This is getting ridiculous

• From Target: 28 - 15qt tubs, 13 - 32qt tubs, 1 - 60qt tub = $293
• Reptile Basics: 100ft 3in heat tape, 50 clamps = $261
• Helix Controls: 4 Helix thermostats = $549
• Wal-Mart: Appropriately sized water bowls for 27 juvenile tubs, 13 adult tubs , and 1 huge adult tub = $156

$1200 today and I still need like 3X more tubs and water bowls, a large cooler to turn into an incubator, materials for 3 large snake racks, materials for the rat rack, and heaters for the snake room, garage, and quarantine room. Oh...my...god! I was *completely* clueless as to what I was getting in to when I let my wife talk me in to this. lol...

I love all of these little guys to death, but can the unforeseen expenses be over now? Please? :please:

Unfortunately, this is very common. Snakes aren't cheap and it seems as if you have almost 50 snakes, so that is quite a load to take care of.

But i have heard of people spending tens of thousands to get caging and supplies, so $1200 isn't all that bad.

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Originally Posted by spitzu

• From Target: 28 - 15qt tubs, 13 - 32qt tubs, 1 - 60qt tub = $293
• Reptile Basics: 100ft 3in heat tape, 50 clamps = $261
• Helix Controls: 4 Helix thermostats = $549
• Wal-Mart: Appropriately sized water bowls for 27 juvenile tubs, 13 adult tubs , and 1 huge adult tub = $156

$1200 today and I still need like 3X more tubs and water bowls, a large cooler to turn into an incubator, materials for 3 large snake racks, materials for the rat rack, and heaters for the snake room, garage, and quarantine room. Oh...my...god! I was *completely* clueless as to what I was getting in to when I let my wife talk me in to this. lol...

I love all of these little guys to death, but can the unforeseen expenses be over now? Please? :please:

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These aren't unforeseen these are just expenses of getting set up. You'll learn like you could have saved yourself a couple of hundred buck by buying a Herpstat pro that'll run 4 rack's. Wait to buy tubs till after Christmas they go on sell.

Just some friendly advice.. Buy an extra Helix and extra Probe with winter coming and the power going on and off I've lost a helix to power surges and flickering, you don't want to get suck with a rack that is without power for 4 days waiting on a replacement thermostat. As for the probe they tend to get caught or mangled so have an extra one on hand.

Best of luck.. Now you see why people tend to get scared off their first year.. with the thousands you spend just to get started..But it's so worth it..

Like we all see now, this may not be really a cheap hobby to start. I think the unforeseen costs will be like the substrates, medicines if they get sick, and the electricity to run all those heaters, mine.......

The cost of a good set up is well worth it in the end. And I agree keep a extra helix around.

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Originally Posted by spitzu

• From Target: 28 - 15qt tubs, 13 - 32qt tubs, 1 - 60qt tub = $293
• Reptile Basics: 100ft 3in heat tape, 50 clamps = $261
• Helix Controls: 4 Helix thermostats = $549
• Wal-Mart: Appropriately sized water bowls for 27 juvenile tubs, 13 adult tubs , and 1 huge adult tub = $156

$1200 today and I still need like 3X more tubs and water bowls, a large cooler to turn into an incubator, materials for 3 large snake racks, materials for the rat rack, and heaters for the snake room, garage, and quarantine room. Oh...my...god! I was *completely* clueless as to what I was getting in to when I let my wife talk me in to this. lol...

I love all of these little guys to death, but can the unforeseen expenses be over now? Please? :please:

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If you are good with solder iron, you could of saved a good chunk of change not buying clamps.

Heh, I'm not sure which the OP is probably disliking more right now. The cost of set up... or being told he could have saved money.

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Originally Posted by ace_singapore

Like we all see now, this may not be really a cheap hobby to start. I think the unforeseen costs will be like the substrates, medicines if they get sick, and the electricity to run all those heaters, mine.......

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Don't forget the food bill. For some people it can really be INSANE!!!!!!!:taz::taz::taz:

Like it's been said before, this is not a hobby to try and make a quick buck or even a profit out of. Most likely your prob be down 10K or so by the time it's all said and done.........
But goodluck to you in w/e your goals are

With that kind of investment I'd highly recommend a back up generator. The bad news of this is that cheap generators and proportional controls (I am not 100% sure of helix but herpstats absolutely) don't play well together (anything other than PURE SINE WAVE can cause the thermostat to 'stick' wide open and cook the collection) I know Honda are pure but I am not sure about others most are modified sine wave which is questionable.

sorry for that one but I believe it is prudent unless you live someplace warmer than I do!

