How much does it cost you to house a snake?

[CALM Pythons]

1) Single AP-T12 with LED - $406 shipped.
2) Pro Panel RHP- $135 shipped.

3) Herpstat $100

4) 2 Hides and Water Bowl- $40

5) 1000' x 24" Kraft Paper substrate - $36

6) PVC pipes, wrinkle paint, plant leaves - $40

Total $757 each enclosure.

A Pic...& I built the stand for around $65.

[Jus1More]

Well my last BP boy cost me $450 alone plus then had to buy another thermostat $$$ Just recently bought a 2 bin rack with heat tape for $200 for my 2 BP's. And as for my other 2 snakes, they are still small and in 15qt tubs with heat tape and won't be upgraded them until later. But yea, it does add up fast especially if you have more than one snake. It's an expensive hobby but well worth it!!

[Jus1More]

A Pic...& I built the stand for around $65.

Very Nice indeed!!!

[Crowfingers]

For 1 snake (fairly low cost morph), this is about what I spent over the course of a few months and leading up to looking for a snake, so that I had everything ready (except the AP cage as I started him in an old aquarium until I found the AP cages)

Snake Himself: $175
Heat lamps: ~$30 total
CHE bulbs:~$36 total
Customized AP T11 (waiting for a sale): $375 total
Hides: $45 total (I have 4)
Water bowl: $4
Thermostat: $35
Thermometers/Hygrometers: $20
Sphagnum moss: $10
Cypress Bedding 40qt: $27
Rats:$50
Cage Decor: $0 - rocks and branches from outside

So total for 1 single ball python: $804ish total if you buy everything all at once

Now, I shop on amazon to keep cost low and get free decor from outside so - other than the AP cage which is a one time thing (if I don;t get another snake) the rats, bedding, moss, CHE bulbs and Hood are all things that will be bought many times over the snakes 20-30 year life (some more than others)

[rufretic]

I'm surprised nobody noticed this is a old thread, over a year and a half. Usually everyone jumps all over that lol. But it's a good one so who cares.
I can't believe how much some of you guys spend per snake, it's crazy to me because I'm very selective on my spending but yet I've dropped over $1000 on one snake more than a few times, so I guess it's all about where you want to spend your money. Me personally, I'd rather get the best husbandry possible for the lowest dollar possible and then spend the big bucks on the actual snakes. If your setting up a display then that's the exception, I'd spend a lot there as well. But since mine are not on display and my main goal is to keep as many as I can with the best husbandry possible for the lowest dollar, I think I've done pretty well. I'm at only $16 per snake approximately. I'd have to add up all my supplies to be exact but it's close. My most expensive item and the most important imo, my herpstat. Then I built my own racks on a budget. Everything works great, snakes are healthy and breeding and due to saving so much on my setup, I was able to spend a lot more on my snakes. I'm thinking about dropping a few thousand on a ars hatchling rack in the spring so that will set my average cost per snake back a bit but I guess that will depend on how many hatchlings I produce lol.

[CALM Pythons]

How much per snake do you spend setting its enclosure up? If you have a single expensive item (such as a thermostat or rack system) running multiple snakes, divide the cost of the item among the number of enclosures it regulates.

I realize the numbers will be all over the board, but I'd like to get a feel for what people spend to acquire a snake outside of the cost of the animal itself.


Formula:

Total $ invested in husbandry supplies (thermostat, thermometer, tubs & racks, etc) / # of snakes you have = cost of housing per snake.

