My local reptile store put together a BP tank

[m1lkhoney]

For a friend of mine, who decided against getting a snake right now. But the kit included:

10 gallon tank with non locking mesh lid
aspen shavings
water dish
1 hide
Dome lamp with a ridiculously high wattage bulb
Under tank heater
stick on thermometer

No other hide. No thermostat. 10 gallon ok I guess; they mostly sell babies... no digital thermometer, no hygrometer at all, no instructions. No lock. I don't like aspen bedding but who asked me.

And this is from a SNAKE STORE. Of course people trust them! If I didn't research obsessively and have people bark at me on this forum I would have trusted them too. No instructions, no mention of humidity, no... anything. Just "here's your snake and bake."

I just... I'm not even close to perfect. But when an almost total novice can put together a better starter set than a speciality snake store, I'm speechless.

This forum has hurt my feelings, but without it I might have bought that kit. I wonder how many BPs are living in needlessly bad conditions because for some reason pet stores don't know the first thing about the first thing. And then so many people complain that their pet sheds weird or won't eat. Well maybe if you stopped cooking/freezing/drying him out.

But they think they're doing the right thing because the experts said so and unless they go on here, a lot of the Internet backs them up. I hate it.

[EL-Ziggy]

I agree that there's a lot of bad information and products doled out at pet stores. Most of the ones I've been to don't even sell or advise customers of the vital need of a thermostat.

[m1lkhoney]

We should all get together and put together one of those Zilla/Zoomed snake starter kits that is actually useful. Heh.

[m1lkhoney]

Someone should, actually. Start by selling it on here. It would save a lot of frustration in the husbandry forum if everything was included, plus the drawings and instructions. I would have bought it.

[PitOnTheProwl]

You have to remember, we adapt many things to care for our animals.

[bcr229]

Many of the items that I use for my snakes were not originally intended for that purpose, but they work.

[Willowy]

That setup would be OK for a corn snake. Well, maybe not the high-wattage lamp but they don't need a thermostat because they'll actually move off the UTH if they get too hot. I think it's mostly BPs who just sit around and get burned . And a corn wouldn't get big enough to get out of the top for a little while at least. So if they're selling it as a "snake kit" and not specifically a "BP kit", that could be OK. Not great but OK.

Anyway, yeah, pet stores are pretty slack when it comes to reptile care. They could make a lot more selling the proper supplies. . .

[Fraido]

Many of the items that I use for my snakes were not originally intended for that purpose, but they work.

Speaking of that, I'm currently trying out a disposable litter box as a hide, lol... and your average plastic one as a water dish! 😜

[Vipera Berus]

I may have only kept 2 snakes but I have improvised a few things. Including having family get annoyed that the spare hairdryer was missing only to discover I was using it to make my BP's dinners warm enough to appear tasty.