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New twist on cage sizes (opinions?)

Skye,

I forgot to enquire where you purchased your Vision cages? There are number of places on the web and the costs vary quite a bit. Owning as many cages as you do, you must have found a reliable source with good prices. Please, do tell....

Also, are the cage dimensions for Vision cages the inside of the cage or the outside?


Cheers,
Jason
 
Hmm - interesting question about the dimensions. To be honest the plastic isn't that thick so this won't be much difference.

I bought some from vision cages because they were the only people who had them in stock and could get them to me quickly, but they are also usually the most expensive place to buy them from. And I bought the rest from LLLReptile who were selling them for $186 but I see their prices have gone up significantly adn they still say it's a special!
Of course, if you don't want the extra vent along the top you can get them there for $186. The bit that kills is the price of freight so if you can find any shows nearby which will have vision products there, arrange to collect at the show.

Skye
 
Skye said:
The bit that kills is the price of freight so...
Skye
Click to expand...

UPS 2nd day air freight charges from California to Alaska for cage no. 332 is $145.00 USD per. The smaller Vision 221 cages are $75.00 per box. Yikes!

When the time comes to lay down my money, I'm going to see if I can get them to ship via a passenger airlines co. or some other alternantive method. Without taking into account the dimensions of the boxes, it would be roughly just a bit greater than 1 dollar per pound via Alaska Airlines- and that's a whole lot cheaper.


Cheers,
Jason
 
Hey Skye, by the way I absolutely LOVE your setup! But I have a couple questions, how/where do you put the UTH's onto the Visions? Do they stick underneath or are they inside? Mine are ZooMed and they never stick, eventually they come off all the time. The reason why I am asking is because the bottom of the Vision cages look pretty thick and If the UTH's do go under the tank, it doesn't look like they would give off enough heat.

Also, What kind of UTH do you use for your racks and how are they wired? I don't know anything about setting up Vision Cages and I would like to get one soon to try it out w/ one of my corns!

Thanks!:D
 
The UTHs are placed underneath the plastic on the bottom of the cage at the back closer to one side than the other, i.e. not central. They are basically under the light. This allows for maximum thermal gradient accross the cage.

The plastic is not too thick for the heat to come through, and I use rheostats to control the level of heat with all mats.

I used to use the T-Rex heat mats and put them on by putting duct tape around the edge of the mat, but with the heat, the tape begins to slip and the mat bends down so it isn't fully in contact with the floor of the cage and it wasn't working so well.
cobra_mat.jpg


Then I switched to ZooMed mats which have the adhesive on them - much better contact over the whole area of teh mat, but very difficult to move off the tank if you decide you would like to use the mat elsewhere.
zm_reptitherm.gif


Make sure the surface you are sticking the mat to is clean, dry and dust-free. I have never found them to come unstuck.

Skye
 
Thanks for the input Skye:)

Does that mean you have wires coming off everywhere w/ the mats and the light fixtures, right?
 
Skye,
I think I solved my freight issues (wahoo) so one last question... at what size can we safely place our corns in the Vision cages without them escaping between the pains of glass on the sliding doors? I've read about escapes this way and I don't want it to happen to us... err, I mean them. Thanks.

Cheers,
Jason
 
so how did you solve the freight??? any tips for the rest of us?

as to the gap between the doors issue - it certainly is an issue, and I probably worry about it too much. For all my smaller adults I actually put a double folded strip of cardboard between the doors to eliminate this isse. It is double folded so it fits in there so tight they can't push it out. I attach a small tab to it sticking out so I can easily pull it out to open the doors or or it can be difficult to get hold of. The corns know that is a way out of the cage, they can feel the air coming in through the gap. During breeding season you can see the males running thier noses up and down the gap.

A final point - when you get the cages - run your hand around the rim that is above the door at the front. There is a rivet centrally on this small ledge. Despite the limited width of this ledge, the snakes do seem to like to go up the sides and along the top, and some of them make it down the other side and some of them fall off. I have one large male who always falls off with a lot of noise, and I even pile up extra aspen at the front to cushion his fall. However, my point is that the rivet can be rough - feel it by hand to check, and on some of the cages, I have put tape over it to save the snakes ripping their scales/damaging themselves as they push their way along the ledge.

One funny point - when I first started using visions I didn't know they could get onto that ledge, and I was looking for one of my girls and she wasn't in either hide, and I was lying there panicing - head in the cage rummaging through all the aspen and suddenly she fell off the ledge onto the back of my neck! I don't know who moved faster.

Skye
 
Skye,

The freight issue was solved by a friend. It involves me having the cages shipped to Washington state via UPS ground. From there they're put on a barge and shipped to Alaska at a fraction of the cost of air freight. :D

I sure hope our 03 snakes will be large enough by Sept. to fit in the cages? The last time I measured them they were 21.8 and 18.6 inches long. I'll measure them again in a week or so after their next shed. I guess I could keep them in their 15 gal. terrarium cages through next winter if I have to, but I'd rather move them to a warmer area of the house and stack them up. Any thoughts? They have 7 months to grow to a cage compatible size...

Cheers,
Jason
 
as long as you plug the gap between the doors, and NEVER forget to put the plug back in after you have had the doors open you should be fine to put them straight in the visions, but if they are that young - don't risk having the gap unplugged. I would wait until they are MUCH bigger before I started not using a plug. Remember corns can get through any space the size of their head - not their body - and I have even had some escape through gaps smaller than their head size.

Skye
 
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