pretend.....

oK pretend I am completely dumb and know absolutely nothing about ball pythons. I am going to ask u be detailed and provide as many pros cons and details a out what you are suggesting.

I am basically broke living pay check to pay check but have enough to care for my girl. What I need is What good products that are relatively cheap. Say wal-mart cheap.

I need a thermostat, a hygrometer, a heat source and air heat source. What ever is needed for the snake to be safe and happy.

I have a four month old normal female. She eats f/t rat pups once a week although I am going to try two this weekend d for her. she is housed in a ten gallon glass aquarium with a uth thingy,about an inch lf whatever bedding they had when i adopted her....aspen i think..... a hide, and a water bowl. I want to be able to see her, not lift a lid to look at her. I take her out almost daily except after feeds and shed times.

Now suggest what I need, approximate cost, and if at a store like wal mart or petsmart (the only stores in my area that have items I would need other than hardware stores like Lowe's and home depot and one mom/pop pet store
What section .area of the store (I.e: automotive , hhome improvement, electronics) I would find this item. My wal mart does not have a rwptile section except maybe some food for Lizards.

And....go!

Excuse the spelling..... My phone is hard to see / type on.....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by crystlew123

oK pretend I am completely dumb and know absolutely nothing about ball pythons. I am going to ask u be detailed and provide as many pros cons and details a out what you are suggesting.

I am basically broke living pay check to pay check but have enough to care for my girl. What I need is What good products that are relatively cheap. Say wal-mart cheap.

I need a thermostat, a hygrometer, a heat source and air heat source. What ever is needed for the snake to be safe and happy.

I have a four month old normal female. She eats f/t rat pups once a week although I am going to try two this weekend d for her. she is housed in a ten gallon glass aquarium with a uth thingy,about an inch lf whatever bedding they had when i adopted her....aspen i think..... a hide, and a water bowl. I want to be able to see her, not lift a lid to look at her. I take her out almost daily except after feeds and shed times.

Now suggest what I need, approximate cost, and if at a store like wal mart or petsmart (the only stores in my area that have items I would need other than hardware stores like Lowe's and home depot and one mom/pop pet store
What section .area of the store (I.e: automotive , hhome improvement, electronics) I would find this item. My wal mart does not have a rwptile section except maybe some food for Lizards.

And....go!

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buy a walmart like thermostat and when it burns your snake and you have to take it to the vets. then you can tell me how much you saved! don

If your UTH is unregulated I would honestly unplug it as it can burn your snake: and it sounds like you may not be able to afford costly vet care. There's a thermostat you can get online for about $30, though I don't have the link to it: I'm sure someone else has it.

In the meantime I would buy a lamp dimmer from Home Depot/Lowes (in electrical department) which run about $12 to plug your UTH into. You can turn the heat down this way so it doesn't get overly hot.

I recommend a digital Accurite brand thermometer for your temps ($12 at Walmart, by the indoor fans and bulbs department): they have ones that have a probe where you can stick it over the hot side to monitor hot side temps. You can also get a ambient air temp/humidity one but you'll need a temperature gun (~$30) or other thermometer to check your direct hot spot temps.

If you have the snake in a room that gets under ~80 degrees you'll need an additional heat source: a heat lamp can do this. This should also be on a dimmer: I cannot recommend a brand or bulb wattage as I don't use heat lamps.

As for wanting to see her: a hiding BP is a happy one, they just aren't the best display snakes IMO. You don't want your snake to be roaming constantly as this can be a sign of stress so I recommend maybe getting a night bulb so you can view the snake at night when they're usually more active. Again, I can't personally recommend a bulb for you.

Caresheet: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...s%29-Caresheet

Hope this helps a little.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Daybreaker

If your UTH is unregulated I would honestly unplug it as it can burn your snake: and it sounds like you may not be able to afford costly vet care. There's a thermostat you can get online for about $30, though I don't have the link to it: I'm sure someone else has it.

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http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR...arm+thermostat

If you need a heat lamp you can get one at a farm supply store. They are usually alot cheaper than what the pet stores sell them for. Something like this.

http://www.fleetfarm.com/detail/wood.../0000000037120

For a thermostat you can get the hydrofarm on Amazon for around 30 dollars.

http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR.../dp/B000NZZG3S

The accurite thermometer is at walmart for around 12 dollars.

Ball pythons spend most of their time hiding. If you want to see them when they come out at night you can get a night viewing bulb. I have one like this.

http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...AvailInUS%2FNo

This is about as cheap as you can go... Safely.

Thermostat, purchased online from Amazon.com: $32.00
http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR...ords=Hydrofarm.

Thermometer, Walmart- home improvement section <multiple temps + 'somewhat' accurate hygrometer>: $13.00

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Acu-Rite-I...mometer/896347

Decent hygrometer, eBay.com: $6.99 <free shipping, I ordered 4>

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Brass-Analog...item20d4d56d8d

Heat lamp, Petco: $20

http://www.petco.com/product/111478/...ControlHeating

bulb for lamp, Petsmart: $13 for two

http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...AvailInUS%2FNo

Lamp dimmer switch, Home Depot- Electrical by ceiling fans etc:
$10
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lutron-Cr...5#.Ufs7a8u9KK0

Temperature gun, Home Depot- electrical/ electricians tools department:
$30.00 . This is somewhat of a luxury item it i find invaluable.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-Non...8#.Ufs8s8u9KK0

Black construction paper to blacken the sides and back of tank: $5? Dunno, I used fabric type shelf liner.


