Quote Originally Posted by CoolioTiffany View Post
I'm not sure what's with people and the word "troll" lately.. this thread does not seem anywhere near abnormal.

Steve probably gave the OP some basic keeping advice, hence the heat pad and substrate. Xdues is completely correct, there is NO right way of successfully keeping a snake. If the OP is having success with the way that works for him and his snake, then he should be happy with how he's got everything set up.

Congrats on your new Ball! A nice big Pastel female is definitely an awesome starter .
Thank you for the thoughtful reply! Yes, so far the setup is working perfectly. She ate 2 f/t 100g rats last night, no sweat. She went after them immediately, and she clearly isn't stressed.

I am still shocked and dismayed at some of the previous responses in this thread. So far, I haven't seen anyone give specific reasons why the Healthy Pet Cellulose litter is bad, or why the Sunbeam heating pad is bad. If anything, they both seem to be SUPERIOR to the "standard" products mentioned in these forums. The Healthy Pet litter is way more sanitary than any of the other products mentioned here. It is designed to absorb animal waste, is sterilized at the plant, is dust free, doesn't cling to anything, is appropriately sized, and has a pleasing appearance. It is PURE CELLULOSE.

And if the pad works with a tstat (testing this tonight), IMO, it is a superior product to the ZooMed product I also bought. The plastics appear to be higher quality, the plug and cord are higher quality, and the Sunbeam appears to be more like a hospital-grade piece of equipment, whereas the Zoomed uses cheaper plastics and appears flimsier overall. The Zoomed has a 1 year warranty. The Sunbeam has a 5 year warranty... the point is not that I can get my money back if it fails, but rather that the Sunbeam is probably a superior product.

Does anyone actually know if the heating elements in these pads are different, inferior, less lifetime, etc? Does anyone actually have real experience with them? This is not a matter of money for me... I already bought both the Sunbeam and the Zoomed for comparative purposes. If the Sunbeam works with the tstat, I see no reason to go with the flimsier Zoomed product, other than you guys saying to use it because it was designed for reptiles.

Honestly, I think that some of you calling me a troll, a joke, etc, are so invested in your setups that you can't think outside the box and recognize that there are alternatives that might actually be superior. The reptile industry wants you to think that their products are the only products that will work. And since they do work, you believe it. But the reality is that there are other products out there that are similar, and probably higher quality to boot.