Starting Out

Hey all,

I'm looking for some advice on setting up a few things. Currently, I have a bearded dragon in his own (and very large) cage I built. I've been breeding roaches (dubia) for him in rubbermaids, but they tend to get neglected since I hide them under the bearded's cage.

The other part is that I just won a couple of corn snakes (my first snakes!) from an online contest, and would like to get everything setup together. I have four 10 gallon aquariums I'd like to use (from previous fish setups) to house them (meaning the corns and the roaches) initially.

I'm looking at having them all setup on this rack (already own it):
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...824&lpage=none

The rack is split into two, mid-level workbench-height racks. Ideally, setup in my basement, one for the more consistent temperatures, and two, the roommates aren't big fans of snakes and roaches.

I'd have them all setup with 4" Flexwatt, and probably the Herpstat ND. Here's a little diagram of my intended setup, although not exactly to scale.

How old are the corn snakes? because as adults they'll need atleast a 20 gal. Also the rubbermaid is better for the roaches. They like the dark. I breed hissersin an opake rubbermaid tub with a heating pad underneath. Roaches wont breed much, if at all, unless its dark

The corns are still young, hatched on Sept 7, 2007. I just dislike the rubbermaids (even though so many people use them). Maybe I'll just have to find some different size tubs. I just bought a ton of paper egg trays, got tired of scavenging orange trays from the supermarket.

Also, it may just have been an illustration issue, but you might want to think about using belly heat instead of putting the flexwatt on the side of the tanks.

You spotted it correctly (my picture had it on the side). Would the belly heat better? I thought since they lack the heat sensing nerves on their underside, it was a bad thing. (ie - similar to why heat rocks are bad) Also, would 1 strip of 4" flexwatt on the underside of half of the tank be enough?

I prefer belly heat, because that way you are heating the actual substrate, rather than the air inside the tank. Belly heat is also easier to regulate and maintain stable temps, due to the fact that the heated air will exchange with the ambient air in the room. I would think 4" heat tape would work.