Few questions ?

[I<3Dreamsicles]

OK!!!! Well, I just got all of my stuff that I bought from petco today in the mail, and i set up my tank, its a 10g.... Well my first question was I bought a 24 quart bag of REPTI BARK from petco and i noticed when i put it in the tank that there was really tiny white bugs in it. I saw one on the hide. Is this bad for the snake or anything (no snake in the tank yet) or should i like wash the bark first or something??? Also since repti bark is washable how would you guys clean it? Just pick out the area thats dirty and wash the small dirty bit, or throw it out or what.

Another thing, Im probably getting a 38gal tank this weekend, but I went ahead and bought a 30-40gal zoo med UTH, would this be OK to use on my 10 gallon tank untill i switch over? It takes up about 3/4 of the legnth of the 10 gallon tank. Also, for the UTH and thermometers (i got petco analog ones, im probably gonna get a digital one) I dont want to have them STUCK in my 10 gallon tank if im going to move them to the bigger tank, should i just tape them in there or something since i dont think theyre removable. Same with the UTH.

Also, does anyone know how the heck to use petco cage clips?!?!?!?!?!?! I have no idea how to put them on. I have PETSMART ones that are totally different but I think the petco ones would work better if I knew how to use them.... (theyre in two peices...)

heres what i got today:

ZooMed 30-40 UTH
ZooMed 75w Nocturnal Infared Heat Lamp
PETCO Thermometer & Humidity Gauge Pack
PETCO Thermometer
10gal Screen Top
ZooMed 10" Feeding Tongs
ExoTerra Reptile Cave
Cage Clips x2

--- all this came out to be $70 and some amount of change, with shipping. Buying online saves money for some reason. They have stuff on sale, and then they had a deal if you spend $65 you get 10% off, and free shipping. I took a trip to the local PETCO store to make sure and all the stuff they sell is more expensive there then online. I guess they do it so you spend alot of money? I dont mind, I needed all the stuff anyway. I bought the REPTI bark and plant at the store.

Id like to put another hide in but you might be able to tell in this pic, theres not really enough room. When would it be OK to put my snake into the 38gal tank, since I want to use it for the space in it, but dont want the snake to be stressed.

Heres a pic of the tank right now. (That therm gauge was left over from when this was used as a fish tank) and its kinda hard to see but theres a water dish in there too, which takes up like the other half of the tank) The UTH isnt under it yet either, i havent opened it yet.

[I<3Dreamsicles]

Im thinking this is a deal though, the 38 gal tank comes with a screen top, and two half log hides, a small heat lamp, and a water dish. I wish I would have known about this before I went to petco.

[Fallout32]

That UTH is going to be too big for this tank. It shouldn't cover more than a third of the tank. If it's covering 3/4 of the tank there will be no heat gradient. Also you can just tape (aluminum tape works) a uth to the bottom of the tank instead of using the adhesive. If you're going to switch soon you could probably get away with taping it to the bottom of the 10 gal so that it only covers a third of the bottom instead of putting it fully under the tank. As for the analog thermometers.... try to never use tape inside the enclosure and you might as well not even bother anyways because they are pretty much useless. you really should have a digital. They don't cost much more anyways. There also shouldn't really be a need for the heat lamp at all in such a small tank. All that it's gonna do is suck out the humidity.

The clips can be a bit tricky. If they're the flat bendy metal ones then you just have to muscle them so that the little hook slips under the metal on the top of the screen cover

anyone have any input on the bugs?

[TheBallPython]

I'm farily new so I'm not positive on all of your questions, but a 38gal is big for a bp, and waaay too big for a juvenile. Also, you should have 2 identical hides in your tank, both on the warm and cool side. I also heard that ReptiBark isn't really recommended, and those bugs might be mites..

[Patricia]

Wow, what a pretty tank... at least from my point of view, LOL! Don't know how snakes view these things.

I also saw that recent sale at Petco online with the free shipping, etc. I like that you can return stuff you bought online at local Petco stores, so just return the 10 gal tank.

My tank came with those round Petco temp and humidity guages already stuck on, and they don't seem to want to come off at all. However, for the same price that they are, there's a much better gadget: Acu-Rite with the long probe that measures both temp and humidity, $12 in WalMart hardware section.

Re. ReptiBark, I haven't noticed any white bugs in mine.

Re. cage clips, I have the Petsmart type, and can't even begin to guess how the Petco ones work!

Re. the UTH, here's a thread about how to remove them: How to remove a UTH.

