, raised just a 1/4 inch or so off the screen, but your idea might be easier.

What bothered me about Jeff was that he would not tell me whether his cages could handle 115 or so temperatures. I would assume they would, but he didn't want to work with me much after my intial inquiry about cutting a hole in the top for the lamp. It was pretty much his excuse as to why he wouldn't be more specific. His last email which prompted me to call him, was that he really didn't care to get in an arguement with me about it? WTF!? I am (was) a prospective buyer with questions about his product and that's how he views me??? Oh well his prices weren't as low as some of the others anyway.

By finding a cage made from the thickest sheet plastic availabe you will run less risk of compromising the structural integrity of the material and the cage, overall. I would recommend something like animal plastics. Kevin

Thanks for your input. AP seems to have a strong following. I am also looking at Repti-Racks caging, but unless I'm just not seeing it, the thickness of the material they use is not stated on their web page.

Repti-Racks uses HDPS material in many of their cages. 1/4 inch of that material is much tougher than 1/4 inch of closed-cell expanded PVC. So don't try and compare thickness alone when the material is different from other companies.

Example - 1/8 inch of HDPS (I have a cage made from that) is much stronger than 1/8 inch PVC. In fact, it would likely be impossible to make an effective cage the same size with 1/8 inch PVC.
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Mark