First time BP owner setup + ordering?

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Originally Posted by BrianDallek

Well I said "great cheap thermostat". If your going to quote, you can't take half. From her original post it appeared that she was on a very tight budget. For $20 it is the best option. I've had that exact thermostat on one of my racks for over 4 years and the temps have remained perfect. I agree with what your saying, I was just giving my opinion based on what I read. My advice would be to get an ARS rack with a herpstat 4 and start filling it with Banana pins and GHI's. Now in her posts she is looking at Super pastels and $100+ tstats so I guess the budget just got bigger.

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Well alot of people dont fully know, and AT LEAST she said thermostat many people here dont have anything regulated so that too boot is a good start! Her being told of simpel yet extremly effective husbandry well let her set aside of all that crap pet stores throw at you and buy a nice tub/herpstat for equal if not less value! secondly checking forums, many people already sell racks+heat+thermostat, for many reasons upgrading to new rack, lowering amount of snakes or leaving hobby! she could get a steal possibly and find all three for a good 250-350$

And lastly super pastel are nothing shy of pricey, they are simple morphs now drowned out by everything else, a pastel is 50$... a super pastel maybe 100-200$ (young) And this is why i said EXPO itll let her see sooooooooo many morphs, style, paintjobs because even the same morph can ALL look soo different. 2 different line of super/pastel morphs can be low to bright yellow!

My biggest advice as already said is perfect your husbandry for the future if she wants multiple snakes, fork out that 430$ she has right now on a Rack+Thermostat because 1 rack will hold 5+ snakes... 3 pvc enclsures will hold 6+ but the price/value diffrence is emence, and well 1 tank is 1 snake! Hell she could even do a DIY rack like many others do for 100$ and spend 200$ on setup and have 250+(savings) for reptile show, put away 50$ a paycheck or however her income happens and save ahead for her Expo.. BHB is by no means bad, and as i said i would love for them to be here, but you WILL never ever get a deal from them as you will from a small local breeder/hobbyest paying for expenses. I was lucky enough to meet a medium sized breeder at an expo who wasn't selling lives 20mins from me i buy/barrow morphs all the time from him make my breeding program better! But that is my 2cents, I wish you best of luck with w.e direction you choose =)

Talk about timing. This burn was created by a tstat in the same quality range as the "great cheap" one. The money saved on that tstat just went into vet bills, not cheap. That money could have gone into a great tstat and prevented the whole thing.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ners-Pic-heavy

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Originally Posted by KMG

Talk about timing. This burn was created by a tstat in the same quality range as the "great cheap" one. The money saved on that tstat just went into vet bills, not cheap. That money could have gone into a great tstat and prevented the whole thing.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ners-Pic-heavy

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:rage: You beat me to it!!!!! But exactly that, and went to vet bills! Id beg to say this poor guy could be halfway finished paying off a Coral Glow/Banana after paying for a vet bill!

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Originally Posted by RedCloud

