Sad Day

[Rue]

Hello forum family! I hope everyone understands how much I love rue. When rue joined my familyhis "packaged" included

• 55 gallon aquarium tank, which had a small crack in the bottom of it. It was all she had enclosure wise that would fit rue. While at the store he was kept in a wood enclosure with no heat lamp, only a heating pad (which she said he hated his enclosure but had nothing else to keep him in at the time) I knew I didn't want to take him home in an enclosure he hated so we opted for the cracked tank. The wooden enclosure he disliked was about 18in tall, 12in wide, and about 5 feet long (homemade) The tank came with the screen top lid.
• Small stone water dish (he couldn't even soak half of his body if he wanted to), again said it was to small for him and to get him a new water dish as soon as we could.
• Hide log (again, to small) when rue stuffed himself into his log it was like a teeter tatter in the air he clearly didn't fit.
• Moss; he loves his moss!
• Cocoa bark; she said he loves the humidity. I switch up his substrate pretty regularly and it seems he loves aspen bark the best though it drys out his enclosure I can seem to keep it humid. I mentioned in another post that he burrowed underneath his chips one day LOL I thought he had escaped somehow.
• Fluker heat lamp, with night light bulb 100wat; he never basks up his bulb. Ever. He seems to like if I turn the lamp off and cover his enclosure to with his towels, it gets 65-70% humidity.
• Fluker medium sized heating pad (only uses this after a tasty feeding) It sits half up his water.

Since the purchase of my little love boa, I've invested in:

• Many different substrate, like I said cocoa holds better humidity but he loves to burrow in the aspen chips. He doesn't care much for newspaper.. he just lays there like a limp noodle.
• Varies water dishes. First one I purchased was a glass water bowl from my local craft store. It was about 12in in diameter, and 4in deep. It was a circular glass bowl. Cleaned and sanitized it of course. Before his shed he only used it for sipping when thirsty but since he started his shed he likes to soak for about 24 hours at a time. I bought the bowl for 3.99; that being said I have switched for a plastic storage container. I was worried since it was a cheap bowl and glass for some reason rue would break it and get hurt (many people said it wouldn't break but thats just being a paranoid parent) The plastic container is a typical rectangle storage container from home depot, its long and narrow so it goes across his tank instead of being stuck to one side. It stretches from his cool side over the heating pad to his heat lamp. It is also 6in deep. (I still keep the small dish on the hot side under his heat lamp, it helps with the humidity. A tip from a forum member on one of my former posts)
• A new hide. I researched hides, and when not being able to comprehend spending a large amount of money on a hide when he's already outgrown a large size wood half log... I made my own. I made a cardboard hide which he LOVED. His cardboard hide I made ran along his tank (just like his plastic water dish now) it had one opening in the front of the hide and on the left side. It was wide enough for him to stretch out in it, and sadly I didn't see much of him after that he loved his hide and lived in it hehe. UPDATE: This week I looked thru the forums and came across the home-made clay hides which I have made! It's perfect size! He loves it, I used a glass baking bowl for the size. Since it was much bigger than the gals who posted it, it had to bake for MUCH longer in the oven. But, in the end if it was very inexpensive and he truly loves it! So worth the hours of baking!!
• My boyfriend brought home a large rock, and two pieces of driftwood from the beach. Many hours of research and dozens of opinions later it was a non-harmful type driftwood. We baked the rock and left it cool over night. We also stripped the bark from the driftwood, baked the wood, and sanded it all down with a high grit. We tied them together with robe so he could climb on it and he most often spends his active night life on it.
• Spacers for his tank; 1in spacer so his tank sits up off my desk that way I can keep his heating pad underneath his tank and not on the side. I have a fear of fire which is why I spaced the tank from the desk for the heating pad.
• Thermometer for both cool, and hot side.
• Thermostat for his heating pad, to control the temp.
• Humidity reader (which is amazingly helpful)

I've ran into some maintenance issues since Rue's been at home with me such as; (about two weeks or so ago)

