My husband may kill me! Lol

I have spent a small fortune on my snakes. Exo terra....which didnt last long.....20 gal longs....food, lights, heat pads, 2 tstats, AP cage, led lights, flexwatt, RHPs, only things left to buy are a herpstat....which isnt cheap either and bigger hides...already thinking I will have an extra cage sitting around though! [emoji6] shoot me now! Hahahaha

Yea we all made that silly mistake to listen to petsmart/petco sales people telling us this Gorgeous and full Snake kit for only $189.95 will be all we need.

Then substrate
Then Thermostat


Then months later we go wow this sucks, as iv looked at reptile forum why didnt i just spend the 300$ on a PVC cage/Rack and a real thermostat not the crappy repitzoo 70$ ones that are junk!


I now have 2 tanks
1 pvc enclusre
2 pvc racks
3 reptizoo thermostats

That are in the attic! How i love my ARS if only I invested first!

I'm actually finding snakes RELATIVELY cheap - and I'm not even using Flex Watt tape. Plastic tubs are < 15.00, plastic shelving units are all of 50.00 and you can get a decently reliable t-stat for 30.00. Water bowls are probably the most expensive thing in my enclosures, and those aren't expensive, either. They only eat once a week, and I buy in bulk online. My newest snake + supplies was probably about 100.00. My initial snake and set up was 200.00.

My other hobby, though, are 'dogs and dog agility' and man alive there is NO comparison. NONE. Even if you remove the crazy amount of agility, the dogs and their grooming, vet care and supplies are more a week than I spend on the reptiles in a month. Actually, in retrospect, the dog care every week is roughly what I spend on the routine snake stuff (bedding and food, really) in FOUR months.

So, just remind yourself that comparatively speaking you have cheap pets?

Though man alive I bought feeders locally this month, and NEVER AGAIN. That was *insane*.

My family used to breed Great Danes growing up. And show them. Talk about expense. The food alone per week was insane.


I've kept amphibians, monitors, chameleons, you name it. Nothing has been cheaper and easier than the snakes. And to not hear the sound of a zillion crickets... or a smell......

Yeeep. People periodically ask me why I keep snakes since they 'don't do anything'.

Let me tell you, not really doing anything is not a disadvantage, here! I love my dogs but a pet that doesn't care if I'm alive or not as long as it's got a clean cage, proper temperatures and food in the last week is a *good* thing.

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Originally Posted by Navaro

My family used to breed Great Danes growing up. And show them. Talk about expense. The food alone per week was insane.


I've kept amphibians, monitors, chameleons, you name it. Nothing has been cheaper and easier than the snakes. And to not hear the sound of a zillion crickets... or a smell......

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This, is exactly why i loved yet hated my beardy/water dragon/frilled dragon... Crickets are satans spawns.


And Snakes are CHEAP YES but usually when you start we ALL waste a few too hundred dollars on usless enclsure stuff!

Satans spawns haha. I love it.

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Originally Posted by Navaro

Satans spawns haha. I love it.

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You tell me what creature can escape anything its put in. from cricket keeper to a Mesh lid'd rubbermaid..... NOT even Snakes escape aswell as these gross loud things...

*chirp chirp chirp* .... Walks closer *chirp chirp*.... I think i found it.... *silent* :rage:

Lol I guess if I switched to tubs...it would be a quite a bit cheaper...but I like the looks of glass fronts. Also I had 2 English Mastiffs for years...so I understand about food for these big guys.

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Originally Posted by BrandyL1193

Lol I guess if I switched to tubs...it would be a quite a bit cheaper...but I like the looks of glass fronts. Also I had 2 English Mastiffs for years...so I understand about food for these big guys.

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Honestly? I think if I had the space and could handle the weight, I'd keep all of my snakes in glass tanks. They don't actually look much prettier (to me), but I absolutely see a personality difference between the guy kept in a tank and the one in a tub. They're both healthy, calm, and eat well. The one in a tub is probably the better eater, but the girl in a tank is more active. Not in a stressy way, but if I walk into the room he comes out to see what's going on. If I'm feeding the King in the tank beside his, he's got his nose against the glass looking through and watching. Open his tank and he's crawling out of a hide to come up into my hand or up my arm. He decides he's hungry and he's pressed up against the front of the tank looking up to the door.

There are only two and it may just be a basic personality difference between the two - I got the guy in the tank younger, they're just plain individuals, and the bigger guy came in with a scar over 1/3 of his lower belly, in a 10 gallon tank he'd LONG since outgrown, and was owned by an elementary school aged kid.

It's still a night and stay kind of contrast, though. I'm SURE the tub is lower stress for them, but I'm pretty sure learning to deal with some stress (with the option of a good hide) is a good thing for a pet, too.

I've had both. When it came to work it was tubs all the way. It's cheaper, easier and more efficient.

However whenever it came to the home. Ive always loved tanks. When set up well they can offer most of the security of a tub, at the expense of a lot of extra work. Funnily enough though. I've always loved the work associated with the tanks haha.

if I was breeding, I'd be silly not to go with a tub and rack system. But for pets.... Hard to go past a nicely displayed tank (that's been done well with the animal in mind of course)

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Originally Posted by CptJack

t well. The one in a tub is probably the better eater, but the girl in a tank is more active. Not in a stressy way, but if I walk into the room he comes out to see what's going on

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I am STILL calling my younger male snake 'she' and 'her' - they're both boys, but apparently that one's just going to always going to get some mixed up pronouns.

ANYWAY, my ultimate plan for when Atlas outgrows the tank, is to toss the 10 gallon the baby CalKing is in, and move him over into the bigger tank and turn it into a display tank of some sort. I really would love more tanks, but I don't have enough surfaces in the house for them to be safe on with the dogs, and the weight is hard for me to handle for cleaning. I know I couldn't manage a bigger one.

But they're still *danged* pretty.

(And if the CalKing outgrows the bigger tank, um. He can get a tub and I'll look into getting a puget sound garter that I KNOW won't outgrow that tank :P)

The thing that keeps my husband from killing me is that then who would take care of the snakes? :D

But comparing my little collection of 9 balls to our two senior dogs......well, neither dog cost any money up front, but now with their food, supplements, meds, vet bills, poop bags, sitter every time we go away, treats, toys, beds, stairs to OUR bed, etc. etc......holy moly. It offsets the purchase price of the snakes pretty quick, and racks/rats/t-stats/UTHs.

Plus, my fave rationalization: once I'm heating the spare bedroom 24/7 for one snake, the energy cost per snake goes down each time I add one! I'm practically making money! (that'll be the day)

OP, enjoy your snakes. Bet your hubby has an expensive hobby too.

Yeah he does.....just bought himself a nice set of golf clubs! Lol. And I LOVE your rationale!