saving money

[reptile_dude]

One of the main things that hold us reptile keepers back is the expenses.
I'd like to know some tips about saving money on reps Eg: electrical, feeding, substrates, supplements, accessories e.t.c. for large and small collections of herps. thankyou

[luke123]

using lower watts on things where possible

[Harrison]

Look in the "Equipment" area of the forums because there is a great bargain thread there right now which will save you LOTS of money.

[gregmonsta]

In a homebuilt stack you can keep the heat well with radiator insulation foil from B&Q. A 10m 100watt heat cable on a pulse stat can give a warm spot to four large vivs and be backed up with four 25watt spots connected in series on one dimmer stat. .... that's four vivs nice and warm using only 200watts.

[Pliskens_Chains]

Originally Posted by gregmonsta

In a homebuilt stack you can keep the heat well with radiator insulation foil from B&Q. A 10m 100watt heat cable on a pulse stat can give a warm spot to four large vivs and be backed up with four 25watt spots connected in series on one dimmer stat. .... that's four vivs nice and warm using only 200watts.

got any tips on building a stack like that? im interested on saving money too

[fantapants]

our royal stack is heated with heat cable. actually works really well. we have 5 vivs in it and got the longest cable that renacor make. we ran it through each viv and made a zig zag area on the right hand side of each viv, so the cable was spaced approx 1 1/2inches apart on each row. we had enough to heat a third of each viv and then connected it to a stat.

the stack probably cost us £120 in wood and inculding glass, runners vents etc and is 6ft tall x 3 ft wide. the heater cable and stat took the price up to £180. add a few new hides and bowls etc and you are looking at £200 for 5 spanking new vivs, all up and running. bargain if you ask me. and the heater cable is MUCH cheaper to run than even heat mats.

another good money saver is to have wooden vivs instead of glass as they retain the heat much better.

breed your own food, we breed roaches for the lizards and frats for the royals. we also send the kids out collecting weeds for the beardies and tortoises so we dont have to pay for salad.

i dont buy ANYTHING that says reptile on the packet, unless its something important like a stat. substrate is free in the form of newspaper. or get some horse bedding like aubiose (depending on the animal), its about £8 a huge sack and can be composted.

hides and water bowls can be collected from poundland and are easy to clean, i just put mine on a hot wash in the dishwasher. broken paving slabs (scrubbed) make great basking rocks for beardies and rough surfaces for sankes, as do fruit tree branches, rocks and potted plants (again, depends on species requirements). plastic plants can be found in "tat shops", florists, bargain shops etc. garden centres can be a great source of natural looking ornaments too.

the main expense for us is the leccy bill, and as much as we have tried to economise, the reptule running costs is still about £35 a week! but if i went to the petshop or reptile suppliers for everything i use i would be paying about £100 a week for the lot.

so yes, you can save TONS of money!

[reptile_dude]

Wow some excelent ideas there, 35.00 a week is great.
does anyone use solar power? I was reading that on the latest solar panels you can save up to 35% on your energy bill!!!

[Pleco07]

I save a lot of money by breeding my own livefood, making hides etc, looking in the woods for branches etc.

and as tinkerbruce said

Originally Posted by tinkerbruce

i dont buy ANYTHING that says reptile on the packet, unless its something important like a stat. substrate is free in the form of newspaper. or get some horse bedding like aubiose (depending on the animal), its about £8 a huge sack and can be composted.

[Meko]

Originally Posted by reptile_dude

Wow some excelent ideas there, 35.00 a week is great.
does anyone use solar power? I was reading that on the latest solar panels you can save up to 35% on your energy bill!!!

you can but it takes YEARS to start seeing the saving from it as its expensive to fit.

[gregmonsta]

Originally Posted by Pliskens_Chains

got any tips on building a stack like that? im interested on saving money too

This is my main Idea .... my everglades will go in the bottom but you can configure the height of the vivs to whatever you want .... to use the smaller spots in series you'll want them all the same size.
Been checking prices and ... if I use plexi-glass instead of glass to begin with (keeping the costs down) then I reckon I could build this for less than £200.



This is what I've figured so far .... if I go ahead with the hardboard subfloor with 2mm holes. I'll be lining it with radiator foil and using 10meters of heat cable. Running between the vivs in the indicated corner and then hidden behind more holey hardboard lol. This will be pulse statted to 30Celcius.
In the bottom viv I'll be using a 100watt red spot bulb for penelope (everglades ratsnake) as it's the biggest viv and this will be dimmer statted to keep the cool end at about 20Celcius.
The 'smaller vivs will get 25watt spots and will be wired in series to another dimmer stat.