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Best place to purchase hides, substrate, water dishes, humidity meter, UTH, etc.

TriggerHappy101

TriggerHappy101

New member
Well I just purchased my 40 gallon breeder Critter Cage and have it set up in my room. It is time to fill it up with stuff for a hatchling.

I was wondering where a good place I can purchase hides, substrate, water dishes, humidity meter, and a UTH (even maybe some fake leaves.) I don't care how long it takes to get here. I just want it to be cheap and cheap shipping.

Thanks for the help. :) Hopefully cccorns.com will sell some more corns soon!
 
reptilesupply.com is pretty good. a lot of their stuff is cheaper than other online retailers.
drsfostersmith.com is good too. they have stuff on clearance and on sale all the time. their shipping can be high though. it's well worth it though if you buy a bunch of stuff at once. it's expensive if you just buy one thing.
i also check out ebay now and then. sometimes people sell entire setups (UTH, bowls, plants, temp guages) for cheap.
 
There are a number of advertisements on site that you could look at. Also, your local pet shop should be able to provide you with everything you need, though hides can be as simple as a toilet paper roll.
 
I get my Zoomed uth's at www.petsmart.com real cheap (about $5.00 less than the store), with free shipping. (some of their items have free shipping, some don't.) Petco also has a website. I think their's is free shipping with a $50.00 or more purchase. lllreptile has a website with items, and then of course there are walk in stores.
For hatchling hides, I use either a coconut half hide that they sell for hermit crabs and rept's, and also chicken liver containers. Yes, you read that right. After sterilizing by putting them through the dishwasher, I just cut out an entry way for them. The ones I get are the perfect size, and they have a depression at the top where the snakes like to lay.
The rest of my decorations come from petsmart or petco. Some have mentioned getting silk plants from hobby shops, probably Walmart type stores also. Watch out for any protruding wires.
Aspen is by far the best substrate, as most here would agree.
 
If you're so inclined, wander the aisles at Wal-mart, Target, or hardware stores. Think like a cornsnake ... some place snug and dim.

Once you get some cool ideas in the garden center, housewares, pet section, wherever else, think like a human. Check your idea for chemical or physical hazards.

Right now, Contessa has a heavy, glazed 3-inch bowl half-filled with water for drinking/soaking/whatever she chooses. It came from the rodent section of the pet store. Her hides are cardboard toilet paper centers (empty) scattered around the warm and intermediate temp zones.

Her cool hide is the cardboard box the thermostat was shipped in - turned upside down, tape and labels removed, flaps cut off, and a 1-inch notch in one corner for access. It's a bit big at 4"x6"x3" right now. If it gets messy before she outgrows it, I can toss it and find another.

Good luck!
 
I agree with Kitty on most things. Walmart and similar stores are great for cheap but durable hides (think those dog and cat water dishes with the indentation handles... those are perfect for snake hides)... Aspen is available there too.

Up until recently, they (Walmart) were good for UTH in the form of heating pads, but now they've started carrying only the auto-shutoff version, which makes them useless for snake heaters.

-Kat
 
Most of my hides didn't come from pet stores :p. I use flower pots, boxes, paper towel tubes (they love these), and greenery which came from the craft store. In the pet store don't look at only the reptile hides. A lot of the ones designed for rodents/fish work well for snakes and, for some reason, tend to be cheaper. Same goes for water dishes. All of mine have rodent/dog bowls. Just think like a snake and decide what it would like.
 
I forgot another thing I use. My water bowls double as another hide. I get small plastic dog water bowls ($1.99 - 2.99 at Petsmart), that are kind of hollow inside and have 2 little cut outs at the bottom so they can zoom right in. I've also seen some people make amzing hides out of different colored sculpey type clays, that they bake in the oven.
 
Thanks for the links and advice guys. I want my viv to look like a natural setting so I wont be using dog bowls and such.

I will check out thouse links you provided me.

It seems that my petstore is obsessed with Exo Terra products and they are all over priced. (15 bucks for a 5 inch half log of bark? I think NOT!)
 
oh yeah, the water bowls are the best! i got a hamster sized one from the local pet store for 99 cents for Guinness. he likes to hide under it. and it's easy to clean, i just put it in the dishwasher with the other dogs' and cats' bowls once a week.
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his warm hide is an empty Sudafed box. his cool hide is a toilet paper roll. they really love these.
and they're disposable! nothing to clean. great for hatchlings.
 
I know you want a naturalistic setting, but think of this. What works for a hatchling won't work for an adult and vice versa. Snakes like tight places to hide, and you will have to constantly be upgrading for the first couple of years of your snake's life.

What I would suggest is that you go with toilet tissue rolls and small boxes first, and as your snake gets bigger, then you can use the naturalistic looking ones. This will also give you plenty of time to find what you really want.

In the meantime, you can hide those tissue rolls with fake leaves from Wa-mart.
 
Its your pet - if you want to go natural, have a blast! :cheers:
Some of the snake's decor needs will change as your snake gets older, but if you only have one or two - why not go for it and just change it when the need arises. Btw, I'm guessing that the reason the petstore is mad about exoterra is because its so dang expensive. They probably make good money on that stuff. There's certainly nothing wrong with exoterra products though.
 
If your going for a natural look, hit up either Wally World, or a craft supply store like Michael's or something for fake plants.

I think i paid $10 total at Michael's for two fake lilac branches and fake piece of ivy. They look pretty real and the snake digs them. Im sure you could come up with a couple things for hides while your there also.
 
Yeah I think ill just go with the toilit paper rolls untill he/she grows up.

Ill keep this thread in mind when I am read to upgrade.
 
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