# Ball Pythons > General BP's >  How much do your snakes add to your electric bill?

## satomi325

Hi,

I was thinking about getting more balls (~3-4) in the near future. But I share an apartment with 3 others and split the bill 4 ways. My main concern was about the jump in energy use for the extra snakes. It wouldn't be fair to my housemates if they had to pay extra for my animals.... So I just wanted to ask if your snakes made a significant difference in your electric bill? 

Also, I have a UTH right now in a tub set up. Would flexwatt make a difference in efficiency? 

Thanks

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## llovelace

not much with 3-4 on flexwatt.

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## adamsky27

I was thinking about this the other day too, considering winter is coming. I really don't think flexwatt will add much of a difference. What I am worried about is the oil space heater. I plan on moving my rack into a smaller room and putting the oil space heater in that room. 

I would also like to know how much of a difference this makes.

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## kitedemon

I did away with my space heater due to costs. I have a poorly insulated place the 1200 watt heater basically ran full time. It was costing me quite a lot it was about $300 a month or so in the winter. 

I found a secondary heating system and insulation help cut the power costs. I have cut power to very little extra a month. I spent quite a lot up front to set it all up but it has paid for itself the few months.

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## MidSouthMorphs

Not much since my snake room is insulated quite well.  i insulated for a bit earlier in the year so I got insulation free so that was helpful and it holds heat in really good.

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## RichsBallPythons

I have a space heater running, 50 snakes on flexwatt. Bill never exceeds $200 a month.

It helps to have fan blowing the warm air back down to floor. Doing so will cut down on how much the space heater works.

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ballpythonluvr (10-01-2011)

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## SquamishSerpents

space heaters are like throwing money out the window if you're not insulated properly. 

still, wouldn't want to use them. i think our snakes add a noticeable amount to the bill, but not like WHOA OMG THESE SNAKES COST A TON!!!

i wish i had a definitely #, but when we first moved in our landlord took care of the electricity bill. in the last year it's been put in our name, so i don't have a comparison.

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## Slashmaster

I don't think it's gone up much... I was seeing maybe 63-65$ a month and now (6 snakes later) I'm seeing 70-72$.

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## kitedemon

I should clarify my place has little bags of seaweed in the walls... My power bill tying to heat a room to 80 went out of control. One space heater wasn't really enough it never shut down and never hit 80. I really needed two. I decided to deal with the enclosures as individual rooms and heat then independently. The rack too although it is as always a problem child racks do not like cool rooms. This has been very successful in my case adding only 20-50 dollars to the average power bill with out them.

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## dragonboy4578

I have a whole room that I keep heated to 80 degrees with a 1500 watt oil filled heater. I run 2 racks, one that holds 30 tubs, and one that holds another 10. My electric bill went up about 30 dollars a month.

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## Robyn@SYR

I have always envied the guys in Florida, sometimes running a $0 reptile energy bill : )

Here in Colorado, the public service bill on our facility runs $1500+a month in the warm months, around $3000 a month in the winter. That was always a tough pill to swallow.

Up until Monday, of course. That is one piece of relief I am glad to have.

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## RichsBallPythons

> I have always envied the guys in Florida, sometimes running a $0 reptile energy bill : )
> 
> Here in Colorado, the public service bill on our facility runs $1500+a month in the warm months, around $3000 a month in the winter. That was always a tough pill to swallow.
> 
> Up until Monday, of course. That is one piece of relief I am glad to have.


Were you guys doing belly heat with a 80 room temp or was whole place heated.

I would think keeping shops this size at 86-88 and no belly heat would be beneficial on the overall bill

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## SlitherinSisters

I don't notice anything during the summer, and I have a good 24 feet of flexwatt running. It's the space heater in the winter that I notice, but it's only $20-$30 depending on how cold it is outside.

And for the space heater haters  :Smile:  I use my space heater at full power in the really cold months, so roughly 2 months straight when the temps are in the single digits or less. The snake room is in my basement with cement block walls, and no insulation. Still the bill is only another $20-$30 a month. But you have to keep in mind that different areas get charged different rates. For example our monthly water bill was $19 a month when we moved in, now that I have a billion rats that go through 10 gallons of water a week our bill is still only $30 a month.

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## mainbutter

In total it's about a $30-40/month difference, but we certainly could cut that down if we caged a few animals differently.

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## Robyn@SYR

> Were you guys doing belly heat with a 80 room temp or was whole place heated.
> 
> I would think keeping shops this size at 86-88 and no belly heat would be beneficial on the overall bill


Ambient room temp around 80 plus hot spots (for python setups). Plus lizards, plus rodent freezers, etc. 

We were just starting to do Balls with lower ambient heat and no hot spots at all, for the cycling females, particularly the Deserts. Turned regular follicle growth and breeding progress into a snail's pace. But it was still progressive. Given the super slow growth, I would have expected follicles to shrink back in that typical time frame, but they didn't, just came along super slowly, and copulations continued. Was very interesting.

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## satomi325

Thanks everybody for their input!
Overall, it doesn't seem like adding snakes will make a significant difference in the electricity bill. (~$10-$30 isn't bad) :Dancin' Banana: 


I was a little worried for a moment there. 
haha

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