Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok well i did my research anda lot of people say its ok to use the heat pad for about a year. My plan is to keep him in the fish tank until he is 4 foot then he goes to a cage offline sliding doors with built in heat tape and its 6'x3' for my malke burm if i need bigger in the future. This cage is only temporary until 4-5 foot range hes only 22". I do not as i repeat have money to buy a nice non fishtank cage right now and only use it for about 6 months until he hits 4 foot. No point. I do listewn to everyones advise but i talk to many people who use human pads and they do fine. Tell me your advise pon this

Ok i have my 30"x12"x18" cage coverd 2/3 of the way so good ventilation. Then i have a human pad covering half of the tank. its under the tank. this will be on from 6 am to 8 pm which bring hot side to 92 and cool side to 82 . at 8pm it is shut off then temps drop to about 78-80 until the pad goes back on. the light in my room is also on from 6 to 8 for lighting the cage up. He has 2 hides and a good size water dish and im still seciding whether to keep the carpet or get newspaper. Please give me advise on my setup thank you. Also i have a duimmer for the pad and i have a digital thermometer on the hot side floor telling me the floor temp is 92.

First off I think it is extremely irresponsible to purchase an animal with out having adequate funds to properly care for it. I am sorry if this is harsh but it is true and all to often animals are bought as novelties and they suffer due to it. If you are not willing to properly care for the animal then get rid of it.
I am not going to comment on the fact that you are using a fish tank. Myself and Rob both have told you why not to use it and obviously you do not care enough about the snake to consider our advice. I am not saying you should go out and buy a $400 plus cage but you should atleast think about building one if you can not front the cost of a prefab cage.
and once again you asked about the heating pad and three seperate people have told you against it yet you still plan on using them. What is wrong with you man. Are you SLOW. There are many people that have successfully played russian roulette does that mean you want to try. Same thing with the heating pad. They are not designed to be used all the time or for 8-12 hours at a time. They will overheat and short circuit eventually. It is a serious safety hazard and if you can not understand this then I can not help you. Once again, Carpet sucks for bedding. you shouldn't even still be considering it. I do not know what to say. If you want to just get KUDOS for your setup that is fine but your set up is not good. If you want KUDOS then fix it and everyone will say that it is great and what a lucky snake you have but under the present condition and your attitude I feel sorry for it. Sorry I am so harsh but it really irks me when someone asks for advice and then debates and disregards more experienced people that respond. Todd

Sorry Mike, I don't think your going to get the acceptance you want under the present circumstances. Todd gets a bit riled up but he REALLY (and I mean REALLY) cares about all of these animals. We (you and I) need that. This forum is designed to provide the best possible care for these pets through education. Bascially what your doing is asking the teacher for the answers, then when he gives you the answer, you still put down the wrong answer. You will fail the test this way my man.

It looks like you took the plunge and got yerself a burm. This baby is counting on you to take care of it's every need. I started the same way. I purchased a baby burm from a friend of mine on an impulse and was not ready for it. I was ready mentally and physically but not educationaly(Is that a word?). I knew nothing about burms except that I'd wanted one for a long time. I provided heat, ventilation, water and the little dude died. I was even in the process of building him a nice cage from a dresser, posted previously. I felt like crap because I let him down. I did not provide what he needed for life and he died because of it.

At least purchase the proper under cage heating for safety and work on a more suitable cage. Be resourceful. Skip a few value meals or movie and give your pet what he really needs. These guys are going to be hard on you BUT, when I look back, the hardest teachers I had turned out to be the best!

Good Luck!

DZ

If you are so worried about not spending money on it use a plastic box and make it escap proof by doing a little work on it. Drill holes in it. Buy an undertank heater for like $15. I think the absolute least you will spend on this hsould be like $30 or so. If that is to much then shame on you for geting the thing. You can buy plastic storage boxes with clip on lids and drill hoies thru the top into the side of the box and you can tie soem kind of wire (I use electic fence wire) on it. If you are going to do this I will go into more detail but I figure you have your mind set and there is nothing we can do to change it.
-----
Justin