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 #2018905


Pythonpetey
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 Animal Plastic Enclosure

Catfish asked that I post photos of Crunch’s new Animal Plastics Enclosure. Here it is without his hide. I just swapped him into the tank a few minutes before the photos were taken. And yes, the big guy is shedding (again) and making a mess of everything. This is the T10 model which measures 48x24x15 tall. The broiler pan (Crunch’s water dish) is 5" deep for reference. The rock is red and brown, so no, Crunch is not bleeding all over the place.

Right side of enclosure (glass door open to avoid glare):



Left side of enclosure (glass door open to avoid glare):



Entire enclosure (glass doors installed & shut):



The grey wire in the left corner is the probe for the thermostat. The probe for the hydrometer is in the upper left, but you cannot see it in the photo.

Animal Plastics recommended glass sliding doors in lieu of the acrylic doors for a snake the size of a Blood. Seems the acrylic doors can flex if pressed on too hard, and a big snake can pop the locked doors out. The glass doors are tempered, and do not flex.

I was very satisfied with the quality of the Animal Plastics enclosure, their customer service, and with ease of assembly. I am using a flexwatt heater under the enclosure, operated off a Johnson Controls thermostat.
06/08/09  11:26pm

 #2019161


Catfish_82
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   Message To: Pythonpetey   In reference to Message Id: 2018905


 Animal Plastic Enclosure

Very nice Pete. Thanks for the pics. A few quick questions for you. How long did assembly take? How do the probes for both the thermometer and the hydrometer come into the cage and where are they placed? Also how is the Flexwatt integrated into the cage? Thanks again for the pics. Crunch is lookin’ good man.



06/09/09  01:15pm

 #2019363


Pythonpetey
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   Message To: Catfish_82   In reference to Message Id: 2019161


 Animal Plastic Enclosure

Catfish: The assembly is done in stages. First you carefully assemble the entire enclosure. I chose to use a screwdriver in lieu of a cordless drill for fear of stripping out the holes. Once the enclosure is assembled, the instructions say to take the top back off in order to silicone all the seams. The top is not siliconed - if the enclosure fills with water all the way to the top you have problems! Once the silicone is dry, the top is replaced (another 14 screws). The doors are easy to set inside the runners.

I took my time, and it took me about 90 minutes (not including getting the silicone off me afterwards).

I drilled holes through the air vents on the sides (upper corner towards the back) for the probes to slip through. I did not want any holes near the bottom if the enclosure is to be water-tight. The flexwatt is simply taped onto the bottom of the enclosure using metal tape (the high-temperature stuff for mechanical systems, not ordinary duct tape).



I have noticed (quickly) that the humidity really builds up in this enclosure. I may have to add more ventilation.
06/09/09  07:38pm

 #2019454


Catfish_82
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   Message To: Pythonpetey   In reference to Message Id: 2019363


 Animal Plastic Enclosure

How thick is the bottom? Does heat get through ok at the previous temperature settings or did you find that you had to turn up temperatures on the flexwatt to get a better temperature for the hot spot?
06/09/09  10:04pm

 #2019471


Pythonpetey
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   Message To: Catfish_82   In reference to Message Id: 2019454


 Animal Plastic Enclosure

The entire enclosure is made of 1/2" thick black PVC. Since the thermostat runs off a probe, and the probe is inside the enclosure (remember the gray wire in the left corner?), I did not need to adjust the thermostat at all. I have a styrofoam board under the tank about 3/4" below the flexwatt that keeps the heat from dissipating out from under the enclosure.
06/09/09  10:26pm


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