Hello everyone :D In a week or two I should (hopefully) be getting my first ball python. I'm not looking to breed or anything (not yet :P) so this snake is just to be a pet. I have had a corn snake now for a few months so I'm not completely new to snake care, and I've done all my research and read all the care sheets and such. I'm really just hoping some of you can point me towards some affordable products and give me some advice. First off, I'm looking for a good tub to house her in. I've went tub shopping (haha) but I'm always afraid I'm gonna buy the wrong one cause with my luck I'll buy that one tub you should NEVER use xD The snake I'm getting *should* be a baby female. I've looked at quite a few of the name brand "locking" tubs and not only am I having trouble finding a suitable size, but they don't seem very secure. I'm terrified at the idea of an escape as I have a cat in the house and radiators she can get lost under. For my corn I'm using a glass tank w/ locks AND bungee cords even though he's never tried to escape yet. So, any ideas on a tub? I know I'm gonna have to upgrade which is another reason I'm going with tubs over tanks aside from the fact I don't have the space for anymore tanks lol. Links are particularly helpful, i'm willing to buy online as long as the price is decent. My budget for this is $420 max. I can't really spend a dollar over that at the moment. Secondly, I wanted to ask about ordering. I'm looking to get my snake from BHB Reptiles as they seem to be very reputable and I haven't heard any complaints. I also watch they're little youtube series and they seem to really care about their animals/know what they're doing. Their price for a normal ball python female is $70 w/ shipping. My big question is does anyone know what they feed their baby balls? Live or frozen? I do NOT want to be feeding live unless its absolutely necessary as I live in an apartment w/ my mother (I'm 18) and having live mice (or especially rats!) in the house is a big no-no. If she were to go off feed for a while and it was a necessity then, sure, that'd be fine, but every week won't work haha I also had a question about heat tape. I know its supposed to be a whole lot cheaper then heat mats and I'm really looking into it as I don't want to have to buy another heat mat every time she moves up a tub size. I'm just not very sure on how to set it up. I know it requires a thermostat, and I already have one for my corn setup so I know how those work, but not sure how I'd hook one up to heat tape. Also, I use one of the cheap hydrofarm ones. Would that be ok with heat tape? Last thing, I will be keeping her in the same room that I keep my birds (parakeets) in. The birds are all tucked away, so I'm not worried about them escaping or the snake being able to get to them. Would there be any other issues with keeping them in the same room? Thanks in advance! Sorry for such a long post full of noobish questions xD

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We have used the Sterilite ClearView Latch tubs (clear bins with purple latches) with no escaping issues since we got our boys in December. I know some people use bungee cords, luggage straps, or binder clips to help keep the lid secure, especially with larger bins, but we have not needed to use anything other than the latches. We started them in the 15 qt bins, and recently switched them to 32 qt bins. We purchased them at Target - I'm pretty sure if you buy them online, you have to buy like 6 of them, so it'd probably be better to just look in the store. I think the 15 qt bins were about $5-6 each, and the 32 qt bins were about $8 each, but I'm not positive. They look like these: http://www.sterilite.com/SelectProdu...=252&section=1 and http://www.sterilite.com/SelectProdu...=252&section=1 An adult male ball python should be fine in a 32 qt bin, but an adult female will probably need a 41 qt bin.

Wherever you get your baby, ask the breeder what she's eating. It'd definitely be easiest if she's already on frozen/thawed rats, if that's what you want her to ultimately be on. I also would recommend going to a reptile show to purchase her, because it's cheaper (prices are generally lower and you save the cost of shipping), and you can actually see and handle her before you make a final decision. Shipping is also fairly stressful for them, so if you can avoid shipping, it's generally easier on the snake.

We have a Herpstat 1 and love it, and the Vivarium electronics thermostats are also supposed to be really good. They're pretty similar in price.
http://www.spyderrobotics.com/home/products.html
http://www.reptilebasics.com/thermostats

We built our own rack out of melamine, and we're using 4" THG heat tape. We purchased it from Reptile Basics, and it came pre-assembled at exactly the lengths I requested, so it was really easy.
http://www.reptilebasics.com/heat-tape

This thread is really helpful for setting up a tub: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...e-Basics-*DUW*
You can use the second method of attaching the heat mat (or in your case heat tape) to a piece of melamine so it's easier to clean the tubs, and when you switch tub sizes, you don't have to worry about moving the heat tape at all. I hope that makes sense.

To answer your last question, you shouldn't have any issues with housing her in the same room as your birds. There are several people who successfully keep mice, rats, etc. in the same room as their snakes. I have noticed that my bearded dragons (who are in the same room as our ball pythons) seem to notice and watch the snakes sometimes when they are moving about their tubs. I have no experience with birds, but you may want to consider if they can see each other when you're deciding where the snake's tub will be in relation to the birds.

