Reptile & Amphibian Forums

2 people told me balls need UV light....

No employees could help w/ heat cable, & they don't sell it.

2 people told me it's perfectly fine to share cages w/ balls...

A Z.M. heat pad was $33. I said "whatttttt???? I can get that for half price at LLL." They said to copy the LLL ad & they would match the price if it is the exact item.

They told me to go to Home Depot for heat cable. Um, where am I supposed to get good advice for installing the heat cable???

Of course no one there could tell me jack crap about the rheostat either.

I can build the rack. But I am still stuck about installing heat. One very kind person emailed me a ton of great pix of their racks, and said they only use ambiant heat from the room. I don't have my room individually zoned, so that is not an option.

I never realized it was going to be this difficult to get advice about heat.

The guy I got my #1 snake from is anti-rack & anti-tub & actually asked me if there is a way I can cut holes on the tubs & use the red heat light. Um no, that defeats the purpose of a rack system.

If you are a heat installer pro, lol, email me. Thanks!!

Does the Petsmart info or lack thereof, surprise you? Who named them PetSMART anyhow?

It's Pet's Mart not Pet Smart. They don't imply they are smart, just that they play with the animal toys first.

I HATE Petsmart.
I went into one once...
and I made the mistake of asking if they sold feeder mice.
The kid looked at me like I just called his mother some words I can't use in the forum and said "We don't sell FEEDER mice here!"

I said "Then I don't spend MONEY here" and walked out.
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"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

I am going to use heat pads & plug them into the BAH-1000 Thermostat (1000 Watt Triple Plug-In) from BAH.

Maybe the next rack will be fancy. lol

What exactly are you trying to do? I am assuming that you have a rack that you made? Do you want heat tape ran through it that will be hooked to a thermostat? If you want email me ill send you some pics and try and walk you through it ...
Kim
N.A.R.C

UV light for ball pythons? My goodness. I wonder how a nocturnal animal in the wild gets the UV it needs?!! We should go out to the wild and save them!

I actually am kind of mean when I discover petstores that have employees that are disturbingly lacking in pet knowledge. A lot of employees will make stuff up on the spot. I've been told that ball pythons are from south america, europe, and even china! They also don't grow any larger than 2 feet, ever, and can live on bugs if you're not comfortable feeding them rodents. Then, I've also heard that ball pythons get up to 20 feet and eat small children, and aren't I worried that my snake will get out and strangle me in my sleep?

Good luck!!

~jenny
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1.4 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, Periscope, and dah bebbies)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 mice (Cute Girl Mousy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
0.0.5 tropical fish (tetras and a neon blue gourami)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
3.0 horses (Buddy, Sam, and Scout)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
0.0.1 chupacabra (it ate our chickens)

jenny.thegreenes.org

Didn't ya know, they get the UV light from the reflection of the sun off the moon. And yes, I had to get rid of my 15 foot BP when it ate my pitt-bull and then started looking at my brothers kids. But I love my dwarf BP that will only get as big as the 10 gal. tank he has been in for 5 years now. And tahnk God for the cricket eaters. I just put them in with the bearded dragons and leopard geckos when they don't finish all theirs.

But on a slightly serious side. Lack of information is where I have picked up some real good deals. If they don't know what they got, I'm not telling.
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Lead us not into temptation. We can find it on our own.

heating racks is extremely easy and forget rheostats, they are just a fancy name for a dimmer. you need to get a thermostat with a probe.

rheostats(dimmers) are only moderately feasible if ur surrounding environment's temperature remains the same.

this guy's website was really helpful when i was installing my heat tape

http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/flexwire.shtml

however, i don't recommend any heat tape more than 3 inches wide. IMO, anything wider than that poses a very real fire hazard(even though i've had the smaller diameter tape short and burn holes in tubs)

when making your rack, or if you've already made it, try to avoid heavy friction on the tape(if u can). this wears on the "protective" plastic and is how my short happened.