Terrariums, do it right the first time.

[Godzilla78]

Since I started this hobby, I made so many buying errors, from the wrong type of caging, to the wrong hides, the wrong heating equipment, the wrong quality rack and tub system... ugh! If I had known all that I know now, and had all the money back that I wasted on buying the wrong husbandry stuff, I could easily buy a professional-grade pvc rack & tub system for 5 adults and 18 hatchlings! Complete with thermostats and heat tape... ok maybe I' exaggerating A LITTLE, but the point is... DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME, THERE IS REALLY NO POINT IN GOING HALFWAY OR BUYING INFERIOR HUSBANDRY PRODUCTS!

The only saving grace, is now that I am re-building a home-made rack, I will have an awesome system, but SO MUCH WORK AND TIME WASTED that I could have avoided by buying the best stuff at the very beginning. I suppose that is how all hobbies work, trial and error and learning curve.

[SDA]

What gets me is glass terrariums new from pet stores are not really cheaper than PVC enclosures.Good thing we have much more options now.
I mean personally I have never made the mistake of buying a bunch of poor choices only to have them collect dust in the garage or spend years making your reptile's cages look like a homeless shelter (no literally I used cardboard to insulate once). Nope I have never made mistakes ever. :p
On a positive note, when you do get more creatures you are better prepared to set something up without wasting lots of money on more bad choices. For example my new rosy boas's tank is all setup and since it is a low humidity, lower temp threshold snake, a tank actually works really well so hooray for hand me downs!

So see it's not always bad choices. Sometimes you find you have the making for more snake homes YAY! There are no mistakes only piles and piles of lessons learned.

[KWAddict]

I think next to the reptiles themselves, the caging is my favorite part of this hobby. You can get creative and do something beautiful for them.

I have been doing so much freaking research lately that it’s unreal. I just got 2 AP T12s in that i am doing bioactive setups in. $591 each for just the enclosure and radiant heat panel. Doesn’t even begin to cover drainage layer, soil, lights, plants, bugs, mist system, so on and so forth. I will probably have $800+ in each enclosure.

OH! That doesn’t include the thermostat either


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Ss laser]

Godzilla, I am sure some where on this forum you or others have posted some of the info I am looking for, but maybe you or others will in this thread? What were the bad hids? What do you recommend? Good or bad Substrate? Good or bad UTH? I have been searching amazon mostly for every thing to do a 20 long. Sticking to mostly "brand name" products but I don't know if there any good? Share some more wisdom please everyone!

I will make a post in husbandry forum with a parts list so to speak when I finalize the list. I am trying to not waste money. I really want a nice tank, cage,etc and happy habitat for a baby BP. This is for daughter mainly but will be a family pet and responsibility for all of us. This is our first snake so I am trying to learn as much as possible to try and make this a easy and fun experience for everyone. Thanks for any advice and Links, videos, etc are all really welcome. I am trying to research everything this great forum has to offer. It has helped so much already.
Take care.

[SDA]

You don't mention the country you are in. That plays a huge role in what you can and can't get. Most of us are in the USA and a decent amount are in Canada so any advice is going to come from that perspective. If you are in any other country you may have to do your own research as to what is available to you.

As for the USA:

PVC vendors
Boaphile
Animal Plastics (AP)
Reptile Basic (RBI)

Heat Tape/ Pad (UTH)
THG or Flexwatt (THG is sold by RBI, Flexwatt is AP)
Ultratherm (RBI)
Zoo Med

Radiant Heat Panel (RHP)
Pro Products (PP)
Reptile Basics

Hides (tons of options avoid anything with holes in it aside from opening and half logs)
Exo Terra (various places online or in pet stores)
Flukers
Reptile Basics or Pangea Reptile (plastic black colored hides)

Thermostat
Jumpstart (low cost thermostat) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NZZG3S
Dimmer (low cost for CHEs) https://www.amazon.com/Lutron-TT-300.../dp/B0000BYEF6
Spyder Robotics maker of Herpstat
Vivarium Electronics sold by Reptile Basics

Thermometers
IR Temp gun - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DMI632G
Acurite (brand everyone uses for temp probes and humidity probes) - acurite.com is the cheapest online source for these.
A popular combination humidity and temp probe is - https://www.acurite.com/wireless-the...y-sensors.html
Temp probe - https://www.acurite.com/indoor-outdo...ith-probe.html

Decor such as fake plants can be bought online or from hobby stores like Hobby Lobby or Michael's. Avoid anything with a sprayed on glitter or other sort of fuzz

CHEs can be purchased at a pet store, online from RBI or Amazon

Amazon, Walmart, Doctors Foster and Smith, Petco, Petsmart... these are all online locations for pet supplies.