Ill add to that, The first VE thermostat, i wouldn't bother with. The biggest thing you want is Proportional in your thermostat! Dimming/Pulse I dont think matters too much! With the herpstat you can choose either or (that's why i like them best more friendly and more options) I choose dimming because there is less heat fluctuation and less power usage overall doesn't spike Output %'s

I just looked at how much we spent on our melamine rack that we made for our three boys. We spent about $245 (including any shipping) on the melamine (more than enough for a rack that holds 3 32 qt bins), thermostat (Herpstat 1), heat tape, and three 15 qt bins. We used plastic bowls as hides, ceramic ramekins for water bowls, and newspaper as substrate. You'll also need a decent digital thermometer/hygrometer ($12 at Walmart for an Acu-rite brand one), and feeding tongs/hemostats if you're feeding frozen/thawed (around $10 on Amazon). So you should definitely be able to get the tub set up for way less than $420, and still have money leftover to spend on the snake, rats, etc.

Just a suggestion if your not handy, these racks are inexpensive If you do choose this way

http://www.cserpents.com/C_Serpents_...Sub-Adult.html

http://www.apcages.com/home/

Just options, aswell they can make PVC cages if you do choose to go that route aswell. Or someone here could point you to a local reptile forum, (im canadian so mine is reptilescanada.ca but that will offer you little to no help)

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Originally Posted by KMG

Talk about timing. This burn was created by a tstat in the same quality range as the "great cheap" one. The money saved on that tstat just went into vet bills, not cheap. That money could have gone into a great tstat and prevented the whole thing.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ners-Pic-heavy

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I'm not sure why everyone (KMG & Corbin911) have such a hard on for my wording and choice of a "great cheap thermostat". First off the thermostat this person used was not named in that thread and not all sub $50 thermostats are the same. Second off the thermostat I recommended DOES HAVE a safety feature that shuts it off the unit upon failure. So let me once again say the tstat that I recommended is in fact within the parameters of cheaper thermostats a great cheap one. And it would be a disservice to not mention which options are best at different price points. I happened to present a good cheaper option. So rather than bash anything that you deem not the right choice, please just try to present your own options for her without generalizing anything cheap as bad.

From Zilla's website: "An added safety feature automatically shuts off the heating system if terrarium temperature exceeds 110°F due to heater malfunction or excessive sunlight."

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Originally Posted by BrianDallek

From Zilla's website: "An added safety feature automatically shuts off the heating system if terrarium temperature exceeds 110°F due to heater malfunction or excessive sunlight."

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Great so if the mat malfunctions or sun over heats the cage the tstat will shut down at 110. That is not a safety for if the actual tstat fails. Plus many animals can perish before the cage reaches 110.

Keep using that tstat, that is your choice its just not the best option. I choose to give the best advice I can here and will not endorse any product I would not use. I also refuse to sit idle while info is shared about something that could be hazardous. I would feel terrible if a person took my advice and their animal was killed because of something I told them or recommended to them.

When my tstat failed, it failed on. I found it soon after failing(within an hour) so I'm not entirely sure what would have happened but it was still delivering power to the uth. This was on a new BRB I'd got which are kinda delicate compared to some so I was lucky I didn't trust the tstat and was checking it often.

Just FYI:
Herpstats have alarms to let you know if the temp gets to high or low. They are not factory set and can be set by the user to whatever temp they desire. This is especially beneficial when you keep delicate animals like tree pythons and rainbow boas.

If my setup is effected by a malfunctioning mat, sun, flooded water bowl, etc my Herpstat will actually let me know as well as record the event in case I'm away. I can track my low and high temps by day and time and make adjustments according.

They also can do night drop and a plethora of other super useful things. These paired with the other features of a Herpstat makes them well worth the money.
So in a money vs. features comparison the tstat you like is really very expensive. Its basically a one trick pony.

I have only purchased my Herpstat 4 new. Both my Herpstat 1s (forgot about my quarantine/back up earlier) and Herpstat 2 were bought off here and fauna at very good prices in like new condition. The deals are out there you just have to look.