• The tank leaked. One morning I woke up to water all over my very expensive desk his tank sits on. Also, his heating pad burnt out from water being on it. I called the reptile store and explained the situation. She(the owner) said she didn't believe me, theres not way the tank could of leaked... she went on to interrogate me about how much water was in the tank, did i have the water bowl right now the crack, what about the heating pad, if that was over the crack than it was my fault it expanded. I explained, no the heating pad was not over the crack, the water was not above the crack, and the only kind of "water" in the tank besides the water in his bowl was the moisture from his cocoa. She told me she's leaving town for the reptile expo they were having about 2 hours south of the shop. She(still the owner) said when she got back into town to bring the tank in let her fill it up and if it leaked she would replace it with a new tank she had just ordered and received for the shop. Since I couldn't wait because his bulb went out to (I explain that below) my sweet little rue has gone without heat almost 24 hours... I went to my local home depot and asked him what would be best I told him it was or an aquarium tank and Rue was a boa. He directed me to a silicone that is SPECIFICALLY for aquarium fish tank/reptile safe (thank god) I went home and siliconed his tank inside and out. He spent the night in his large "feeding" container (no I no longer use it to feed him, he eats in his tank) he had his heating pad under his for the night so I didn't have to worry about his getting cold. (since this, no leaks) I called her monday and told her what I did because I couldn't just go the weekend with a leaky tank and no heating pad which she told me over and over he would be fine... She replied to me "so your not going to bring it in?" I told her NO, I want to order a pac cage for him and when I do that, than YES I will bring it to her. She ended up giving me store credit for the heating pad I had to replace (which is, eh, alright... I'll use it for rats)
• The morning of the heating pad/water tank disaster, his night light bulb went out for no apparent reason! I tried different plug ins, the bulb has not been dropped, never been damaged. Since, I bought brand new when I took Rue Rue home I brought the bulb AND the lamp back to the reptile store. She(the owner, she's the only one that works in the shop so when i call or go in I only deal with her) shook the bulb, plugged it into her own plug in and said "hmmm much be a factory problem, ill replace it)
• THIS MORNING 4:30AM FRIDAY MORNING APRIL 10TH, 2015.... This bulb burnt out again! At this point we have moved! So, it can't be anything with the plug in or anything on our end. His heating pad is plugged into the same outlet and still works. As soon as her store opens you bet your sweet a$$ i'm going to call her.

My sad dilemma....... Rue.
I'm at my wits end with with situation and the saddest part is, none of my problems are rue. I love him, he's gentle with me even though I am new to being a boa mom in the snake community. He's insanely patient with my compulsive cleaning, he lets people who haven't been around snakes get familiar with him (and end up changing her outlook on snakes) for those who might want to tell me "this could give him a lot of stress" well... when he meets new friends. He's on me and they know only to pet him if he's NOT tense or trying to hide on me (which he never does) and if he slithers to them, than thats a welcome to pet and hold him. If he's in a shy mood, he's stays on me and I tell him better luck next time. My sweet little rue has NEVER struck at me or ANYONE. He has recently been vocal with me (he's in shed) but never with anyone. This situation makes me want to return rue and everything he came with for a full refund. I'm confused on what to do because it's the problem his enclosure is. I need advice, the logical side tells me... its never going to end and it will end up affecting his health. Than half of me says, I love Rue he's such a amazing snake I want to keep him for the rest of his life. I can't seem to figure out what is best, or honestly how I should go about the situation with the store owner. Now, her reptile store is the ONLY store that isn't over an hour drive. Yes, I have a local pet store such as petsmart and petco but I like the idea of sticking to a store that is specially for my rue.

Yes, I know I need to adds pictures of his actual enclosure, I will slowly add some later tonight

Thank you everyone for reading my long, difficult post. I trust you, my forum family, to show me both road on the path I need to choose. You guys/gays have helped me SO much already. I truly appreciate it.

[Jhill001]

Order your supplies from a source like big apple Herp or lllreptile depending on the side of the country you live in. Josh's frogs is another good place to order supplies from. These places sell appropriate equipment and typically know how it works and various troubleshooting.

To to be fair you bought a tank with a crack in it what did you expect. Dry it out and put some aquarium silicon on it, spread it out like you would caulking for a window so it gets into all the little crevices and such. This will help hold you over and prevent further leaks.

Maybe with this most recent problem you sould start looking towards finding his big boy home because that 55 gallon won't hold him forever. There are many reptile cage manufacturers that offer appropriately sized cages that are made from durable plastic which don't leak and will hold heat and humidity better.

[Stormy]

I don't understand what you're so sad about; invest in an Animal Plastics cage or similar reptile enclosure, one that will house your Rue now and once he's full grown. Invest in some RHPs and a good thermostat and everything will be fine for you and Rue

[bcr229]

Your problem is that you are trying to keep a snake in a tank designed for fish, and it's a broken tank at that. Get a proper reptile enclosure, either PVC or melamine, with an RHP regulated by a decent thermostat for heat, and dump the headaches that come with using a tank.

Heat bulbs don't last very long either. They're often expensive as heck to run as well, and even new ones sometimes fail right out of the box how reputable the supplier, so I always kept 2-3 spares on hand before I wised up and moved everything to racks and stacks.

