Having problems... New BP owner

Well, if all this is necessary the breeder sure didn't inform me. He said all I would need is the UTH to have a warm spot, and if need be a rheostat/dimmer switch to regulate the temperature.

I would love to get a herpstat but my 2 main problems are this:

I've already spent a gratuitous amount of money for his entire set-up...
I couldn't afford that, since it's online (I don't have a credit card) and I live in Canada... shipping fees would be monstrous.

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Originally Posted by Snickelfritz

Well, if all this is necessary the breeder sure didn't inform me. He said all I would need is the UTH to have a warm spot, and if need be a rheostat/dimmer switch to regulate the temperature.

I would love to get a herpstat but my 2 main problems are this:

I've already spent a gratuitous amount of money for his entire set-up...
I couldn't afford that, since it's online (I don't have a credit card) and I live in Canada... shipping fees would be monstrous.

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Where abouts in Canada are you? I am as well, but I just drove to Niagara Falls NY at a PO Box company.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Snickelfritz

Well, if all this is necessary the breeder sure didn't inform me. He said all I would need is the UTH to have a warm spot, and if need be a rheostat/dimmer switch to regulate the temperature.

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Don't want to bash your breeder, but when you mentioned him telling you that stick-on analog temp and humidity guages would work just fine, I kinda' made up my own mind about his level of expertise.

You could check your local classifieds for a used one. I believe there was someone on this site recently selling a Helix (which are great thermostats). Look in the "For Sale" Forum it may still be available.

If you are local, I'll sell you mine. I'd like to upgrade to a Herpstat 2 anyways.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Slim

Don't want to bash your breeder, but when you mentioned him telling you that stick-on analog temp and humidity guages would work just fine, I kinda' made up my own mind about his level of expertise.

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thats fine, he's also the only breeder in town. It was either him, or the pet store.

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Originally Posted by UpNorth

Where abouts in Canada are you? I am as well, but I just drove to Niagara Falls NY at a PO Box company.

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I live in British Columbia

Another thing man the heat in the tank as well as humidity is a good thing to start with, also remember during breeding season snakes tend to get off feed mine being case in point he ate this weekend for the firs time in 6 months. However the serpent merchant is right a cheap food scale from Walmart is a great idea that way u can monitor him and if he's not eating as long as he doesn't lose excessive weight he will be fine. It's frustrating when they don't eat but it happens just try to stay positive :)

Side note: Ty serpent merchant for the pic of the accurate thermometer/hygrometer I picked up 3 from Walmart and am very happy with them. Also picked up a nice glass top food scale and spent like 50$ total for all four items.


1.0 normal bp- Blitz
1.0 Nicaraguan boa- Gavin
0.1 Red Tail Boa- Tara

Ok lets back track a second... you said you tank is 85-90 degrees, correct? is that all over the tank? Or just a hot spot?

You need to have a gradient 78-81º on the cool side and a ambient temp of around 78-85ºF.

The biggest problem with the stick on type thermometers is two fold, the measure the temp of the glass where they are stuck. This is the largest issue as this temp is not one that has massive importance. The other is they can become grossly inaccurate as the paper card often swells and jams the needle.

You really need to measure the temps inside the hides in addition to the ambient air temp you have currently with the dial. If your ambient air temps are actually 85-90 it is likely the whole set up is too hot.

There are a number of UTH on the market that will not get overly hot. 110ºF is just over body temp for a small mouse or rat. The issue is snakes cannot digest at 110º. I like the lower wattage units like you have a failed t-stat is not usually a massive issue. The problem with out a t-stat is the temp will vary with the room temp a t-stat will stabilize this and help prevent great amounts of variation.

I Am in NS and there is no problems ordering herpstat from Dion (spyder robotics direct sales) I paid 27¢ shipping and got away with out being charged tax. The product is covered under free trade and shipped USPS so there is no issues with brokerage and tax (PST and or GST,HST) might be charged. Greg West (http://www.cornelsworld.com/) he is in Alberta so that might be better...

I think you will discover finding the accurite difficult that model is discontinued and walmarts in my area never had them to begin with. IMO no great loss I hate them. All the cheap digital thermometers are about the same so buy a hand full of cheap ones and only use the ones reading the same.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/New-Digital-L...ht_3059wt_1114
sometimes you can order a bunch. I bought 25 for 30$ with shipping. I found 6 to be poor and gave them away. If you damage a probe you can easily replace it.

Omigosh, everyone is overthinking this way too much.

If the temperatures are off by 5 degrees in the upward direction, that isn't the problem, really. It's a problem, but not THE problem.

In truth, Tobias is a 2 year old male snake, and it's the middle of winter.

He's also described as being very active.

He probably won't eat until spring. ;)

Work out all of the husbandry kinks, sure, but as for food--offer him a smaller than usual prey item every 10 days, and don't stress when he doesn't take it.

He's more interested in girls right now than food. Assuming this is a healthy snake, and the enclosure is as described, then chances are pretty high that this is nothing more than a male snake that is off food for the breeding season. I have 3 mature males in my collection that are eating, right, now, the rest have been refusing since late November.