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I just bought an older viv from a woman who used to run a pet shop. She housed a Retic Python in it. I have a Boa and had a question on how to heat it. I have never used anything but heat lamps and ceramic heat emitters. I don't know how old it is, or even what it's made of. I know this might sound stupid, but I'm pretty sure it's plastic. It's super light weight and I'm afraid that if I use a heat mat, or heat tape that it will melt the exterior of the viv. It's a tannish color with dual sliding glass on the front.
I have only used glass tanks up until now to house all my reps, however, buying a glass tank big enough for my 7 foot Boa would have been astronomically expensive. The price on this viv was perfect and it is definately big enough for her. I feel like a total idiot when it comes to this topic. I'm not new to owning snakes and reps, but I don't exactly know what to do. Could anyone direct me??
Also, another quick question while I'm at it... Currently my girl uses a Anchor Hocking casserole dish as a water dish... It's too shallow for her to soak in anymore. Does anyone recommend anything else?
Thanks for reading my novel and look forward to your responses!

Sounds like a Neodesha cage (now sold by Bush Herpetological).

What you need is a heat pad of appropriate size which you will plug into either a rheostat (dimmer) or a proportional thermostat. That will prevent the heat pad from getting to its max temperature and allow you to control the temperature above the head pad.

But the Neodesha/Bush cages can generally tolerate the high temperatures of a heat pad even at high power.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

Thanks! It's just nice to know that I'm not going to come home to a half melted cage and a burnt up Boa. That would really be sucky! I've never used a dimmer switch with a heat source before. How does it work?? I already have a temp regulator, though. Do I use them together? And are you talking about the simple dimmer that you can buy for an overhead light, like the one kind that replaces your light switch or something else?? I'm so confused about this whole thing! hehe It makes me feel like I don't know what I'm talking about when it comes to herps... AH!

>I already have a temp regulator, though. Do I use them >together?

What do you mean by a "temperature regulator"? I suspect that is some form of rheostat.

There are thermostats, which turn the power on and off when it reaches a particular temperature, and then there are rheostats, which reduce the flow of electricity to the heat source all the time. Dimmer switches are simply a form or rheostat designed to work with incandescent lights. So with a rheostat, you can reduce power to the heat pad until the temps are right.

A regular wall mount light dimmer would work, although you would have to wire it yourself.

The kind of rheostats I use are plug-in lamp dimmers. You plug it into the wall and plug the heat source into it. It is kind of like an extension cord, except that there is an adjustable "slider" on the cord that allows me to reduce the power flowing through to the heat tape.

There is also a form of rheostat "designed" particulary for the herp hobby. These rheostats are sold by Zoomed and other herp companies (like here - www.petguys.com/-097612370200.html). You can often find them at larger pet stores and they are priced about the same as the inline lamp dimmers so they are a reasonably good deal.

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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

Ahh. Now I get it. I have the former. I should get the latter. I always wondered what the difference was... Now I sound like a complete idiot! hehe I'm setting up the new viv this weekend, so I'll pick up a rheostat while I'm out and about this week. One more question, though. The only piece of furniture I have that's big enough for the viv is my coffee table. If I put the heat tape or mat on the bottom, do I have to worry about burning the wooden table it's on? Or should I put it on the side on the end of the viv?

You should tape (use aluminum foil tape for great results) the heater to the underside of the cage. Then, prop the cage up with either wood spacers (i.e. 1x2's, etc) or bumpers used for furniture. You really don't want the heater sandwiched between the cage and a wood top with no airspace.

I guess that it's common sense to leave air space, huh? Are you talking about aluminum heating tape to put under the viv, or a heating mat held in place by aluminum tape?

>>I guess that it's common sense to leave air space, huh? Are you talking about aluminum heating tape to put under the viv, or a heating mat held in place by aluminum tape?

I meant aluminum tape to hold the heat pad onto the cage underside.

I've used hook & loop fasteners (i.e. "Velcro" to hold it on there too. That works well if you don't want to use the tape. In fact, you may find this method quicker and definitely easier to remove the heat pad for any reason. Don't know why I always mention aluminum tape and forget to mention the Velcro.

You may use a lamp dimmer to manually adjust the heat output. However, if you plan to house this snake for a long time, investing in a proportional controller will really be worth the cost of $120 or so to get one. See www.mgreptiles.com for a number of effective temperature controllers.

Good luck with the boa!

Cool. Thanks for the website info. The viv that I bought will be her permanent home, unless I suddenly come into a butt-load of money and decide to buy her something a little more aesthetically pleasing. Highly doubtful, but nice to dream about. I will definately look into getting soemthing with proportional heating. Plus, the night drop feature is pretty neat! Thanks again. I think I'm all set to get everything I need!

The person you've been conversing with seems to have a good handle on the heating issue so I'll just chip in on the water source. Go to the store and buy a cat litter box. Wash it well a few times to get rid of the plastic smell and put water in it. I have 4 large boas (1.1 Surinams, 0.2 Commons) and use cat boxes with all of them. My Carpet Pythons also love the one in their cage and suprisingly will soak in it from time to time. Hope this helps!

See, all you herpers are quite the inventists! Thanks for the recommendation. I'll pick one of those up too. I am currently using an Anchor Hocking casserole dish that I found in my closet. It's super heavy glass and she can't tip it, but she likes to push it around for some reason... Her viv is getting set up either today or tomorrow, so I'll post a pick when it's all up and running!