Sad Day

Light bulbs get jostled in shipment and can be predisposed to burning out easily. Also, some sketchy shops resell used or damaged bulbs that are returned.

Jump on craigslist and I bet you can find a decent 40 gal breeder tank with a lid for cheap. Get a 150 watt IR bulb in there and you're good to go. I'm telling you this is the most economical way to go.

Pet stores are usually reticent to refund a burnt out bulb but if it's that new and burnt out I would make a fuss and demand an exchange at the very least.

I have never had a problem returning a bulb within 3 months from Petsmart. I use T5 ReptiSun tubes and heat lamps for my beardie and like I said, I never have had a problem returning them. Most incandescent "heat" lamps though don't last that long anyways especially if you use them 12 hours a day like I do. About 6-8 months and they are done.

I had a 20 gallon tank and tried to set that up for my first bp. I could not get the heat/humidity right no matter what I did. In the future, I want a PVC cage but for now my two little ones are in tubs and they work great. I can maintain perfect heat/humidity with no effort whatsoever. I just set them up, checked my gauges and everything was good.

Maybe you can do that while you save up for a PVC cage? They're pretty cheap! I know tubs may not be the best looking but who cares? A snakes health is more important than the look of their environment :) And my snakes seem pretty comfortable in their tubs!

Drop that petstore. There's plenty of options online and pet Co or petsmart will be fine for run of the mill supplies. I wouldn't trust someone that sold you a boa as a ball python. No need to keep giving them repeat business.

Update! For those who have been curious all day...

Skin
Rue shed! It wasn't a perfect shed, he had one piece of stuck skin behind his head I soaked him for about 25 minutes in warm water after being dried off with a warm towel he was all shiny & handsome!

Pet Store Adventure
Also, when I went to petsmart after work to get a emitter I ended up buying the 36 x 18 x 18 zoomed 'wide' cage until I can get him a bigger pvc cage. It was on sale LOL (that's how I like to justice all my "not needed right now" purchases) I got a 100watt emitter so we will see how it goes, thanks to all of you who all freely gave their advice in my emotional disaster of a day. My biggest fear is, messing with his heat (when the bulb burns out, which I don't know if I said it in my last post BUT it was the second bulb I had got from who in the last two weeks) I also, when to home depot and bought a dimmer. I've never used one of those so we shall also see how that goes as well.

The Hewiett Reptile Emporium
I called her on my lunch at work today and let her know hey, Im not sure whats going on but I woke up in the middle of the night and his bulb is burnt out again she replied with "well I'm not sure what your doing wrong" So, I got all my goodies from the Petsmart instead. I did go to see her later which she was INSANELY rude to me. I went to buy Rue a dinner present for his post shed extravaganza. Yes, I do plan to switch to f/t soon! The heating pad I had to replace she gave me store credit for so thats why I still get the live rats there. I want to give her a 1 star review, google yelp bing but I can't seem to.

THANK YOU ALL!
Though I am new to reptile parenthood I love this forum because I can ask questions, without judgement or being treated badly. And for that, I thank you all. I truly love the advice I get. I'm like a sponge I will literally soak up as much knowledge I can to make sure Rue has the best quality of life.

Incase you arent aware of how to set up a glass tank to better suit a snake here is what im doing for my tank witch aimilar in size to the one you bought, hopefully everything works out for you and rue

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ss-tank-set-up

Check on amazon too.. The CHE will last you much longer than a bulb, but just in case, check amazon's prices. They do carry some reptile bulbs, CHEs, lamps, etc.

Check out this link on how to foil a screen top. I know you got a new zoomed terrarium, but it still has a screen top, so this method will help you modify it (cheaply) to hold humidity better.

Grats. That cage is the same ones I use for my baby sunglow and pied BP. You should be able to get the heat and humidity fine in there. Reread my post and use the cardboard and tin foil with damp paper towels and you should be golden until the snake gets to about 4-4.5'. Then you need to get him the PVC cage. that's funny about Hewitt Reptile as I used to go there a lot and knew the original owner before he sold to the gal which I know also but wont name names ;). Kind of surprised she was that rude as she is normally pretty mellow but anyways. The CHE will last way longer than a bulb and is much more durable. Boas don't need a light in their cage as room lighting will work just fine and in glass tanks where you want to keep them mostly covered, its hard to set up a light in there.

Now one more piece of advice, like the reptile owners bible, go to Home Depot and buy a temp gun. Then you can use that to dial in the warmest spot under the CHE with the lamp dimmer. That's what I use and I got both my sunglow and BP set with 87-88F warm side, 81-82F cool side and 50-60% humidity. This is in a 75F house but it gives you an idea of what you can get and that's with the dimmers oly set about 50% so if your house is colder, you will have plenty of room to play with. And I too use the 100 watt CHEs.

Oh and also you don't have to feed F/T. I personally feed live that I pre kill beforehand since I prefer to feed all my snakes fresh but if you are squeamish about killing rats/mice, then yeah probably go to F/T as feeding live isn't really the best option imo.

Oh I also forgot to mention, you don't NEED a UTH. I never use them. As long as the ambient temps are good in the cage, a snake will be fine. Just set up one of his hides under the CHE so the CHE warms it and if he really wants heat, he can sit on top of it. That's what my sunglow does and I use Reptile Basic hides as they are cheap, nice, and offer a flat top which doubles as a spot to lay moist paper towels on under the CHE and the snake sometimes likes to sit on the warm moist paper towel lol.

+1 to Sauzo. Get that temp gun and 95% of your issues with heat will "dissipate." Also, IMO local pet shops and especially big box pet stores are AWFUL at giving out any type of herp advice. Usually they are in the business of slingin' second hand reptiles and anything they can get their hands on. Simply disregard them, move on and seek the advice of established breeders and enthusiasts like you have been doing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

IMO local pet shops and especially big box pet stores are AWFUL at giving out any type of herp advice. Usually they are in the business of slingin' second hand reptiles and anything they can get their hands on.

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Actually they're in the business of making money, which much of the time means selling you stuff you don't need, like a separate tub for feeding, a fish tank and heat lamp for a ball python, a heat rock...