Wood or Plastic Cages?

[KrisGarner]

I am trying to decide what type of cage to get for my boas. I am undecided between Animal Plastics and Boamaster. I like the way they both look, but the Boamaster seems like it would hold heat better. But, the AP seems like it would be easier to heat from the outside. Refering to the 4'x2' cages with Flexwatt type heating.

What do you have and how do you heat it?
What do I need to do to heat it from the inside (Boamaster)?

Thanks,
Kris

 

[shrap]

The plastic caging like AP holds heat very well. If you are after one of the taller cages (15" or taller) you may need to supplement the flexwatt with a heat emitter, bulb, radiant heat panel, etc, depending on the ambient temps in the room your enclosures are in. AP offers different types of tops just for these other types of heating options.

 

[Clay Davenport]

As far as the utility of the cages, I don't think one will have an advantage over the other. AP makes a good cage. I don't own any, but I have inspected them at Daytona and would have no problem buying some.
Actually I started the process of having them custom make a few for me, but at the time (couple of years ago) they were experiencing problems with a material supplier and the wait time forced me to pursue other options.

That being said, aesthetically I would have to say Boamaster takes it hands down. Especially if I were wanting to make a display outside the snake room in the main part of the house, I'd definately be looking at BM first, probably before I would build for myself even. They just have a great look to their cages. Hard to beat that laser cutting for precision, and I far prefer the look of wood to plastic in a display setting.
Heating them could be accomplished by using flexwatt inside the cage, as I currently heat my 4x2 boa enclosures, or with a radiant heat panel which may be even better for some people.

 

[KrisGarner]

As far as the utility of the cages, I don't think one will have an advantage over the other. AP makes a good cage. I don't own any, but I have inspected them at Daytona and would have no problem buying some.
Actually I started the process of having them custom make a few for me, but at the time (couple of years ago) they were experiencing problems with a material supplier and the wait time forced me to pursue other options.

That being said, aesthetically I would have to say Boamaster takes it hands down. Especially if I were wanting to make a display outside the snake room in the main part of the house, I'd definately be looking at BM first, probably before I would build for myself even. They just have a great look to their cages. Hard to beat that laser cutting for precision, and I far prefer the look of wood to plastic in a display setting.
Heating them could be accomplished by using flexwatt inside the cage, as I currently heat my 4x2 boa enclosures, or with a radiant heat panel which may be even better for some people.

I like the appearance of the Boamaster as far as a display case. Seems like something that could be built into a bookshelf and look good in the living room. I have checked your website and planned on building my own, but just don't have time.

As far as the heating goes, I have seen just bare Flex taped down in the cage and also sandwhiched between 2 ceramic flooring tiles and sealed with silicone. Any pros or cons either way?

 

[Clay Davenport]

I've never put it between tiles, so I can't really comment on that method.
There's nothing wrong with putting it directly on the floor of the cage. I usually just silicone it down to prevent the snake from getting under it.
I have used linoleum to seal the floor of wood cages and I plan to experiment with putting the flexwatt under the linoleum and see how that works. I recently had a problem in a boa cage where the snake somehow still managed to get under the flexwatt and actually broke it loose from the connections. I don't know how he got under it, but I suspect he got his nose under a wire.
If it works well under linoleum it will solve the problem entirely.

 

[KrisGarner]

I thought I read somewhere that Flexwatt had to have some sort of air gap. I would like to put it under the cage, but don't know how well it would heat through that thickness of melamine. This is the main reason I was considering the AP cages, even though Boamasters are better looking and actually cheaper (with shipping) in the number I want to buy.

Kris

 

[Clay Davenport]

Flexwatt probably wouldn't transfer enough heat through 3/4" of wood.
As for the air gap required for it, it may well have been a statement made by myself where you heard it. I always had this belief, and didn't want to seal it up like that for fear of overheating.
There is some debate on the subject and when it is in contact with a thermal mass it apparently transfers heat very well and this isn't a problem.
Today, I still won't recommend putting it under linoleum, because I haven't tested it. I'm going to set up a mock cage floor as a test for it before I actually incorporate it into a cage design.

 

[wcreptiles]

I have Boaphile cages with Flexwatt sealed between plastic inside the cages and it sure doesn't look like it has an air gap. I also have under-cage Flexwatt heating type cages sitting on top of each other without an air gap. I haven't had problems with either one, yet.

 

[The BoidSmith]

I have custom-made 3/4" thick melamine cages for some of my boas. The flexwatt is taped to the roof of the cage (inside) and connected to a rheostat. The heat that goes through the melamine is enough to warm three sweater boxes with colubrids that are on top of the cage. The temperature in the room is 75 F.

Regards.

 

[KrisGarner]

I have custom-made 3/4" thick melamine cages for some of my boas. The flexwatt is taped to the roof of the cage (inside) and connected to a rheostat. The heat that goes through the melamine is enough to warm three sweater boxes with colubrids that are on top of the cage. The temperature in the room is 75 F.

Regards.

Now there's an idea. How well does it heat the "hot" end with it on the roof? Does it give enough of a gradient from hot to cool side? What size are your cages?

Kris

 

[Clay Davenport]

I have Boaphile cages with Flexwatt sealed between plastic inside the cages and it sure doesn't look like it has an air gap. I also have under-cage Flexwatt heating type cages sitting on top of each other without an air gap. I haven't had problems with either one, yet.

I'm not saying sandwiching it will not work, but I did want to point out that in that case Jeff uses a different type of flexwatt than what is available to us from the usual suppliers. It's a low wattage type. A panel of his 21"x22" draws 17 watts, whereas 2 feet of 11" wide regular flex pulls 40 watts.
He does use the 11" in his racks, and says this about it on his website:

Our racks are built using the 11" - 20 Watt per lineal foot material. Because of this higher wattage a ½" air gap is allowed for this Flexwatt allowing the heat to disperse properly as is recommended.

This was one of the main reasons I always considered it borderline dangerous to seal up the 11" wide variety. Further conversations have caused me to rethink that position, but I still want to do a test on it first.

 

[KrisGarner]

This is the thread I remember about the ceramic tile.

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80216&highlight=ceramic+tile

It actually looks like it will work quite well. I installed 4 ceramic tiles 2 on top of 2, with the flexwatt sandwiched in between. I caulked the bottom tiles down, put the flexwatt in and caulked the edges of the second tiles. Then I caulked all the way around the tiles and let it dry. The first day it took about an hour to heat up the thermal mass, now it stays at a perfect 92 degrees.