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Warning!!This could happen to your pet!!

Sonny, I apologize for leading you to believe that I, or others were "ganging" up on you. You mentioned in your response that it could happen to anyone; you said a faulty socket or your house burning down could happen to you. Yes, that is true, however, those are mitigating circumstances BEYOND your control; providing a rheostat or a proportional thermostat for your snake is not beyond your control, that is something that you can, and SHOULD control. It is unfortunate that your snake is in distress and had to have surgery, and I truly am sorry for that. Things happen, and I'm sure that after 18 years something will happen to one of my balls, but rest assured, it will be from manufacturer default and not personal neglect.
 
First, I'm very sorry to hear about the retic. It looks from the second pic that it's doing somewhat better, and I'm glad for that.

Second, although I don't want to get into the blame game here, this incident should serve as a reminder to everyone to break in a new setup for a day or two to make sure temps and everything are alright before introducing the animal. Some have made the point to use a controller of some sort, which is true, but the more important point is to test the entire setup. Some heat controllers including rheostats and some on/off thermostats do not work on some lower wattage heat sources. As a matter of fact, I used two of ZooMed's own brand of (shoddily made, overpriced) rheostats on two different UTHs of theirs, and neither one functioned with their own UTH. (Tested both rheostats on each UTH.)

Third: ZooMed UTHs suck. Period. They get well over 120 to 130 very quickly, and are not suitable for reptiles. You're better off with plain old human heat pads, which rarely get near 100 on the lowest setting, or with T-Rex cobra mats or properly installed heat tape.

Again, I hope the snake continues to recover.
 
Human heat pads

Where do you get them at?I have looked and looked and all they sell around here are the ones that shut themselfs off after I think 4 hours?I have looked at walmart,kmart,dollar stores.And have found the same thing they shut down after so many hours?

Thanks For your time,
 
Mostly Wal-Mart or Target. Mine run 24/7. They're the Sunbeam brand.
 
Walgreens also sells human heat pads that don't shut off. I agree that the Zoo med heat pads get too hot. I have measured mine at 130+.
 
I would always use some type of on/off temp control device. Regardless the cost of the snake no animal should suffer or end up burned. There is very little I trust when it comes to my snakes and while I don't have many now I have started needing to use heat.

I use two Ranco's (I think there is info on buying them at a low cost on my site) that can be had for as little as $45 each if you're a student, or so I've heard.

Anyway, I use one in the tank that I like to keep at about 82 degrees so the mat is turned off when the tank reaches that temp and and I use one on the pad itself set at 95 degrees just in case the temps spike to 150 for 2 minutes and the tank hasen't heated up yet.

I've never been happy using dimmers and they seem like the fail rates are high enough on them that I'd stay away. However, they are MUCH better then nothing.

If nothing else I'm glad to see the snake is well.

Adam Block
 
I dont trust any heat mat

I just heat the whole snake house to 80 degrees.
then use spot lights the reptile can go or returen to the warm area as needed.
I have a box of old heat devices and dont use them junk.
 
Bean Farm carries a few different dimmer switches that can be hard wired as a rheostat.
Adam Wolford

meretseger said:
Where are you getting those dimmers? I've searched up and down hardware stores looking for one that plugs into a socket and have had no luck. All they have are the ones made to wire into an outlet. If you could even point out a webpage for me, that would be great.

Erin B.
Click to expand...
 
I would just like to tell everyone that I know Sonny personally, have seen his animals personally, and have discussed in depth with him all manner of reptile goings on. The one thing I Can say for sure are his animals are well fed, well cared for, and are gorgeous animals in person. If he says he has gone 18 years without a malfunction, I believe him. I personally have gone 5 years with no malfunction of a heat pad. I have had flexwatt malfunctions, 2 of them, and 2 of my friends had one malfunction each. All of it on the silver colored heat tape, the copper colored stuff is rock solid, at least for us. Bout all I have to say on it.
Adam Wolford
 
Sorry to hear about your snake, but you could have put it on a rheostat at least. Those things get HOT!
Also, were you monitoring the temps on the floor at all?

IAN
 
I am on my 5th or 6th year with the zoo med UTH.
At this point in time I have 36 of them being used.

I would never use any UTH without at least a dimmer. Of the 36 I use, 6 are controlled by a dimmer, and the other 30 are controlled by 6 thermostats.

The reason I still use these overpriced heat mats is because I have yet to have one problem.
 
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