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About BoaPhile Plastics

AmelEP

New member
So I came across BoaPhile Plastics the other day when I was just browsing through snake supplies. I liked a few products on there but when I tried doing a consumer comment search, there were some nasty ones. I was just wondering if any of you guys have ordered from this company or heard of them.
 
I'm sort of interested in this, too. I know he had a bad reputation for not staying in touch during the building process, but no one seems to criticize the cages/racks themselves, and once they turn up on your doorstep, everyone seems satisfied. I'd be interested in hearing _recent_ feedback.

In comparison, I wrote to Animal Plastics today and haven't heard back...

Nanci
 
I've heard nothing but bad about BoaPhile. Check the BOI on fauna classifieds.

As for Animal Plastics, I've got 2 racks from them and they work great and customer service for me has always been good. They do take about a month to ship due to their backlog of orders.
 
Over the summer I purchased 2 18 slot hatchling racks from them.

My transactions seemed fine. If I really needed to get in touch with him it seemed I had to call, but besides that the purchase was fine. There's an interesting story behind it though.

I bought the first rack and thermostat in June and all was well. I tried e-mailing to change the address where they were to be delivered, but IO believe he never got them. After a few days I called and he quickly sorted out the problem. That didn't bother me, although it would have been nice to have gotten an answer back quickly by e-mail. We got the rack and thermostat just fine and the whole thing is exceptional quality, especially for the price.

The second rack, on the other hand, I did not actually order. He sent it to us by accident. This was a full 2 months after the first order and somehow he got mixed up and sent it again. I decided to be incredably nice, and after opening the box to check what he had sent me I called him. Anyway, in the long run I decided, since I would have been ordering another rack next year, to just buy the rack from him. In exchange for helping to fix his mistake he gave me the $100 thermostat for free. It seemed like a good deal to me.

Over all I have no real complaints about Boaphile Plastics. The e-mail thing is minor, so I think in general because the quality is so good and the prices are also staying pretty cheap, they seem like a great choice to buy racks and cages from.
 
Great for you to get the extra rack with a discount, but what about the guy who actually ordered it? =)
 
I bet he just sent the same rack twice- that it wasn't anyone else's. Yeah, I did read BOI. Tons of people who in the past had a bad experience, and a handful of more recent good experiences.

Nanci
 
That's right Nanci, I think he did just send it again. I believe, if it was supposed to go to someone else, he just sent another one.
 
I am assuming that the BOI is the one on Fauna as well? Not sure how all that works, but I will say I have heard great things on other large constrictor boards about Boaphile's cages, just time and service are compliants but they seem to be getting better. Animal plastics which Nanci mentioned is a different story, however, I know of this guy and exchanged a few emails with him, but he is good friends with some of my friends, so all I will say is go to Fauna and look at Animal Plastics threads BEFORE placing an order. There was extended family circumstances for awhile that may have caused problems, don't know if they have been resolved or not.
 
I have some experience with the OLD boaphile racks. They were worse than crap because crap has a good use as fertilizer. They sagged so much that I've known people to break a sweater box in half trying to move a rack in or out of the system! I have been TOLD the new racks are a million times better, but I can NOT confirm that through direct experience. The old ones are so bad that I can't risk buying a new one "just in case," and most of the guys I know now go with other companies because of the "Boaphile delay." Some Boaphile racks have such large gaps that young colubrids readily escape out of them, but I am unaware if this is the old style or the new style. ?????

I recommend RBI racks. They are made a little better than anything else I've dealt with, Rich (not RichZ, of course) is a great guy with great customer service, etc. They are a little pricey, but worth it in QUALITY. Also look at Vision. Those racks are the best one the market IMO EXCEPT for the air holes in the TOPS of the racks. Dust comes out and goes in. This means IF you get a sick snake, all others in those racks are easily/readily affected. Knock on wood. I was switching all 250+ of our snakes to Vision racks until I got tired of the dust collecting - and falling into - each cage/rack! I don't even want to use the racks I have now because of that issue.

