Advice on our new cage

[MacGyver]

There are pics further down, keep scrolling!

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[eddie]

The pics didn't show, but it does sound good so far!

The cage isn't too big at all. As for hides, I use a lot of various sized kitty litter pans with a hole cut in for entry and for substrate, its really a matter of personal choice.
A lot of us use newspaper ( functional, cheap and ugly) or aspen shavings, which allow the snakes to do some burrowing.
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[eddie]

Forgot to say, Welcome to Redtail!
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[MacGyver]

Thanks for the info and the welcome eddie. The pics should be working now as well. We were planning on using aspen shavings for the substrate. We're using newspaper right now and we have her in a 55gal aquarium. We figure that since she's moving into a nice new home she should have niceer substrate than newspaper too [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]


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[Ti]

Radiant heat panels rock! If you can, definitly go for them.

I do have one piece of advice, try to build a 2-3" lip behind the door to act as a litter dam, especially if you are planning on using aspen shavings. This is something that I learned after building my first cage, and will never do without again. Your carpets/floor will thank you!

Your cage looks great, and I expect that your boas will be very happy in there.

I like sandblasted grapevine for climbing branches, they can be a pain if they are too large though.

Good Luck! [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
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[NYCSpeedcore]

I agree, I have 2 ProProducts radient heat panels and I would never use anything else but them again. I would strongly suggest getting a big apple digital proportional thermostat to hood up to it as well, but you could get away with a dimmer if you have to. I would stick with newspaper, but on the kingsnake classifieds there is a company that makes some really thick paper cage liners that look better than newspaper that I would suggest.
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[shaolinzero]

not sure if you thought of this or not, but i would be carefule about your snake coming in direct contact with that light. if its too hot she may get burnt. you may want to find some way to prevent this like a wire cover over the light or something like that.
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[XzyluM]

Very nice cage. Being that it's a fluroscent light, I doubt it would get hot enough to burn.
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[DogVsRaptor]

I have a fluoresent light hanging in my iguana cage, the light is 2 feet long, and never heats up past being
just a tad warm. In fact that is his new laying playing, sometimes he sleeps there when not on his hammock
or large branches. So the light shouldn't be too much of a problem, unless my light just doesn't get
that hot.

Nick
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[juggalettefwb]

OK here is a lil input Ive learned dating a herpacondriac lol we use Cypress mulch in ours we bake it then treat it for mites and as for hides we went to Wal Mart and gor flower pots and cut out a hole sothat when its turned over thehere is a little door he or she can go in but make sure you bleach the pot and rinse it really well and san sown all the edges dont want any booboos on your baby... good luck...
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	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

[shaolinzero]

im a retard. i missed the fluoresent part. no burns there. my bad.
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[MacGyver]

Thanks for all the replies. Yeah it's a fluorescent light I left it on for a few hours today and checked it and it never got very hot at all. I could hold my hand on it all day and not burn myself. Plus there is a plastic cover over the actual bulb of the light as well. That's a good idea about the mulch and the flower pots. I might try both. With the mulch though isn't it a pain to keep having to bake new substrate every week or more often? I'm planning on giving her plenty of hides since it's a rather large cage (probably 4 hides and a few branches so she can climb up to the shelf and bask). Here's a few more pics. I got the wooden door frame (with substrate dam of course [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] ) on and the clasps for it. I'm not sure if we want to use glass or plexiglass for the window in the door yet. Which holds in heat better? This is the first enclosure we've ever built. I do have lots of experience building speaker boxes though which comes in handy. Thanks for all the help. Keep it coming






Will, Heather, and Ayasha

[Dr.Oviparous]

Nice! very nice! I think plexiglass. I would use 1/4 inch. really looks like it's coming along!

with cypress mulch I spot clean everyday, and replace every month, so it's not much of a pain, and very cheap! less than 2 dollars will do about 4 75 gallon enclosures. depending on if you'r herps like to burrow, like Dums or some others. -Juggalo
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