She needs a second hide, preferably identical to the other, on her cold side. If you are running a UTH with no regulation..... Order a thermostat ASAP!!! Unplug it immediately. Then run right down to Home Depot and get that dimmer switch so you can regulate temps now. You will need the thermometer from Walmart to help this. The probe goes under substrate utop the glass. Adjust the dimmer until you get down to about 88-90 degrees. Once you have the thermostat<a week to ship free unless you have an amazon prime acct in which case it takes 2-3 days>, it will do that work for you and the dimmer can go on the heat lamp.

A hiding ball python is a happy one.... Let her adjust and do her thing.

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Originally Posted by don15681

buy a walmart like thermostat and when it burns your snake and you have to take it to the vets. then you can tell me how much you saved! don

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You sound like an ass. Unlke some people I don't have hundreds of dollars to spend. I asked about products that would keep her safe but not going to cost me an arm and a leg. so instead of looking down your high browed pointy long nose at someone trying to do something eight with limited resources you offer advice or keep your big mouth shut.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by crystlew123

You sound like an ass. Unlke some people I don't have hundreds of dollars to spend.

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Unfortunately the "cheap" solutions get very pricey later on when something fails and you end up with a vet bill. The Hydrofarm thermostat from Amazon is about as cheap as you can get for a decent quality unit. Now, if you need cheap solutions for things like hides, empty margarine or whipped topping tubs work for smaller snakes and they're basically free after you eat the food. The Dollar Store has cheap water bowls, you can ask your neighbors to save newspaper for substrate or even ask the manager at your local grocery store if you can have a few Sunday papers on Monday morning (and clip those coupons to save money also). For used tanks and heat lamps keep an eye on CL or your local reptile classifieds on FB; heck I have too many of the danged things as it is.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by crystlew123

You sound like an ass. Unlke some people I don't have hundreds of dollars to spend. I asked about products that would keep her safe but not going to cost me an arm and a leg. so instead of looking down your high browed pointy long nose at someone trying to do something eight with limited resources you offer advice or keep your big mouth shut.

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He brought up a valid point. I had a Hydrofarm fail on me. I was lucky when it went out it was only deliveringa small amount of juice and didn't overheat the uth. I well never use out regimens one again. It was only the months old when it failed.

You can keep a snake on a budget but the tstat should not be where you save your money. You could buy one Herpstat that will last for years or buy cheap ones that will need replacing and eventually cost you more than buying a Herpstat in the beginning. And that is if you only have to replace the tstat and not pay for vet bills for a burned snake.

Vets are not cheap but reptile vets are really not cheap.

I say save up and get a Herpstat. Until then just use a heat bulb for ambient and hotspot.

http://www.spyderrobotics.com/store/...ain_page=index

...yet I've used many hydrofarms for years and they're all still going strong. Any thermostat can fail*. Sometimes it's not about how it will be cheaper in the long run, but shelling out a large sum at once. Someday I will have a Herpstat. I know they're quality products. However, I honestly haven't seen a reason to upgrade at this point.

-----quietly sneaks out of thread------

*And yes, I realize the more advanced herpstats have fail-safes to prevent DANGEROUS failure. They can still fail.

Is not that a better tstat has no risk of failing, its that it has less chance of failing. Also when it fails its how it does it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KMG

Is not that a better tstat has no risk of failing, its that it has less chance of failing. Also when it fails its how it does it.

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Fair enough.

maybe you could hack something together on your own.

when it comes to individual heat sensors, im sure they dont ost more than 50 cents per peace. But you still need integrated circuits to interpret the signal coming from these, and convert it to a temperature scale, and implement two triggers, one to switch off heating above a certain temperature, one to switch on heating below a certain temperature. These two need to be different, otherwise you might get a system that switches between on and off at a really high frequency. All of that would need to be implemented directly in hardware, hard to do unless you really studied it an are an electronics expert. Once you have a layout, you need to get all the parts and weld together all the connections and then test it and so on.

In the end maybe you can make thermostats yourself.... anf if you can do that it will be easy to implement using it to control any heating device.

My dad could do it, but he works as an electronics engineer in scientific research and designs and manufactures custom electronic control and measurement devices for them, and he wont do it because it would take weeks of his spare time and when he does that kind of stuff at work he gets a fat paycheck at the end of the month.

And for them he does stuff like building a rotating platform that can be rotated using a motor so that a crystal can be mounted on it and can be rotated by small angles from the outside, in a confined space cooled with superfluid helium to around 3 degrees above absolute zero. around 3 kelvin or -270 celsius (fahrenheit is meaningless in that context, noone uses it).


So, no, even if you could build it yourself.... you wouldnt, you would use that ability to earn money and just buy a working product.

dont cut corners on thermometers / thermostats / heating. Or if you do, have an independent system that monitors temperatures and triggers an alarm if a certain temperaure treshold gets surpassed, but that would be more expensive than to just use a proper system for heating that on its own wont overheat.

And yes, how it fails is more important than how often it fails. Snakes can survive one or two cold nights, if heating fails by disabling itself and not heating anymore. The problem are the failures when it fails to switch off and heats indefinitely and burns the snake / melts plastic / kills the snake / sets fire to your house. After heat rocks burned reptiles for decades, there now are some that fail safe, meaning they only fail in one way: By switching themself off. They turn cold, not hot, when they fail. Quality heating systems and thermostats have that built in. Cheap ones dont have it. And you want either such fail safe mechanisms, or devices that will have an extremely low overall chance of failure. The cheapest ones dont have it and fail a lot.

I plugged the Hydrofarm into a lamp dimmer. I assume it will fail at some point and I'd rather it not go above around 110.