New here, with a baby bp, few nervous questions.

[angllady2]

Tubs are ridiculously easy.

My personal thing is, I don't like the shallow ones, they are only 6" tall. I like my snakes to have some headroom, so I go out of my way to find ones that are between 9 - 11" tall. BUT that is MY and I stress MY thing. Hundreds of snakes are kept in 6" tubs just fine.

If this is your only snake at the moment, you can hold off on the rack. I get my tubs at Wal-mart. they have sterlite brand tubs with latching lids that I love for under $15. My favorite size is 12" wide X 11" tall X 20" long. The lid locks in place with handles on each end.

The basic floorspace is what is important. My rack tubs are 18" squares that are 9" high, and they work fine for all but my biggest girls.

Once you have your tub, you'll need to punch some ventilation holes in the sides. I use an X pattern myself, but it really doesn't matter. Start with 5 on a side, you can always add more if you need to. I use an inexpensive little soldering iron to melt the holes, you run less risk of cracking the plastic that way.

Get yourself a heat mat, you will want it to cover no more than 1/3 of the floor of the tub. Get yourself a thermostat or a rheostat { lamp dimmer }, you'll plug the heat mat into that. Get a digital thermometer, those dial things are POS. Accurite makes a thermometer/hygrometer you can pick up for around $15 at Wal-Mart, Lowe's or Home Depot. Look in the indoor/outdoor thermometer area.

I use Aspen shavings for my tubs, they hold humidity so well you don't need that "just add water" stuff. One water bowl, two identical hides and you are good to go.

Gale