Boaphile CAGES (the 2x4x1 foot cages are the ones I have experience with) are the best I have ever experienced. I love them. The dividers are weak, and the feces can got under the dividers from one cage to another - and they need more air flow for colubrids (which is easy to fix) - but they are VERY well built. On the 4' long cages, I STRONGLY suggest the middle latch/lock be added for door stability. Still, these are VERY, VERY good cages. I can't say enough how much I love them. RBI has a similar cage that I would use if I didn't already have most of my "boa wall" in identical looking Boaphile cages. By the way, these come in many different colors, and white/black/grey colors are no additional charge!

The "Boaphile Delay" is the only real problem. If you need the cages fast, call RBI. If you can wait 2-3 months, order from Boaphile. I usually get told it'll be "3-6 weeks," but I am lucky to get them in 8 weeks! Slow, slow, slow. Jeff is a great guy on the phone - really - but I wish he'd communicate better via email. Not everyone can pick up the phone in middle of a work week and try reaching him on the phone until he is there to answer. My orders from him range $250-$1000 at a time, and I've purchased something like 12 cages from him. I think a reply to my inquiries via email ("Jeff, has my racked shipped yet?") isn't too much to ask. With that said, my one MINOR issue with one order was immediately fixed by Jeff when I got him on the phone. Really, he's good to customers. His methods of making the cages is just SLOW, though. Be prepared.

The moral? I'll keep buying cages from Jeff (and probably nowhere else), but I order them well before I need them. :) LOL. Excellent quality.

KJ
 
AmelEP said:
So I came across BoaPhile Plastics the other day when I was just browsing through snake supplies. I liked a few products on there but when I tried doing a consumer comment search, there were some nasty ones. I was just wondering if any of you guys have ordered from this company or heard of them.

I ordered a rack (18-bin shoe with the clear boxes, which I think is good for babies through sub-adults) on August 30 of this year and it shipped on Sept 19, arriving in good shape a few days later.

I ordered from Boaphile because a friend has several of their racks and I liked them.

I've recently seen some RBI racks that also look good, so I haven't decided where my next rack will come from (I'll want bigger boxes as my snakes mature).
 
I just can't find a rack I like- and Boaphile's blanket box arboreal comes the closest...They just don't have enough room, any of them.

Thanks for the ton of good information, though.

Nanci
 
Nanci said:
I just can't find a rack I like- and Boaphile's blanket box arboreal comes the closest...They just don't have enough room, any of them.

Thanks for the ton of good information, though.

Nanci

What are you trying to keep in them? Just cornsnakes or something larger? If you want a bigger cage, have you checked out the CB-70 or V-70 racks? Those aren't good for arboreal ones - if that is what you want - but I can't make suggestions on those type racks (if that is what you want) since I don't really mess with arboreal snakes.
KJ
 
Just cornsnakes. But I want to be able to decorate like I can in a 20L, with about the same amount of floor space. I hate the whole six inches high thing, although I'm sure the snakes are happy enough.

Nanci
 
Nanci said:
Just cornsnakes. But I want to be able to decorate like I can in a 20L, with about the same amount of floor space. I hate the whole six inches high thing, although I'm sure the snakes are happy enough.

Nanci

Ahhhh, I can't help you there. I never even considered "decorating" a sliding rack sweater box. Sorry. How many snakes do you have and how much room? Have you considered something like the divided 2x4x1 foot RBI cage? Or are you set on a sliding box? I know vision makes an "arboreal" sliding rack. It might be the same boxes that you already mentioned liking, though. No clue.

KJ
 
Nanci said:
Just cornsnakes. But I want to be able to decorate like I can in a 20L, with about the same amount of floor space. I hate the whole six inches high thing, although I'm sure the snakes are happy enough.

Nanci

Nanci,

I am building my own rack right now (don't know when I will ever get done) but I am using 90qt Sterlite containers instead of the 48qt ones that alot of people use. They are basically the same floorspace, but they are twice as tall. I plan on adding some closet rod holders and pvc "branches" and then decorate so they have room to climb if they desire. For some reason I just felt better going to a rack if I could do this instead of the ones that are more flat.
 
