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| About -Pro-Line- Plastic Caging |
I started Pro-Line plastic cages after looking at the many availble cages built by folks and seeing so many things I just didn't like about them. I am admittedly not the first person to make a plastic reptile cage, but I have been doing it for years now with thousands of hours of experiance welding, bending, and building enclosures for reptile to live in. I put a lot of time into figuring out what the best materials to use were, and how to go about making them work for reptile cageing systems. I sell cages to hobbiests, breeders, Pet stores, and Zoos, No order is to big or small!
All types of reptiles have lived in and reproduced in Pro-line cages for years.. Everything from geckos, to the hottest new boa morphs have been born and bred in these enclosures.
We offer a cage body guarantee for life, if your cage breaks somehow get it back to us and I'll fix it for free! We have had to fix ZERO cages to date!
-Pro-Line- plastic cages are different than most cages available. You may ask yourself whats different?
We have taken the time to research what plastics are safe for you and your reptiles to be around. HDPE ( high density polyethelene) is very safe to use and happens to be what we use to make our cages. No harsh glues are used in making -Pro-Line- plasitc cages, in fact no glue is used at all, so when you get your cage it is ready to use, no fumes!
We send you a fully constructed product. Open the box and it's ready to use.
Each cage is hand made, fabricated from HDPE sheet in my shop. There is a lot of hard work that goes into each cage made. Each sheet is cut, routed, heat bent, hot air plasitc welded, drilled, doors are made here, and then it is all assembled. A lot of hard work goes into each cage built.
Green Plastic? HDPE is not only safe but is recycleable and -Pro-Line- cages are made from recycled HDPE. We use every piece possible in building your cages, and the rest goes right back to the recycler, nothing is wasted. HDPE can be used over and over again, it is the most recycled palstic there is.
What about that white color? Well it really isn't white, it's called natural, it sure doese look white, but light can pass through this color, so those of you with snakes have no worries on having to add a light, you can actualy see into the cages well with no aditional light. There are no extra additives to make it this color this is the natural color of the plastic. Your animals will look and live better in natural light. You could get creative and put a light strip behind a stack of cages and light them up like a lamp, without the worry of your animal breaking a bulb or getting burnt on a bulb because then can't come in contact with a bulb..
Example for you there is a regular light behind this cage.
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Plastic Safety, and density
Some other companys use expanded PVC (polyvinyl chloride), ABS (acylonitrile butadiene styrene), CDPVC ( controled density PVC) or other plastics for reptile cages. Not to knock the other guys products many of them make some nice products, but they need to make it out of better plastics period. Many of them are offended by my information, but it is all available to anyone who wishes to find it. PVC as well as many other types of plastic are not nearly as safe to use near your family, or animals. Please take a minute do a search on what ever plastic type a company might use and see for yourself what you think is best. Many of these plastics are difficult at best to recycle, they are chaulked full of additives to make them the color and texture they are. Even if your not looking to buy a cage I think it would be eye opening to many to see some of the bad stuff that out there being sold to you to eat or drink out of.
Expanded PVC is what most other fabricated cages are made of. It is not solid plastic. Expanded PVC sheet is a rigid foam board, it is pourous and can absorb liquid and stain with urine and feces. It is a cheap material, easily worked with, bends easy, and is glueable. It is not nearly as strong or safe as HDPE. See our plastic reptile cage strength comparison below.
The density of the plastic used directly effects the strength of the cage made of it. Thats why we use High density plastic.
HDPE plastic is safe and both FDA and USDA approved for use in the food industry ( safe enought to eat off of! ). You eat and drink out of, or off of HDPE every day, Pipes, milk jugs, cups, cutting boards, the list could go on for days..
Weight:
Our heavy duty cages are not the lightest weight cages on the market, but they are not heavy either they are built for durability out of heavy duty solid plastic. The cage body and doors are all 1/4 ich thick. A 48x24x12 inch cage made of HDPE weighs about 30 pounds.
Hardware:
Our hinges and turnbuttons are both color matched to blend in with your cage - at no extra cost to you. These are standard options always..
Our turn buttons are clear, strong, and escape proof. They are a simple latch but sometimes simple is just the best way to go. There is no way for a snake or lizard to open a cage from inside as there is nothing inside the cage to push or turn. The fact that they are small, is what makes them strong, there is no length to them so you can't bend or break them. the fact that they are clear makes them so they don't take away from the look of the cage it's self.