There are many other options for enclosures such as glass, tubs, and racks. If you wnat glass or tubs look at the sticky posts in the husbandy section for how to setup glass and tub tanks.

CHEs only are for glass, RHPs are for PVC enclosures, and tubs are generally only UTHs and heating from the room they are in. Some people here use CHEs for tubs but they are generally not recommended unless you do them right as they can melt plastic tubs.

[Godzilla78]

Godzilla, I am sure some where on this forum you or others have posted some of the info I am looking for, but maybe you or others will in this thread?

What were the bad hides? Don't get hides that are difficult to clean, or are too BIG. It turns out that ball pythons like hides that are so small, you wouldn't think that they can possibly even cram them selves in there! There should be very little space left in side the hide, when they are in there. If the hide is too big, they will not like it at all, and will roam around looking for a better one, even if there is none around. Those natural log hides are the worst, as they get moldy and you can't clean urine or poop off of them and will end up throwing them out. Also, they like hides with a ONE small opening, so they can hide really well and just peek out in case a rodent comes along. My biggest mistake was getting hides that were TOO BIG!

What do you recommend? I recommend the Reptile Basic hides of appropriate sizing, or any other plastic/ ceramic hides that are appropriately sized, easy to clean, and only one small opening.

Good or bad Substrate? I did not like aspen, as it was messy, and did NOT hold odors well, and did not hold water well to release for humidity. I switched to cypress mulch, which was GREAT at odor control and great at releasing humidity, but it is also very messy and it is not sustainable, as cypress really shouldn't be harvested and is bad for the environment. I finally just decided on PAPER, like newspaper. I actually just bought a huge roll of brown builder's paper at Home Depot, as I don't like the idea of news ink getting on my snakes! Paper is very easy to clean up, it is not messy like mulch or shavings, and will not end up in the water bowl or in your snake's mouth, like most substrates will.

Good or bad UTH? I did not like the ZooMed heat pad, I DID LIKE the Fluker's heat mat, it is basically heat tape. Really though, the UTH is not that important, WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS BUYING A QUALITY THERMOSTAT! Don't skimp on the thermostat as it is critically important. Also, THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF MY ENTIRE HUSBANDRY EQUIPMENT IS THE INFRARED LASER THERMOMETER GUN! No matter what you are using to regulate the temperatures, getting exact temperature measurements is critical.

As far as enclosures, I would avoid glass aquariums that they have in pet stores. If you have one or two snakes, get a nice PVC enclosure from a reputable company like ANIMAL PLASTICS. If you have a bunch of snakes or plan on breeding, get a rack system from someplace like Reptile Basics, TGR, Freedom Breeder, etc.

[Ss laser]

Thank you two very much! No other questions I can think of right now. I am getting enough info to at least feel confident in setting up a basic habitat.

[cba191]

Would I be able to do bioactive in a T10? I wanted a T12, but it was twice the price.
It will be for this guy.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

[Zincubus]

Would I be able to do bioactive in a T10? I wanted a T12, but it was twice the price.
It will be for this guy.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

Wow , that's a stunning BRB !

Is that a lightish normal or is it a Hypo ??


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

[SDA]

Would I be able to do bioactive in a T10? I wanted a T12, but it was twice the price.
It will be for this guy.

The problem you are going to encounter is lighting for plants that need to be full spectrum plus a drainage layer for the substrate. The T10's height when taking into account the drainage layer and lighting will not leave a lot of room. I think you can do it but it will require some modification to bolster the front to shore it up for the substrate layer, drilling the bottom of the enclosure, using only a RHP, and not choosing a lighting option from AP as you would put your own in.

T12 would be better or building your own. You may even want to look into planted but not bioactive. Here's a build from Serpa Designs for a king snake that isn't bioactive but is planted. This is the final video but he has others building the enclosure. His videos are great for gaining an understanding of vivariums.