If you were in my shoes!

[sattva]

Ok guys I am not a rich man so I have to budget my money that I can channel into this hobby... I am trying to decide which way to go... George's final cage will be made out of white melamine and cost me roughly $350.oo... Also down the road I would like to get a couple of melamine cages that are more arboreal for Moe and Fred...

I am also looking at the Herpstat 6 at Herpstat 6 (Now Available!) - $395.10 : Spyder Robotics which might be a better place to put money at the moment...

I can see where I want to be in a few years from now but, I am not sure how fast George will grow; If he continues at his current rate of growth I am not to worried about him surprising me and out growing current cage...

So I guess my question here is, if I am feeding George {my retic} an appropriate size meal, every 7 days, could he have a growth spurt and out grow his cage in less then a year? Do they have growth spurts, or is it a slow consistent thing?

And if anybody has one of those Herpstat 6 I would love to hear what you think of it...

So if you could only save up, let's say a $100.oo a month, what would you be saving for?

[dannybgoode]

I'd get George in his adult viv and then you don't have to worry about getting caught unaware. Bear in mind a big viv like that will need an upgrade in the heating department so don't know if you've factored that into the $350.

But yes. I'd get his adult viv fully setup and then work toward the other stuff.

[EL Ziggy]

I'm inclined to agree with Danny. I'd square away the enclosure and then upgrade the accessories. I don't keep retics so I can't comment on their growth rates. I've only heard great things about Herpstats. I'm currently using individual t-stats for my vivs but I plan on transitioning to Herpstat 4s soon.

[dave himself]

Retics definitely take growth spurts Sattva

[sattva]

Originally Posted by dannybgoode

I'd get George in his adult viv and then you don't have to worry about getting caught unaware. Bear in mind a big viv like that will need an upgrade in the heating department so don't know if you've factored that into the $350.

No, your right! I hadn't factored in that... Whats everybody using for large snakes and enclosures?

Ya... Maybe I should get the enclosure first... I'm thinking you're right on that... I'm just not that happy with my current setup... Everybody in my snake room is on a rheostat, not a thermostat... Hell! I am the probes and thermostat... I am in there 10 times a day check temps with a temp gun... I keep all the rheostats on their lowest settings which gives them a hot spot of 90 or above... Then during the day everybody has at least a 60 watt light bulb which raises the hot side a few degrees... The cold sides seem to hover around 78 to 79 degrees, except last night when they dropped to 76 degrees... I have to say that most of my guys like the cold side... Sometimes I feel like I'm heating up the hot sides for nothing...
Last night it got down to 38 degrees outside, which in turned droped my snake room down to 72 degrees... Which got me thinking about having a little better control over their environment...

[sattva]

Originally Posted by EL Ziggy

I'm inclined to agree with Danny. I'd square away the enclosure and then upgrade the accessories. I don't keep retics so I can't comment on their growth rates. I've only heard great things about Herpstats. I'm currently using individual t-stats for my vivs but I plan on transitioning to Herpstat 4s soon.

Why would you get a 4 model over the 6? Just curious...

[dave himself]

By the way mate its entirely up to you what you do first but I would agree with Danny and Ziggy, that retic being fed every 7 days and hitting a couple of growth spurts could out grow his viv pretty quick , retics can be ridiculous when it comes to growth rates sorry was typing this as others were posting

[riddick07]

I'm using proheat panels. It was about $400 to heat an 8ft and 5ft enclosure. I'm getting the herpstat 4 for each retic cage. Two lights and two heating elements. I wasn't sure on getting the lights since I doubt I'll use them but yeah.

I would go with the cage too. You can use ceramic elements to heat the cage. I didn't because I don't like the look of them.

[EL Ziggy]

Originally Posted by sattva

Why would you get a 4 model over the 6? Just curious...

I've got my enclosures in 2 different rooms. If I put them all in one room they'd still be spaced far enough apart that it'll require 2 Herpstat 4s.

[dave himself]

The big viv I have for Jenny is 8x3x2 it's heated by two 250w CHE heaters running off microclimate 600 HT stat

[sattva]

Thanks guys! You've given me a lot to think about...

[dannybgoode]

Don't forget if you run ceramics you need to make sure they're guarded in some way. They get ferociously hot at the surface even when just ticking over.

[sattva]

Originally Posted by dannybgoode

Don't forget if you run ceramics you need to make sure they're guarded in some way. They get ferociously hot at the surface even when just ticking over.

Thanks Danny... I may have to go with them being the least expensive... We'll see how the money flows when I get down to it... but ya, wire cages I guess... I like the proheat panels that riddick was talking about but the price scares me! Thanks again...

[dave himself]

Originally Posted by sattva

Thanks Danny... I may have to go with them being the least expensive... We'll see how the money flows when I get down to it... but ya, wire cages I guess... I like the proheat panels that riddick was talking about but the price scares me! Thanks again...

I hate to be the bringer of bad news to you mate but everyone I've seen looking for guards for CHE heaters in the states have had to ship them in for high prices for some reason. The guards themselves are not that costly it seems to be the shipping cost that's the problem, so using proheat panels could work out cheaper in the long run, just check this out before you buy the CHEs, I hope I'm wrong though

[MartinD]

Heard the same thing Dave, people started making their own