sounds LIKE FUN. and lots of food to keep the tribe happy lol

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Originally Posted by spitzu

• From Target: 28 - 15qt tubs, 13 - 32qt tubs, 1 - 60qt tub = $293
• Reptile Basics: 100ft 3in heat tape, 50 clamps = $261
• Helix Controls: 4 Helix thermostats = $549
• Wal-Mart: Appropriately sized water bowls for 27 juvenile tubs, 13 adult tubs , and 1 huge adult tub = $156

$1200 today and I still need like 3X more tubs and water bowls, a large cooler to turn into an incubator, materials for 3 large snake racks, materials for the rat rack, and heaters for the snake room, garage, and quarantine room. Oh...my...god! I was *completely* clueless as to what I was getting in to when I let my wife talk me in to this. lol...

I love all of these little guys to death, but can the unforeseen expenses be over now? Please? :please:

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To the OP, the price of tubs is hard to get around..but a lot of your other prices could have been decreased(a bunch) by buying from different places..or buying different products..for example, buying heat tape & metal clamps from a different place could have saved you around $50 and I dont mean to mean to advertise for anyone *cough*beanfarm.com*cough*...also if you had gotten different thermostats for example simple on/off thermostats (atleast to start with) it would have only cost you like $100 for 4 of them, and as far as water bowls...$156?!?! For around $40-$50 you could have gotten a long piece of 4"-5"PVC then cut it into 3" sections and put deli cups in them...I mean really, unless you really like to clean water dishes and/or your wife will let you run 40 possibly poo covered water dishes through your dishwasher..you're going to wish you had done that! But in all honesty, dont get discouraged, you bought a lot of top quality items that will probably last a long time so thats why it cost so much. I've found though, that in this 'occasionally(very occasionally) profitable' hobby..if you can find a way to decrease costs(without sacrificing the animals safety or well-being of course)...DO IT!!!

To the OP, it just seems expensive because you are buying a lot at once. It helps if you spread expenses out over time and grow your collection according to a budget. If we had to buy caging and supplies for 50 BPs at once we'd never be able to do it. But each year we add a rack or two and its super affordable.

As far as a cooler for your incubator, look on Cragslist for FREE upright freezers or refrigerators that people just want to get rid of. No need to pay for those. And Herpstats can be a little more affordable. I wouldn't recommend skimping on a thermostat. Just my advice.

Also, plan ahead. Those little ones in 15qt tubs will need a bigger home eventually.

Other ways to save, look for ceramic water bowls and small tubs to make into hides at your dollar store. I use small plastic bowls for hides too, just flip them over and cut a hole in the top (I use a 2" hole saw for that).

We probably have spent around $2500-3000 on caging and supplies over three years. This doesn't include food or electricity needs.

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Originally Posted by spitzu

• From Target: 28 - 15qt tubs, 13 - 32qt tubs, 1 - 60qt tub = $293
• Reptile Basics: 100ft 3in heat tape, 50 clamps = $261
• Helix Controls: 4 Helix thermostats = $549
• Wal-Mart: Appropriately sized water bowls for 27 juvenile tubs, 13 adult tubs , and 1 huge adult tub = $156

$1200 today and I still need like 3X more tubs and water bowls, a large cooler to turn into an incubator, materials for 3 large snake racks, materials for the rat rack, and heaters for the snake room, garage, and quarantine room. Oh...my...god! I was *completely* clueless as to what I was getting in to when I let my wife talk me in to this. lol...

I love all of these little guys to death, but can the unforeseen expenses be over now? Please? :please:

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wait until you get the food bill each month.

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Originally Posted by RichsBallPythons

If you are good with solder iron, you could of saved a good chunk of change not buying clamps.

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I soldered my first heat tape for my first enclosure. Took me a couple of tries to figure out that I needed to sand the plastic off the copper strip.

"Why won't this damn solder stick! What the #@*#%&...mumble mumble.....Ah HAH!"

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

These aren't unforeseen these are just expenses of getting set up. You'll learn like you could have saved yourself a couple of hundred buck by buying a Herpstat pro that'll run 4 rack's.

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I thought about that, but I wanted to minimize the impact on my collection if the tstat went out.

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Just some friendly advice.. Buy an extra Helix and extra Probe with winter coming and the power going on and off I've lost a helix to power surges and flickering, you don't want to get suck with a rack that is without power for 4 days waiting on a replacement thermostat. As for the probe they tend to get caught or mangled so have an extra one on hand.

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Yeah I thought I already bought an extra one but I miscounted. $$$:rage:$$$

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If you are good with solder iron, you could of saved a good chunk of change not buying clamps.

