My friend bought himself a bp about a month ago and had bought everything that petco told him he needed. A 10 gal vivarium, a 150watt heat lamp, a 10-20 gal size UTH a small water bowl and a large log hide and a dial hygrometer and stick-on glass thermometer. I hadn't seen his set-up till just now when he called me over for advice on why his snake looked like a thin bag of bones... Before I left I grabbed a few things to take over, namely my spare acurite thermometer/hygrometer.

Let me start by saying that when I put the probe underneath his snakes only hide, which was located directly under the sunbeam heatlamp, my acurite max'd out at 120 degrees when the stick-on glass thermometer said 95. All I can say is damn, I knew those things were inaccurate and those logs hold alot of temp inside them, but a 30+ degree difference was astounding. That was the snakes only hide so of course his bp had spent the last month in that scorching heat. The cool side of the tank was a whopping 109.4 in the open.

you see, he had done what the petco emplyee told him. he got everything the petco guy could sell him, and then did a few minutes of research and decided to foil & ducttape the screen mesh top to keep humidity in... He knew he needed to buy a thermostat, but b/c his cruddy thermometer was giving him temps within normal range he never did.

I did everything I could tonight with what I had to rectify the situation, and he's takin his bp by the vet tomorrow for fluids at the very least. he's in horrible shape and as much of an optimist as I am, I have my doubts about this poor little fellow. Stuff like this makes me wonder why petco doesnt carry decent thermometers and hygrometers. Petstop does, but they are twice the price of what walmart has to offer; not to mention when helping a customer decide what his snake needs petco needs to atleast have the slightest clue as to what the finished product of the animals habitat will be when you put everything together. I am just completely beside myself at the moment. This has not been a good month for me and herps....