This seems to be a very hard question... I see people wanting to talk about how much they spent on their snake even though that was a different thread 2 weeks ago and never answering your question which was about" HOUSING COST" . Sorry I had to say something. I was interested in your thread until I read about everything except what you asked. I did see someone say the Thermostat was $$$ though and another say they see why you would be concerned about costs, however thats all they said & never gave you a answer hahahahaha Gotta Laugh

[CALM Pythons]

I'm surprised nobody noticed this is a old thread, over a year and a half. Usually everyone jumps all over that lol. But it's a good one so who cares.
I can't believe how much some of you guys spend per snake, it's crazy to me because I'm very selective on my spending but yet I've dropped over $1000 on one snake more than a few times, so I guess it's all about where you want to spend your money. Me personally, I'd rather get the best husbandry possible for the lowest dollar possible and then spend the big bucks on the actual snakes. If your setting up a display then that's the exception, I'd spend a lot there as well. But since mine are not on display and my main goal is to keep as many as I can with the best husbandry possible for the lowest dollar, I think I've done pretty well. I'm at only $16 per snake approximately. I'd have to add up all my supplies to be exact but it's close. My most expensive item and the most important imo, my herpstat. Then I built my own racks on a budget. Everything works great, snakes are healthy and breeding and due to saving so much on my setup, I was able to spend a lot more on my snakes. I'm thinking about dropping a few thousand on a ars hatchling rack in the spring so that will set my average cost per snake back a bit but I guess that will depend on how many hatchlings I produce lol.

LOL!!! Looks like it took off on #13 and here it is on #27. I read about 10 posts starting from 1/19/18 so I never noticed that it was started in 2016.

[Sonny1318]

Tanks, light fixtures, bulbs, water bowls, screen lids, acrylic covers, hides, temp gun, humidity gauge, humidifier, misc snake equipment (feeding tools, hook) shelving racks. Easily 150$ per snake. But after it’s just food, cleaning supplies and paper towels.

[WastelandExotics]

I can't believe how much some of you guys spend per snake, it's crazy to me because I'm very selective on my spending

I'm with rufretic on this one; it's literally baffling to see some of these figures and even more baffling to see that the majority of people spend $150+ per animal on just housing.

I mean, to each their own as far as what you're willing to spend on housing and it definitely depends on how you want to display your animals (tubs and racks vs. terrariums, etc.) but wowsers.

It seems obvious to me at least that the majority of people that keep more reptiles generally start needing to spend less on husbandry items - it's sort of like buying in bulk at Costco to illustrate my point a bit more.

[Regius_049]

I'm with rufretic on this one; it's literally baffling to see some of these figures and even more baffling to see that the majority of people spend $150+ per animal on just housing.

I don't think this is surprising at all. There is an old adage that says: "The enclosure will almost always cost more than the animal itself." Perhaps I am showing my age here.

Let's look at this from a bare minimum perspective, you would need:

1. A tub with latches, assuming you're housing a new baby: $2.78

2. Paper towels for bottom: $6.86

3. Under-tank heater (heat tape + connector): $2.20 + $3.48

4. Thermostat: $18.99

5. Polypropylene Hide boxes: $5.98

6. Water dish: $2.09

7. thermometer / hygrometer: $12.99

Total: $55.37

This is being as economical as I possibly can with a new baby snake and money spent on the setup only. I have not included the snake itself, food, cleaning supplies, potential shipping fees, or any other miscellaneous items that always come up when you do any project. This also assumes the snake is in a warm enough room and is heated sufficiently by the UTH itself. Caring for reptiles can be very inexpensive and relatively speaking, they require little care in comparison to other animals. That's why people can manage to have 100+ snakes, but the equivalent in other animals would be....difficult. However, the average person doesn't have this many (pretty sure there's another poll where most have a single snake or a few) and thus spend more on a nice setup as the snake grows. Tubs are great for breeders because they are economical in terms of space, but if you only have one or a couple animals, most keepers want them to look nice and be visible. They will also, over time, evolve to better setups that include cages like animal plastics (minimum $100-$200 investment) and thermostats like Herpstat, which run around $75-100 per probe depending on which model you get. In addition, many new keepers purchase a glass tank because that's what the pet store recommends, which needless to say, are more expensive than a $2.00 tub. These factors combined make it extremely easy to exceed the $150 threshold.

It baffles me that a ball python could be properly housed for < $25. Though, if you had a cheaper rack setup for hatchlings running on a single thermostat and divided the cost among say, a dozen snakes, you could probably manage it.