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Heating Questions

A

al5766

New member
Hi-

I was into snakes for quite awhile until a couple years ago when I went through a horrible pregnancy and had to rehome my guys. The baby is now
over a year old and we're not having more (I have 7 and I'm getting too old
to be having babies..LOL). I really missed my snakes so I'm starting my collection over again. My first love has always been corns, and I currently have one beautiful male normal corn and a male Ball Python. I don't want a huge collection but space is an issue non the less. I've always wanted to make my own rack, so I've been rereading the threads about it. I basically know what I want but have a couple questions. There was a thread at one point in time that showed exactly how to wire heat tape, with pictures and such. I've searched and can't find it. Is it still out there? Can anyone give me the link?
2nd, I've been reading up on different thermostats. Some are really expensive and some aren't. What is the scoop here? If I will only having about 6 cages on the rack, is something like this ok?:

http://www.bigappleherp.com/BAH-100-Thermostat-500-Watt-Rated-Easy-Plug-In-Design

I want it to work, and if I have to go with a more expensive model I will. But, if I don't saving money is always good. :) Oh, the Ball needs a little higher temp than the corns, correct? Sorry if I'm asking something that isn't directly related to corns, I'm not sure if the question is allowed or not. I would need two thermostats or is there a model that can handle two things at once. I really never used a thermostat when I owned the snakes before. I always had a probe thermometer in there with them and the room never varied in temps much except during the change of the seasons. I would then just adjust as needed. I'm a stay at home Mom as well, so I was always around to check temps. However this time, I want to be more accurate and be 100% sure I'm getting the temps right all the time.

Thank you for any help, I really appreciate it.

Laura
 
al5766 said:
Hi-

I was into snakes for quite awhile until a couple years ago when I went through a horrible pregnancy and had to rehome my guys. The baby is now
over a year old and we're not having more (I have 7 and I'm getting too old
to be having babies..LOL). I really missed my snakes so I'm starting my collection over again. My first love has always been corns, and I currently have one beautiful male normal corn and a male Ball Python. I don't want a huge collection but space is an issue non the less. I've always wanted to make my own rack, so I've been rereading the threads about it. I basically know what I want but have a couple questions. There was a thread at one point in time that showed exactly how to wire heat tape, with pictures and such. I've searched and can't find it. Is it still out there? Can anyone give me the link?
2nd, I've been reading up on different thermostats. Some are really expensive and some aren't. What is the scoop here? If I will only having about 6 cages on the rack, is something like this ok?:

http://www.bigappleherp.com/BAH-100-Thermostat-500-Watt-Rated-Easy-Plug-In-Design

I want it to work, and if I have to go with a more expensive model I will. But, if I don't saving money is always good. :) Oh, the Ball needs a little higher temp than the corns, correct? Sorry if I'm asking something that isn't directly related to corns, I'm not sure if the question is allowed or not. I would need two thermostats or is there a model that can handle two things at once. I really never used a thermostat when I owned the snakes before. I always had a probe thermometer in there with them and the room never varied in temps much except during the change of the seasons. I would then just adjust as needed. I'm a stay at home Mom as well, so I was always around to check temps. However this time, I want to be more accurate and be 100% sure I'm getting the temps right all the time.

Thank you for any help, I really appreciate it.

Laura
Click to expand...

Hi Laura! Welcome back to the hobby!

I couldn't find that thread either, but here's what I did find:
http://www.beanfarm.com/store/agora.cgi?cart_id=8115419.10090&product=Heating&user4=Flexwatt
If you go to the bottom of any of the products, there's a link to several info sheets.

As for the thermostat, the expensive ones you saw were probably Helix or Spyder brands. These are generally considered to be the best in the business. They're also proportional thermostats, instead of the on/off variety. As for the model you picked out, I have one, and it's working for me so far.

Because your BP(s?) and corn(s?) ;) need different temperatures, here's how I would wire the heat tape: Figure out beforehand who/what you want to have in each bin. Wire your tape for BPs and your tape for Corns separately, and have each species on it's own thermostat. So even if you have 4 corns and 2 BPs, you would need two thermostats. Does that make sense? I kinda did a weird job explaining, so if you need more, let me know.

Best of luck, and let's see pics!
 
Hi- and thanks for the quick reply. You make perfect sense. :) That's kind of what I was thinking and it will work fine. As soon as I decided to get back into snakes it seems like I'm finding all sorts of homeless snakes. LOL I picked up the adult Ball Python earlier last week (family was moving to FL and claims they couldn't keep him-he's calm, health, ect). And then over the weekend I found someone selling an adult corn really inexpensive. Well, couldn't turn that down, now could I? Then, I had put an ad on craigslist about our famly getting back into snakes and wanting some sort of mellow adult snake. So, next Tues, we're getting 2 black rat snakes that a families teenagers have had for a few years but claim to no longer have the time for. They claim they are tame and calm. They don't know the sexes but there is a reptile shop here that will sex for $5 a snake, not a problem. :) And then tonight, I entered a contest being run by Big Easy Reptiles and low and behold I won two more snakes. :dancer: I was 2nd place so I'm still waiting to hear which pair I"m getting. All in all the only snake I paid anything for was the adult corn and he was only $25. And of course the shipping on the snakes I just won. And of course the housing expenses for everyone. I guess it was just the right time to get back into the hobby. LOL

Sorry for the long followup...kind of got off topic. I'm still realing from winning those two snakes tonight. Can't sleep. LOL Thanks again for the advice.

Laura
 
Thanks Rich...it's been an exciting couple of weeks. I bookmarked that info. I'm going to start this rack within the next couple weeks. And try to get pictures up when my stubborn camera decides it wants to work.

Laura
 
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