OK!!!! Well, I just got all of my stuff that I bought from petco today in the mail, and i set up my tank, its a 10g.... Well my first question was I bought a 24 quart bag of REPTI BARK from petco and i noticed when i put it in the tank that there was really tiny white bugs in it. I saw one on the hide. Is this bad for the snake or anything (no snake in the tank yet) or should i like wash the bark first or something??? Also since repti bark is washable how would you guys clean it? Just pick out the area thats dirty and wash the small dirty bit, or throw it out or what.

Another thing, Im probably getting a 38gal tank this weekend, but I went ahead and bought a 30-40gal zoo med UTH, would this be OK to use on my 10 gallon tank untill i switch over? It takes up about 3/4 of the legnth of the 10 gallon tank. Also, for the UTH and thermometers (i got petco analog ones, im probably gonna get a digital one) I dont want to have them STUCK in my 10 gallon tank if im going to move them to the bigger tank, should i just tape them in there or something since i dont think theyre removable. Same with the UTH.

Also, does anyone know how the heck to use petco cage clips?!?!?!?!?!?! I have no idea how to put them on. I have PETSMART ones that are totally different but I think the petco ones would work better if I knew how to use them.... (theyre in two peices...)

heres what i got today:

ZooMed 30-40 UTH
ZooMed 75w Nocturnal Infared Heat Lamp
PETCO Thermometer & Humidity Gauge Pack
PETCO Thermometer
10gal Screen Top
ZooMed 10" Feeding Tongs
ExoTerra Reptile Cave
Cage Clips x2

--- all this came out to be $70 and some amount of change, with shipping. Buying online saves money for some reason. They have stuff on sale, and then they had a deal if you spend $65 you get 10% off, and free shipping. I took a trip to the local PETCO store to make sure and all the stuff they sell is more expensive there then online. I guess they do it so you spend alot of money? I dont mind, I needed all the stuff anyway. I bought the REPTI bark and plant at the store.

Id like to put another hide in but you might be able to tell in this pic, theres not really enough room. When would it be OK to put my snake into the 38gal tank, since I want to use it for the space in it, but dont want the snake to be stressed.

Heres a pic of the tank right now. (That therm gauge was left over from when this was used as a fish tank) and its kinda hard to see but theres a water dish in there too, which takes up like the other half of the tank) The UTH isnt under it yet either, i havent opened it yet.