Okay, so far I'm not feeling any better about BoaPhile...I guess I'll be shopping around some more. I just want a small rack so maybe later on when I want to expand my corn collection I wouldn't have a 20 gallon tank sitting on every flat surface in the house. But I don't want one of those that have 48 tubs either...my husband has way more than enough reasons to call me crazy already.
I searched RBI on google but it said they moved the web page or something. As for Animal Plastics, I was interested in the Sterilite 1860/1960 (4 tubs) but when I was searching it, I came across a thread about Sterilite discontinuing those sizes (anyone heard such thing???).
If anyone has any other suggestions that would be wonderful. Thanks in advance. :)
 
hartsock said:
IAnimal plastics which Nanci mentioned is a different story, however, I know of this guy and exchanged a few emails with him, but he is good friends with some of my friends, so all I will say is go to Fauna and look at Animal Plastics threads BEFORE placing an order. There was extended family circumstances for awhile that may have caused problems, don't know if they have been resolved or not.

I just searched fauna and could find nothing but positives on Animal Plastics. If there is a negative thread it is buried under a LOT of positive threads. I didn't feel like wading through all of them, but what I did see was completely positive. I've ordered 2 racks from them and have had no problems with the product or the service, other than the 1 month wait, which I was told about up
front.

Okay I looked back further and found one really old thread about orders taking 4-6 weeks, but that's it.
 
AmelEP said:
Okay, so far I'm not feeling any better about BoaPhile...I guess I'll be shopping around some more. I just want a small rack so maybe later on when I want to expand my corn collection I wouldn't have a 20 gallon tank sitting on every flat surface in the house.

That is where I am right now. 20L on every flat surface. If I wanted to expand my collection, it has to be a rack.

AP, Animal Plastics, is highly recommended.

Nanci
 
AmelEP said:
Okay, so far I'm not feeling any better about BoaPhile...I guess I'll be shopping around some more. I just want a small rack so maybe later on when I want to expand my corn collection I wouldn't have a 20 gallon tank sitting on every flat surface in the house. But I don't want one of those that have 48 tubs either...my husband has way more than enough reasons to call me crazy already.
I searched RBI on google but it said they moved the web page or something. As for Animal Plastics, I was interested in the Sterilite 1860/1960 (4 tubs) but when I was searching it, I came across a thread about Sterilite discontinuing those sizes (anyone heard such thing???).
If anyone has any other suggestions that would be wonderful. Thanks in advance. :)


RBI ---> http://www.reptilebasics.com/

Lots of tub sizes are being discontinued all the time by Sterlite and RubberMaid. Iris just discontinued some of their best sizes, too!

The only racks being built for the V-35 tubs are the Vision racks, but some places like RBI might be able to make a special rack for you for very little additional (if any) monies. I'm actually building my own racks right now for a new snake building (going to be all corns in the new one - yeah!) to hold the V-35 tubs. These are made perfect for keeping average-sized corns/etc., clean easily, and Vision is very unlikely to change the design. As long as they are in business, we are safe. :)

PLUS, the RM/Sterlite/Iris group of sweater boxes are made with wide tolerances. Some of the ones that are the "same" size can vary a lot since they are made on many different molds. On the same shelf, one tub might be tight and the next tub will be too loose. Old news here. I have seen ZERO of these problems with Vision made tubs. They seem to keep tolerances tighter since they know they are for snakes...and not just for shoes or sweaters. :) The one DOWN SIDE is that you can't get lids for Vision cages for those people that like lidded sliding rack systems.

KJ
 
KJUN said:
" Some Boaphile racks have such large gaps that young colubrids readily escape out of them, but I am unaware if this is the old style or the new style. ?????
I believe this is the old style. I have a friend that bought some of his racks for his corns and kings and he has lost a few to the gaps. He also no longer uses the bottom row due to the sagging which then pinches the bottom row making the boxes unable to slide out.

I have no personal experience with this cages or racks, but I know my friend gets pretty frustrated with his. I personally make all my own out of melamine (yeah.....it's heavy...but I'm not moving it anywhere ;) ).
 
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