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I'm not. I already tried and I *suck* at soldering. It could also have been the cheap $10-20 iron I bought, I dunno.

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Don't forget the food bill. For some people it can really be INSANE!!!!!!!

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We're already up to about $60 a week, and we still have over a dozen more babies to pick up later this week. That's probably nothing compared to some of you guys though. I can't even imagine. Fortunately, we just found a guy on craigslist selling ~70 ASFs (adults, fuzzies, pinks) for $40. We picked them up today so hopefully breeding them will help with the food bill some.

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Like it's been said before, this is not a hobby to try and make a quick buck or even a profit out of.

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Yeah we know that it's going to take quite a few years before these guys start breeding reliably and the bills are going to continue to add up. We just figured that since we love these guys so much that it would be a fun hobby as well as a long term investment.

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With that kind of investment I'd highly recommend a back up generator

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That's also on the to-do list... I've just been procrastinating because I am having serious issues thinking about parting with that kind of money.

On a side note, rack #1 is almost done! Just waiting on the tstats to arrive so I can run the heat tape and put the backing on.




http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i1...2006/Rack1.jpg

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Originally Posted by Powerspythons

To the OP, the price of tubs is hard to get around..but a lot of your other prices could have been decreased(a bunch) by buying from different places..or buying different products..for example, buying heat tape & metal clamps from a different place could have saved you around $50 and I dont mean to mean to advertise for anyone *cough*beanfarm.com*cough*...also if you had gotten different thermostats for example simple on/off thermostats (atleast to start with) it would have only cost you like $100 for 4 of them, and as far as water bowls...$156?!?! For around $40-$50 you could have gotten a long piece of 4"-5"PVC then cut it into 3" sections and put deli cups in them...I mean really, unless you really like to clean water dishes and/or your wife will let you run 40 possibly poo covered water dishes through your dishwasher..you're going to wish you had done that! But in all honesty, dont get discouraged, you bought a lot of top quality items that will probably last a long time so thats why it cost so much. I've found though, that in this 'occasionally(very occasionally) profitable' hobby..if you can find a way to decrease costs(without sacrificing the animals safety or well-being of course)...DO IT!!!

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I didn't know about beanfarm :(

As for the water dishes, I just didn't feel like making anything and we were looking for a specific shape/size that would: be semi-cost effective, not tip over, and be large enough to allow for soaking. Wal-mart was the winner there with their plastic dog bowls.

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Originally Posted by jsmorphs2

As far as a cooler for your incubator, look on Cragslist for FREE upright freezers or refrigerators that people just want to get rid of. No need to pay for those.

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I've been looking but I'm trying to hold out for one with glass doors. I'm tempted to just take one of those cheap/free regular fridges and then cut a hole out of the front that some glass can be rigged to.

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Originally Posted by spitzu

I've been looking but I'm trying to hold out for one with glass doors. I'm tempted to just take one of those cheap/free regular fridges and then cut a hole out of the front that some glass can be rigged to.

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That's a good idea. Or what about making a second inner door like the more expensive incubators have? That way you don't have to worry about compromising the insulation qualities of the fridge door.

Ps - your rack looks good! I like the different size tubs. Are those 15qt tubs the same height as the 32qt tubs? I ask because we made basically the same rack but with all 32qt tubs.

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Originally Posted by jsmorphs2

That's a good idea. Or what about making a second inner door like the more expensive incubators have? That way you don't have to worry about compromising the insulation qualities of the fridge door.

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Hrm. I've never seen the design of the expensive incubators, but I'll definitely check it out.

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Ps - your rack looks good! I like the different size tubs. Are those 15qt tubs the same height as the 32qt tubs? I ask because we made basically the same rack but with all 32qt tubs.

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Yeah they're the exact same height, so it worked out great. That 64qt on the bottom is a really tight fit though, even after I took the wheels off. Back to Target for me :(

Whenever I think about acquiring a snake or breeding a pair, I plan on spending a minimum of $100 per snake for housing.

Luckily for hatchlings etc, it's cheaper per animal, and housing is re-usable after you sell off an animal, so it's an investment that breeders do get returns from.

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Originally Posted by eracer

I soldered my first heat tape for my first enclosure. Took me a couple of tries to figure out that I needed to sand the plastic off the copper strip.

"Why won't this damn solder stick! What the #@*#%&...mumble mumble.....Ah HAH!"

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I did electric reptair fer most of my life,usinga soldering iron is second nature..... ne way melting the plastic was the fastest and easiest way fer me..... also using enough flux paste shure makes life easier(flux helps the solder flow, to much stuff wont stick, not enough it just clumps up and doesnt flowdown through the wire just blobs on top)