Product/Brand Reviews

[Gloryhound]

Hey everyone,

I am looking to set up a 29G glass tank for a rescue bp. Tank dimensions are 30Lx12Dx18H. The snake is a little under 3 ft.

If you are good with tools, you could build a display type enclosure using 16" wide laminated shelf board at Lowes or Home Depot at less than the cost of a new 29 gallon tank.

So...I'm going to break it up into sections, so if you can give me some advice on multiple sections, please break up your reply too. Thanks

1) Thermostats-looking into Johnson A-419 ($80)--reviews?
Considering going up to Herpstat, but I dont have much money, so it will probably come down to dimmers anyway, just planning for the future.

Rancos can be had for the same price or less (if you can wire it) and are my preference for economy T-stats. Otherwise I like the Herpstats. A temp probe goes bad on a Herpstat you just get a new one and plug it in. On a Helix you have to send it in!

2)Tempguns--RBI 201($25), RBI 205L($40), Zilla Digital Infared($27)--reviews?

I have been through Infra Red imaging training and honestly with what I know, without going into detail, I would not get any of the above tempguns. I got a Fluke Tempgun that came with an ISO-9000 cert of calibration. With that said though mine cost over $150.00 which is more than most people seem ready to fork out! Yet some of those same people will fork out a grand or more on a snake! With that said others have used the above guns and have had them work well enough for them. I just can not bring myself to trust cheap equipment that does not come with any gaurantee of calibration.

3) Thermo/Hygro--R-zilla Terrarium (Digital) comes with 2 probes($17 or $18), Accurite($12)?

Either should work, but I only use the digital thermometers as a reference for the direction the heat has moved. These are mass produced with a resister used for calibration and they only calibrate 1 in 100 then use the same resister in the next 100 produced.

4)Hides and Bowl brands--Specifically Zilla? Looking for a natural look.

Natural looking may look pretty to you, but your ball python does not care! All those nice little grooves and such that make them look so natural also make them extremely difficult to clean and sanitize. With that said if it makes you feel better about using them and you have the extra time to spend cleaning them go for it!

5)UTH or Flexwatt?--Keep in mind, I will probably be on dimmers--Consider price and quality.

If you are going to be using a dimmer do not, I repeat do not, use Flex-Watt. If you were using an actual T-stat and it was not being placed inside the enclosure with the snake then Flex-Watt is an excellent choice as you can make it the size you need. I would look into the reptile basics UTH for under your tank or inside a display type enclosure. We have used them with good results in our display enclosure. Our racks all use Flex-Watt though!

The above our my opinions on things and I have built several enclosures and racks. Some turned out good, others not so good! The more I build the better they seem to get!