Tub set up

[WifeOfSlasher]

Okay... I am officially sick of these damn tanks and I am leaning towards tub set ups for both of our snakes. Heat. Humidity. All a giant pain in the you-know-what. We never had issues with the tanks that we are currently using until we moved. Temps, humidity, etc were always great. Now... not so much. We can nail day temps, struggle with night drops, humidity is highly variable. We are planning to make the switch to different enclosures over the next 1 1/2 weeks. Our guys are not technically large enough for these yet but I feel that we should go for larger while we save up for high quality long term housing, approximately one year out. Thanks in advance for any help/direction/constructive criticism/advice/hand holding you can provide me. Feel free to spam me with your favorite businesses for our supplies. I want to provide the best possible environment for our guys while we save for their permanent housing. My dear husband has left all of the homework and planning up to me so... HELP!!!

So, here is what I am looking at -

1) 41 qt 34x16x6 tote/tub with a lid for our BP
2) 28x16x12 tote/tub with lid for our 24" BCI (no qt approximation on the one I found locally) largest available that also provides vertical height *** there are the giant 70-something qt Christmas tree totes available for $35 but I think this is a total overkill for such a wee little guy ***

UTH - either flexwatt or ultratherm (estimating that we will need to cover 1/2 of the bottom, if not needing two, due to lower ambient room temp) Size recommendations and thoughts?
Thermostats - Hydrofarm (trying to stay mid range-ish. We plan on upgrading to better thermostats with enclosure upgrades)
Thermometers - Accu-rite
Infrared thermometer - need suggestions on this one. I would like reliable without breaking the bank.
Hides - Two half logs like they currently using (cold side/warm side)
Water dishes - large diameter and shallow, with more room I am thinking that we will keep the large dish on the hot side and a small dish on the cool side
Substrate - Cyprus mulch to further assist humidity and easy spot cleaning
Luggage straps to prevent escaping
Both currently have a piece of wood that they like to utilize

Bottom line - $150-200, not including hand held thermometer, for setting up both snakes.

*using the tutorial from the sticky*

Our BP is a lazy butt and tends to spend most of his time in or on his hide but does like to explore, when he's not shedding, in the evening.

Our baby BCI likes to be wherever strikes his fancy, be in on top of or under things so I think that he may benefit from a perch of some sort. He also likes to explore in the evenings. Very curious this one is. His favorite perching spot is also 6" tall so he needs some clearance with that.

Ambient temps in their room is about 68-72.

We plan on providing a day/night light cycle with lamps by their enclosures.

And the obiligatory pics

Julius



Nameless

[Daybreaker]

I start baby boas and balls in 28qt, with my adult balls in wide 34 qt tubs so the 41 qt for your ball should last him his whole life. Just give him lots of hiding spots while he grows into his tub.

For the boa I'm not sure what qt size it is with the measurements you gave but a 28qt-41qt should be fine until he grows out of it. I would look into an actual cage (PVC/melamine) when he grows into an adult, the Christmas tree tubs are okay but IMO adult boas do best in actual enclosures w/ RHPs.

I hear good things about Helix and Ranco thermostats, and though I don't use flexwatt (yet) I use regular UTHs that you can get at petstores without problems (they're regulated so they don't overheat). They cover roughly 1/3 of the bottom of the size of the tub (I use the 20 gallon ones for my 28-34 qt tubs).

I like a temp gun for measuring exact hot spots, I got mine at Lowes for $30.

Will you be using two water bowls? You only need one and I put mine on the cold side/middle area.

Also I recommend paper towl substrate: cheaper and easier to clean. Plus you can check for any possible mites and odd stool samples easier.

[WifeOfSlasher]

Okay. Thanks!!! I think it would fall into the 32 qt area. What do you mean by "wide" 32 qt? Gosh, this is hard. I was going to base 1 or 2 water dishes on whether or not they are needed. Maybe I will go with the ultratherms for now like Rich from RBI suggested. That will save my some major cash for now on thermostats. I think I am having another overprotective mama moment. I'm driving my hubby batty. I'm also tossing back and forth the idea of building a small two level rack for both tubs.

We will be moving both snakes into actual cage hopefully within a year so this is for sure not permanent housing.

[Daybreaker]

Some tubs come in different dimensions but they're the same quart amount, the 34qts I use for my adults are wider than the longer 41qts I've seen in stores and they are deeper and not as shallow. I may be able to get actual dimensions for you later.

In the meantime while you're saving for a thermostat you can look into getting two temporary dimmers for your heat sources too: they're roughly $10 each at Home Depot (lamp dimmers that you can adjust accordingly). Not as good as a thermostat, but they'll do the job in the meantime. I don't have experience with the ultratherms you've mentioned.

[WifeOfSlasher]

Thanks! I really appreciate it. By any chance do you know the brand? lol Maybe that will help me nail it down. I did find the iris 37 qt tubs but they are really shallow.

[WifeOfSlasher]

Okay, So these that I can get at my local store these offer more depth than the iris tubs. They are deeper than most of the 32/34/37 quart I can manage to find and they seem to have more or equal floor space than the others.

@Daybreaker I am interested to see what your dimensions are.