Our hinges are solid HDPP plastic, they will never rust or need oil. you could beat them with a hammer and not break them, although I don't recomend trying it you'll probably break a window...LOL... They are bolted on, so if some how a door were to ever be broken you can get a replacment.
Mushroom knobs are added to all of the cages ( unless a lock is ordered in it's place) for easy open access with your hand. A hook can also be used to open and close the doors with these knobs for those of you that have less than friendly snakes. They also just look nice.
Cleaning:
Inside of the cages the floor is smooth, this plastic has a glossy finish, that and our design make it easier to clean the inside of the cage. This is a non staining material urates will not soak into this product. There are no strange angles just 90's you can scoop right into them, and them wipe them clean. The doors are hinged so they drop down in front of you, a damp paper towel and a few seconds and you can see clearly into the cages again. NOTE: Don't use window cleaner on acrylic! Use some mild soap and water.
Heating:
Under tank heat pads or heat tape works great for heating our cages. Ultratherm 11" X 23" heat pads work great for heating the 4ft cages, (sold on the heat page) If you live in the northern part of the US you may need to use additional heat like a radiant heat panel if you have a cold room. Those of you with a snake room it is more cost effective in the sence of your power bill to have the room heated and just use the undertank heat for a basking spot.
These cages retain heat and humidity very well.
Vents:
We have designed our doors so there is enough room (1/8 inch) around the doors for ventilation, this makes for great heat and humidity retention. It also keeps your snakes away from having somthing to give themselves a good nose rub on.. If you have a reptile that likes a more arid climate, ask for aditional venting and we will do it for you for free!
Doors:
Our doors drop open design makes it so they can not bind shut under the weight of heavy bodied snakes. They open completly, dropping flat to the face of the cage below so there is nothing in your way. The edges of our doors are flame treated this makes them smooth, and clear making your doors almost invisible! No sliding tracks to clean out!
Welding:
-Pro-Line- cages are hot air plastic welded. We use no glue so there is never a glue smell. Hot air plasitc welding is the strongest way to bond plastic, It is actualy melted together. A 1/8 inch bead of HDPE is melted and the sides being joined are melted at the same time fusing the pieces together as one, this makes the corners bonded thicker and stronger.
Heat Bent Cage Body: The top, bottom, face and back of your cage is all one piece. It is heat bent with a meathod stronger than other types of plastic bending. Our method makes true 90 degree bends instead of a radius bend, and where the bend happens the plastic is fused together making the bend points thicker and stronger.
Structure:
Each cage is constructed with a welded in header beam over the door to give it strength. Just like a house has over it's doors and windows to support the weight of the roof. Adding a header beam over the doors of the cage helps it support the weight of cages stacked on it and all of the heavy bodied critters living in them. Our double door models have a T shaped inner face support for added support making most of the face of the cage 1/2 inch thick. We don't make single windows in the 4ft cages 14 inches tall or less. I have tested this with many plastics and there is just not enough room for a large enough span to support the weight of cages and heavy bodied snakes without sag. Other folks may tell you there cage doesn't have any problem, right up to the point you have them in use and have sagging cages with binding doors. The Extra large 4ft, and 8ft cages have cages have a double thick welded in face plate ( 1/2inch thick)
Please comparison shop, see what else is out there. See if they can beat this price for a cage this complete, durable, and large. Apples to apples there is no comparison!
Go to Cage Orders
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Plastic Reptile Cage Strength Comparison
What I did here was take 2 identicaly built Plastic cages and stood on them. One cage made of expanded PVC ( the broken one) Just can't take the weight of me standing on it. The other cage is built from the same design but made of our heavy duty HDPE plastic. I stood on the HDPE cage many times, and I still have the cage to this day, it works just like it always has like new.. Cage materials and construction can make all of the difference in the world. As you can see in the thumbnail pics below. Ask yourself this, if your going to pay the same amount of money or less in most cases which one would you rather pay for?
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| Plastic Cage Construction |
| Just a few pictures of what goes into each Pro-line plastic cage that is built here. It is an interesting process, Lots of things must be done to make a sheet of plastic into a Pro-Line cage. |
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