I've never used a hova, but I've gotten emails from people who bought them and used them in previous years and said they were crap and they lost clutches. I've also never used the BAH thermostats, but have heard that they tend to get huge temp spikes and blast the heat. I would personally make a nice incubator with good insulation and use the Ranco. When you think about how valueble even a single clutch of eggs is, then realize that you will have your incubator forever, it's really worth doing it right the first time. Now, if you are just getting a clutch of normals and don't plan to do much more than that, you can get a hova and you might be okay, but If you do mind taking risks on your way to hatching out snakes, than I'd go with a more dependable method.