Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know she meant well but i was kind of disappointed.
I have two het for albino balls that I purchased about 4 months ago. I have owned other reptiles but never a snake until now.

So the other day I come home from work
and my gf tells me she was at the pet store getting food for her snakes and figured she would just feed them all.

I enjoy feeding them and was sad that one of the few things I was going to do the next day on my day off was already done.

A few min later I notice that one of the heat panels is flipped upside down and is sitting on top of the other heat panel.

Then I realize that the thermostat...is in the tank that is no longer getting heat which meant its pumping more heat into the other tank...so as I'm running over to the tank I ask how long ago she fed them...and I find out its been at least 4 hours

luckily he seems fine and I quickly corrected the setup
needless to say I will be purchasing another thermostat for the 2nd enclosure. I thought that since both tanks are identical setups side by side it would be safe to use one thermostat as long as I was careful. I didn't think about the fact that anyone else might be messing with things without thinking about what they were doing

Thank goodness your snake(s) were fine! Heh, my family and friends don't even offer to help - they know if I really need it I'll ask, but otherwise they don't want to mess with em.

Hopefully you don't have a scare again!

~jenny
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"The python has, and I fib no fibs,
318 pairs of ribs.
In stating this I place reliance
On a seance with one who died for science
This figure is sworn to and attested,
He counted them while being digested."
~Ogden Nash

jenny.thegreenes.org

"If you're happy and you know it,
Bomb Iraq!
If you cannot find Osama,
Bomb Iraq!
If the terrorists are frisky,
Pakistan is looking shifty,
North Korea is too risky,
Bomb Iraq!

4 hours with no heat should not be a problem unless it's mid winter, If your snakes are kept well they should be more resilient than to have any problems from that anyway. And if you're all set up correctly, your snakes should also have places to escape excess heat. So all in all you should be fine

the problem was that the tank that did not have heat has the thermostat probe that controls the heat to both tanks.

So for 4 hours the thermostat was running both heat panels @ full power.

The hot spot in the tank was 130 degrees Fahrenheit or more(I think it was 140 or so but I don't remember for certain)

well yeah that's pretty impressive, although I'm sure some basking spots in africa will most certainly reach that, and the snake also had a while to acclimate to high temperature during the heat up. So I would imagine that they realized something was changing. But all in all I think you should thank your girlfriend for her help, since most are not as cool as helping you care for your snakes, and try to figure out a new heating method, haha.

Yea he was down in his log in the coolest part of the tank. When I checked the temp it was fine down where he was at but by the time I checked the temp it had been a few min with the heat panel off the tank completely to cool off the hot spot so I don't know for sure.

Only kidding :0)

I thought you were gonna say she offered them dog food or something outrageous!

I wish someone would offer to feed my snakes once in a while.
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You all talk Balls,I talk Royals ;0)
www.alpharoyals.co.uk

I recommend always using thermostats with alarms.

If my temps get more than 1.5 degrees off, I have a loose probe or failed flexwatt and need to know about it. This has saved a rack of seven snakes.

Actually why would you be upset with her for taking the initiative to feed and care for your animals? You should actualyl and probably be quite thankful to to her for doing that for you unless you told her not to which I am assuming you didnt.

Now for the thermostat mixup.....thats your fault. Dont be upset at her for your rigging the enclosures that way........I'm not coming own on you......Im just helping youi direct the blame at the correct person.

Jared H

Hah, good point.
-----
"The python has, and I fib no fibs,
318 pairs of ribs.
In stating this I place reliance
On a seance with one who died for science
This figure is sworn to and attested,
He counted them while being digested."
~Ogden Nash

jenny.thegreenes.org

"If you're happy and you know it,
Bomb Iraq!
If you cannot find Osama,
Bomb Iraq!
If the terrorists are frisky,
Pakistan is looking shifty,
North Korea is too risky,
Bomb Iraq!

I disagree. I really believe that if you dont know what you are doing, dont do it. Though, that is probably because I mess anything put unless I have instructions tatooed onto the inside of my eye lids.
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Burm baby burm...

I didn't say I was upset.
I was disappointed that I didn't get to feed them myself because I enjoy feeding them every week on my day off like I always do.

And yes i am totally aware of the fact that I am the one that set it up that way, and that part is my fault. Thats why I mentioned that I would be getting another thermostat...because I recognized my mistake and will be fixing it.

However another person being irresponsible is not my fault. She knows how everything works and she has owned and cared for snakes much longer then I have. She should have made sure the heat was put back correctly because not thinking about stuff like that is a good way to burn down your home & kill your pets and/or other people(if it creates a fire).

my point of posting about it wasn't to complain about my gf, it was actually to point out my mistake and maybe make other people think about things that I didn't.