If funds are tight then spend what you need to now to make the tank work, accept that there will be headaches, and set money aside for a better enclosure in the future. Also canvas your local Craigslist and FB groups for used caging, if you have cash and a truck you can score some insane deals.

[Sauzo]

My advice is a 55 gallon tank is going to be hard to get humidity and temps right on period. I use 40 gallon breeders for my bp and sunglow juvenile and they work fine. Much easier to keep temps and humidity. First of ditch the heat pad, they are not needed. Second don't use a bulb as your heat source. Go to Petsmart or Petco or whatever is close and buy a Ceramic Heat Emitter. Those only give off heat, not light but they are durable and last forever. Next if you haven't done it yet, cover at least 3/4 of the screen top with tin foil to hold in humidity. I use thick cardboard that I cut to fit the whole top of the screen. Then I cut out where I want the dome with the CHE in it to go, be it left or right side. I cut this circle about 1" bigger than the dome size to allow airflow. Then I cover the cardboard in tin foil. This does 2 things, it will create airflow in the tank because the cardboard isn't air tight so cold air will leak in from the cool side and drop down, then it travels along the ground and hits the air under the CHE which is warm. It then is pulled up and out past the CHE dome. Anyways even that should work for a 55 gallon but you might need 2 smaller CHEs vs 1 large one. Also go to Home Depot and pick up a lamp dimmer for the CHE so you can adjust it. I use one like http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lutron-Cr...H-BL/100478442. Its like $12 and works great. Make sure it is rated for 300 watts. Then you can adjust the hot spot. Humidity will be an issue but you can use moist moss or folded up wet paper towels on top of his hide on the warm side and just resoak the paper towel a couple times a day.

Ultimately though the best is a PVC cage. The best bang for the buck I have found are Animal Plastics cages. Good price and quality. Only downside is about a 3 month wait time.

As for ordering supplies, I personally like using Reptile Basics. Good prices and fast delivery plus their hides are great. Both my little sunglow and BP love them.

[JoshSloane]

Im confused about what the issue is here? All of these problems occur routinely with used reptile goods. To be fair you did purchase the snake from a shop owner who didn't even know the correct species of the animal. It seems like the other goods you purchased were doomed from the start.

If you cant afford a PVC enclosure with a RHP you can us a fish tank and a single heat lamp to achieve a bare bones set up. I would opt for a 40 gallon breeder tank, which actually has a larger floor surface area than a 55 gallon. If you already have an 8 inch heat lamp you can use that with a 150 watt infrared bulb. Ive found that at an ambient room temp of around 71 deg, that this wattage gets a nice 90 deg hot spot and a cool spot in the high 70s. If you need to modulate the temps down, you can use a cheap lamp dimmer from home depot. Ive had rescue animals that flourish in a setup like this, even though its not supremely ideal. You can cover the top with wet towels for humidity increases, or do the humid hide routine.

Don't let all of this stress you out. Once you get everything in working order it will be much easier to care for Rue. Don't give up.

[PitOnTheProwl]

So much in this book.....
That 55g tank you are using, are the light fixtures sitting on thw screen or hanging above it?
How often do you move them or bump them?
All of this will significantly shorten the bulb life.

[Rue]

Thank you everyone, I do plan on buying rue a proper tank but right now funds are tight. So it has to work and the reason why I went with that tank is because it was the only one she had or else I would of gotten a different one. I have patched up the bottom since it leaked. The reason why I'm upset (since most of you ask) is because these products were brand new all except for the hide,water dish, and tank. So I'm not sure as to why the bulb would go out twice within a two week period I also live pretty far from the store... I love rue. He is a good snake, with his enclosure it seems like one thing right after the next. But yes, as soon as I have the extra money (in the next couple of months) I do plan on getting him a set up that will last them throughout his life. Thanks everyone, all of your advice is soaked up & pondered.

[PitOnTheProwl]

And just an FYI..... Keep a couple extras on hand. If it can break or stop working then have a back up. I know it can get expensive but it will reduce your stress a lot.
You dont have to buy them all at one time either. Just when you have a little extra cash.

[ladywhipple02]

And just an FYI..... Keep a couple extras on hand. If it can break or stop working then have a back up. I know it can get expensive but it will reduce your stress a lot.
You dont have to buy them all at one time either. Just when you have a little extra cash.

What he said. I live over an hour away from the nearest pet store of any kind, and further for good reptile supplies (I like in the sticks). I have a tegu that requires a good UVB light and heat. When I order or pick up supplies, I always double it, just to be safe.