Oh, and I've learned here not to use a UTH without a thermostat to lower the heat output, otherwise it'll be Baked Snake. Couldn't find what I wanted at either store and so ordered mine via Amazon.

Hope that helps!

[Fallout32]

Also you're gonna need, at the very least, a rheostat (lamp dimmer) to regulate the UTH

[I<3Dreamsicles]

That UTH is going to be too big for this tank. It shouldn't cover more than a third of the tank. If it's covering 3/4 of the tank there will be no heat gradient. Also you can just tape (aluminum tape works) a uth to the bottom of the tank instead of using the adhesive. If you're going to switch soon you could probably get away with taping it to the bottom of the 10 gal so that it only covers a third of the bottom instead of putting it fully under the tank. As for the analog thermometers.... try to never use tape inside the enclosure and you might as well not even bother anyways because they are pretty much useless. you really should have a digital. They don't cost much more anyways. There also shouldn't really be a need for the heat lamp at all in such a small tank. All that it's gonna do is suck out the humidity.

The clips can be a bit tricky. If they're the flat bendy metal ones then you just have to muscle them so that the little hook slips under the metal on the top of the screen cover

anyone have any input on the bugs?

ehhh. Well I guess ill try to set it up so the UTH doesnt cover alot. Tape sounds good. I just have the 10 gal set up because I read that large tanks can be bad for young snakes that are still small.
The Petsmart clips that i have are the bendy kind, so far I managed to get 3/4 on I cant get the one in the front to fit lol. The petco ones are alot different. They dont bend at all. and each clip has two peices. I have a pic of one half on the tank if anyone wants me to post it

[I<3Dreamsicles]

I'm farily new so I'm not positive on all of your questions, but a 38gal is big for a bp, and waaay too big for a juvenile. Also, you should have 2 identical hides in your tank, both on the warm and cool side. I also heard that ReptiBark isn't really recommended, and those bugs might be mites..

I know its big for a BP thats why Im getting it so it lasts for ever. Thats why i set up the 10g tank. I have a exoterra hide and i made some other ones but they dont look as nice, or fit with the water bowl in there. Ill be getting the half log hides this weekend too.


I found this about the repti bark bugs, but ive learned that yahoo answers usually doesnt help much at all...

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...3202746AAFKCWh

Wow, what a pretty tank... at least from my point of view, LOL! Don't know how snakes view these things.

I also saw that recent sale at Petco online with the free shipping, etc. I like that you can return stuff you bought online at local Petco stores, so just return the 10 gal tank.

My tank came with those round Petco temp and humidity guages already stuck on, and they don't seem to want to come off at all. However, for the same price that they are, there's a much better gadget: Acu-Rite with the long probe that measures both temp and humidity, $12 in WalMart hardware section.

Re. ReptiBark, I haven't noticed any white bugs in mine.

Re. cage clips, I have the Petsmart type, and can't even begin to guess how the Petco ones work!

Re. the UTH, here's a thread about how to remove them: How to remove a UTH.

Oh, and I've learned here not to use a UTH without a thermostat to lower the heat output, otherwise it'll be Baked Snake. Couldn't find what I wanted at either store and so ordered mine via Amazon.

Hope that helps!

HAHA tell me about it, i didnt even plan on having a good looking tank. I was gonna go with cage carpet and the basic set up, then i saw the stuff in the petco store, saw the repti bark for $17 for 24 quarts and said why not... actually i think its because i saw the cage carpet and it was really rough and i didnt like it at all......

I didnt buy the 10g tank, just the lid, I had the tank left over, and still have 2 more that are unused. lol. The onlything I would return would probably be the Therm and humidity guages which add up to like $12 I might keep one though because a digital one cant read both sides of the tank, and humidy can it? Ill check walmart for the accurite, i couldnt find them online.

Same with a rheostat or thermostat i couldnt find any online, but i read about that on here too. BUT i also watched ralph davis's ball python basic cage set up vids on youtube and he says that the zoomed ones get just right and dont over-heat. ???

[Fallout32]

I went through the same thing with the petsmart bendy clips. Prolly took me an hour to get on because most of the time was spent cursing and yelling lol. But i just looked at a picture of ur petco clips and am not really sure at all how those are supposed to work, but i'll try to look it up for ya

[I<3Dreamsicles]

I went through the same thing with the petsmart bendy clips. Prolly took me an hour to get on because most of the time was spent cursing and yelling lol. But i just looked at a picture of ur petco clips and am not really sure at all how those are supposed to work, but i'll try to look it up for ya

Thanks, because i REALLY have no idea what-so-ever lol. Its like two peices, and theres nothing to attach the second peice to.