Heatpads, Thermostats, Dimmers, and Frustration

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Originally Posted by MisterDespair

Does anyone know of any thermostats that ship to Canada?? Or at least to Vancouver Island? Because I've been denied by every single place Ive tried to order one.... even Amazon!!

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I also live in canada, and have had the same problem NUMEROUS times. Try Ebay.ca i got a hyrdofarm for like 50 bucks, and it works great for a decent price. I am going to the ERAS show this weekend and they sell pretty much every accessory needed. If there is a show coming up near your area, CHECK IT OUT, if not, go to Ebay.ca

I have ordered herpstats from spyder robotics direct with no problem (duty free as they are usa made) and hydrofarms from amazon were shipped to a friend last week. I don't know what the duity was. http://cornelsworld.com/accessories carries herpstats and VE. there are lots of others too but you should not have any problems.

I think there must be a problem with shipping things to Vancouver Island (although Ive ordered other things here since Ive lived here and have had no problem shipping those items!) because Amazon will not ship to me, Spyder Robotics will not ship to me, PetSmart will not ship to me.... no one will ship to me! This is becoming increasingly frustrating and I am worried about the welfare of my lovely snake!

Currently I'm maintaining temps in his tub by having the Rainforest UTH under his tub (which I feel runs a little too low, it's gone down to about 80f which is too low, but when I unplug it and plug it back in, it runs around 90-95) and Im keeping the Desert UTH on the lid of the tub to keep the ambient temps up. This is actually working out well for me so far, but I still check his tub like 20 times a day monitoring the temps and I am ALWAYS worried. I know if I had a thermostat that I could rest a little better, but things just are NOT working out for me.

Can you connect these UTHs to a house thermostat? If so... how? And how has that worked out for anyone who has done it? I am not a handywoman and I would rather buy a reptile-specific thermostat, but it doesn't seem like it's going to happen...

I don't know if this is out of place, but I'd be willing to buy one from someone on this board (preferably from Canada) if they'd be willing to ship it!

On top of everything, I'm only getting about 75f for ambient temps. How the hell do I raise this? Should I just get myself a heat lamp? Have the heat lamp on top and UTH on the bottom?|

My house is cold, and it will only get colder. I am considering selling the snake to someone who will know how to better care for it, because despite all that I've researched and the money I've spent, I just can't seem to get it right, and I'm really upset.

Turn up the heat in house or get a small space heater with a digital read out to keep room at least 77.

You definitely need to try Greg from cornelsworld.com. He has always been very accommodating to me. Only problem being he only sells Herpstats which are slightly more expensive. I have purchased numerous different things from him in the past and he can answer any questions you have.
Otherwise just buy the table lamp dimmer switch from Home Depot. I used this in the past when I only had one snake. Just takes a bit of tweaking.

Don't be discouraged and want to get rid of your baby, you are more then likely doing just fine! Being a few degrees off on one side or the other isn't the end of the world, as long as you generally have a good home for the snake, which it sounds like you do.

Don't worry about your ambient temperatures right now, those are almost always fine when you get your normal gradient going. You have one snake, and are having trouble finding shipping for a thermostat; just don't. A dimmer works fine, you can drive out right now to your local Canadian hardware store and pick one up; it'll probably be near the lighting or electrical section. Plug your UTH to that, and put your UTH outside the enclosure towards one side of the cage. Have your thermometer right in the middle of the UTH, on the inside of the cage, and have your dimmer switch on about 25% and slowly raise it every couple of hours until your thermometer shows that the temp is 90 degrees.

You're going to give yourself a heart attack if you keep stressing like this lol. It is such a simple solution and problem to fix, just calm down and do it.

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Originally Posted by Salodin

Don't be discouraged and want to get rid of your baby, you are more then likely doing just fine! Being a few degrees off on one side or the other isn't the end of the world, as long as you generally have a good home for the snake, which it sounds like you do.

Don't worry about your ambient temperatures right now, those are almost always fine when you get your normal gradient going. You have one snake, and are having trouble finding shipping for a thermostat; just don't. A dimmer works fine, you can drive out right now to your local Canadian hardware store and pick one up; it'll probably be near the lighting or electrical section. Plug your UTH to that, and put your UTH outside the enclosure towards one side of the cage. Have your thermometer right in the middle of the UTH, on the inside of the cage, and have your dimmer switch on about 25% and slowly raise it every couple of hours until your thermometer shows that the temp is 90 degrees.

You're going to give yourself a heart attack if you keep stressing like this lol. It is such a simple solution and problem to fix, just calm down and do it.

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There you go...Now chill out, get on down to the local hardware store and get the dimmer for the time being. Then take your time finding what you need and who will ship to you...Keeping snakes is not an exact science...You will be fine

Thanks so much for the advice everyone. I don't know why I'm so stressed about it. Probably because having a snake is a VERY new thing for me and I just want to give him the best home!

I moved him into a different room in my apartment, after realizing one of the rooms is about 10 degrees warmer than the others. He is now in there (with the birds, which freaks me out! but with luggage straps on the tub, so we should be ok!) and I'm hoping that'll raise the temps a bit.