General caging questions - Where Responsible Reptile Keepers Connect!

Botis · #1 (**permalink**) 10-05-2008, 08:21 PM

Ive made up my mind on the cages Ill get when I upgrade, should be a couple months. At any rate I have a few questions before I finalize on a thermostate/heating source. Hopefully someone can work out the kinks.

Ive chosen a 72" x 24" x 17.5" for my BCI and a 48" x 24" x 11.5" for my BP.

Id like to be able to drop the heat in my room down to a more reasonable 72 degrees or so, so I am looking at radiant heat. Im not sure on the BP's setup yet but for the boa Im definately going RH.

So first, BCI cage questions:

Now how about their thermostats? I havent used a digital one before, but I noticed that they have a power strip on them.
How do I have the thermostat/sensor inside but have the power strip/power cord outside of the enclosure?
And on a side-note how should I check humidity, because their thermostats dont include a humidity reading.
As to the actual cage itself, what optionals would you recommend?

BP's cage:

Im open to suggestions here on heating, im not really sure radiant heat is the way to go on a 4 footer.

Lighting for both:

Now I want to have some sort of lighting in their for cleaning or just gawking at/bothering my snakes now and then. What sort of included light does not put off any heat? Incandescent, or fluorescent?

I think thats everything... sorry for the huge wall of text, and thanks for any information.
I cant wait to get them out of these ghetto-#$!#$!#$! aquariums. I dont even have thermostats, so I cover the UTH's with plexiglass sheets.

Botis · #2 (**permalink**) 10-05-2008, 08:37 PM

Also where does the RHP go... inside top, or outside it somewhere? I plan to stack the BP cage on top of the BCI one so I dont want anything on top of it.

Im looking at under-cage heating x2 for the BP. Think this will put off the necessary heat, or should I go with RHP?

Ryancbj22 · #3 (**permalink**) 10-10-2008, 10:24 PM

Okay I'll do my best on this I'm a little pressed for time. Hopefully someone will come a long and grab what I missed.

As for the cages are you trying to figure out what manufactuer to go with? I have the Reptilebasics 2x4 for my boa's. These work great and will hold just about any size boa up to 8ft or so. If your looking for the 6ft one then there are some other great cages, but I don't have experience with them. Theres Boaphile, Animal Plastics, and PVC cages just to name a few. I have heard great things about all three.

I'll share what I know with reptilebasics. They come with optional heat, which can be 21" flexwatt, RHP 40w or 80w, and ultra-therm heat pads. Any of these will work great. It depends on the conditions you have, but from what I can see the RHP 40w or the flex-watt would be fine. For the boa's I would probably say the RHP, and for the bp I would go with belly heat probably the flex-watt. I have both and they work great either way.

The RHP's go inside the cage at the top. They work great because they mimic the heat from the sun, and if your snake is in it's hide the hide will warm up ultimately warming up the inside as well. For larger snakes the RHP's work great also. The snake is big enough that it can absorb the heat coming down, and then it dispurses the heat back off. This actually helps raise the ambient temp's and control the ambient temps as well.

If the flex-watt is what you go with the it is built-in to the cage and the bottom has a slot for your probe! They have an optional light for an extra $20 that is enclosed in the cage and it's flueracant(don't know how to spell that lol) so it doesn't get hot at all.

I'm not sure what t-stat your thinking of, but I prefer the helix. It is the easiest most accurate t-stat I've found for around $100. Extremely easy to use.

For humidity and temps you can purchase an accurite thermometer at wal-mart or home depot for about $15. They measure temps and humidity.

I hope all got all the answers, but if I missed something just ask and I'll try to help the best I can.

Ryancbj22 · #4 (**permalink**) 10-10-2008, 10:41 PM

One more thing I'm inclined to mention.

What was your bp brought up in? Was it an aquarium and what size?

The reason I asked is I bought an adult male bp about a year ago, and put him in one of my reptile basics cages (*we'll call these RB's from now on) it was 4x2 the same I use for boa's. This male was 4 years old, and spent it's whole life in a rack 32qt tub. I put him in this cage and for about 8 months he didn't eat and rarely moved around. I bought this guy for show purposes only. I have a couple of really really nice display cages, and this was one of them. This guys only purpose in life was to sit and look pretty. Well as I said before he wouldn't eat. So one day during cleaning I put him in a empty tub I had that was 32qt. I had a spare rat and thought what the #$!#$!#$!#$!.....I don't think the rat hit the floor before he ate it. So I moved him into the racks and long and behold he eats like a champ every week.

I just wanted to throw this out there before you buy your cage make sure your bp will accept it. If he's been in an aquarium for quite awhile and he eats, sheds, and poops okay then I would say this cage would be great for him. Bp's aren't as acceptable of big open spaces as some boa's and corns things like that are. They stress out a lot easier....

Hope this helps....I know it's sloppy I'm sorry, but I'm in a hurry lol....

AbsoluteApril · #5 (**permalink**) 10-11-2008, 12:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Botis

Now how about their thermostats? I havent used a digital one before, but I noticed that they have a power strip on them.

Not sure what brand you are asking about. I use the big apple "Herp Power Proportional Thermostat" which has a probe that goes into the enclosure and the actual unit sits outside. I've heard great things about the herpstat pro (over $300 but can control 4 independent heating elements). There is a cheaper big apple thermostat model which I also use, I think it's around $30.

Temp guns are great for checking temps. I keep my room warm enough for ambient heat and provide a hot spot for all the boas with either flexwatt or a light bulb. It's too bad they don't make a temp gun that could check humidity.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Botis

What sort of included light does not put off any heat? Incandescent, or fluorescent?

Florescent does not put out heat, only light. Incandescent put out both.

Sorry I didn't have more to offer, but hey, it's something.

Good luck!

Botis · #6 (**permalink**) 10-11-2008, 12:58 AM

I should have specified, Im purchasing from Boaphile.

The BP lives, and has always lived in, a 55 gallon aquarium with custom top.

So a full-grown boa can live comfortably in a 4' long x 2' deep cage?

AbsoluteApril · #7 (**permalink**) 10-11-2008, 01:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Botis

So a full-grown boa can live comfortably in a 4' long x 2' deep cage?

All of my adults are in the Boaphie 4x2 cages and do fine. I plan to get some 5x2 or if I can, 6x2 cages for the largest adults that are 7' or larger one of these days.

Botis · #8 (**permalink**) 10-11-2008, 01:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AbsoluteApril

All of my adults are in the Boaphie 4x2 cages and do fine. I plan to get some 5x2 or if I can, 6x2 cages for the largest adults that are 7' or larger one of these days.

Ok great, Ill go with two 4x2s that way I can stack it with my BPs.
Ill use the flexiwatt as well.

Thank you April and Ryan.