Reddit reviews Nubee NUB8550H Digital Infrared Thermometer -58°F~ 1022°F with Adjustable Emissivity & Max Display Non-Contact Temperature Gun with Laser Thermometer for Cooking Meat Kitchen Refrigerator Pool Oven

I guess people want to know a little more. There's plenty of tutorials online, so do some google work if you want a more in-depth description.

Materials/Tools:

• Kydex V .080" (I got 12"x12" 8pack on amazon)
  
• Balsa wood (local hardware or craft store, I got mine at Menards)
  
• Clip (Pick which one you like, I found a 2 pack with hardware on amazon)
  
• Painters tape (had some lying around)
  
• vacuum food bags (You can use this or a foam press or zip-lock bag if you're careful)
  
• IR thermometer (I got one on amazon for 14, but you can find cheaper ones for sub $10)
  
• Dremmel or bandsaw
  
• Sandpaper (either hand sand or belt sander or sander attachment for dremel)
  
• heatgun for loosening a few places
  
  Process:
  
  
• Use the balsa wood to cover spots you don't want the holster to be formed in. I covered up the trigger area, the right side of the breech where most pistols eject casings, a line from the front to rear sights, and a line back from the slide release.
  
• Set your gun down on one of the kydex sheets to mark out how much material you need. I used a little less than half of one of the sheets. I then did a loose guess of "roll the gun over to see how far I need to go", and cut off what I needed.
  
• Get your vacuum bag or foam press or gallon zip-lock back ready. I think the food vacuum bags are easiest, but if you don't have one lying around, I've heard you can use a zip-lock bag, a rag, and a floor vacuum with a hose. Most tutorials online use a foam press. I'd say this gives you the best results, but costs the most, and requires replacing the foam after 5-10 holsters.
  
• Heat up the kydex to the proper temperature (The kydex V I linked I think forms best at 300-315), use the IR gun to get the temperature right. If you go too hot, the kydex will "burn", it gets all shiny (The stuff linked "burns" probably around 360-380).
  
• Once it gets up to temperature, pull it out, wrap your gun with it, and compress it. The kydex I linked has a shiny and a matte side. I used it with the matte side out, but if you like a glossy look, go for it. Like I said, I used a vacuum food bag (they're safe to use in the oven, so it can handle 320 degree plastic), your mileage will vary. If you use a zip-lock bag, you might need to put a rag around it so it doesn't melt the bag
  
• Let cool. Once cooled down, anywhere from 2 minutes to 15 minutes (depends if you use your actual gun or a mold gun, and if you use foam or etc). You can use the IR reader to see what temp it is, under 140 should be good, but other spots may be warmer. The gun acts as a heatsink. The hottest spot is where the kydex is all by it's lonesome.
  
• Pull your gun out and start going to work
  
• I used a bandsaw to cut out the general shape, and a dremel with a sanding head to get it just right.
  
• Sand to your heart's content.
  
• You may need to reheat the trigger area specifically if you're having trouble pulling the firearm out. I used my heatgun on low.
  
• Decide where you want to mount your clip(s). If you want to mount your clips where the gun is, before you mold, put some balsa wood there so the hardware doesn't scratch your gun.
  
• Drill holes for the hardware. I used a 13/64 bit which worked perfectly for my hardware which is supposedly 1/4, but use what ever bit you need for whatever hardware your clip needs.
  
• Make sure you have positive retention, but not so much where you can't pull the gun out. Kydex lets the gun out much easier with a quick pull, rather than a lengthy one. The main area for catching is the trigger guard. What ever is catching, heat it up just enough with the heatgun for it to open up.
  
  And then you're basically all done. It took me probably an hour or less. Total cost for one holster (because I was able to make 2 holsters off of one 12"x12" sheet), was about $6-$7, with the bulk of the cost being the clips. I'll try and answer any other questions others have.

Batch cooking ahead of time is a great way to save time and the food is just as good as cooking fresh. Having food ready to go in the fridge has also helped me save money from eating out less. I've also lost weight from having better portion control and feeling more satisfied. Definitely nice bonuses I did not expect when I got a sous vide machine to make better food.

Understanding the food safety behind sous vide cooking is a good place to start. Watch this video a few times and study it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH9V8Dg86Zw

For more knowledge, listen to the catalog of the podcast Cooking Issues. Lots of info nuggets about sous vide along with many other aspects of technical cooking. And it's a hilarious show too.

This may only apply to novice cooks, but knowing how to cook an assortment of sides to go along with the sous vide proteins helps. I've been really enjoying butternut squash puree lately. Other go-tos are mashed potatoes, sauteed vegetables, roasted vegetables, and salad + dressing. As crazy as it sounds, when done right microwaved vegetables are great too!

Bonus: some of my favorite non-meat things to do sous vide:

• eggs Benedict
  
• ice cream
  
• creme brulee
  
  All crowd pleasers. Especially the creme brulee with the theatrics of a torch.
  
  Edit: I forgot to include what I learned about searing.
  
  
• Use a high temp oil like sunflower seed oil or avocado
  
• Get an ir thermometer ($13 on Amazon) and wait till your cast iron pan gets up to 550 before starting
  
• This is my preferred method for searing (skip to 4:40. Note they skipped the important power towel pat down in this video): https://www.facebook.com/Chefsteps/videos/vl.1739587399641454/1135229953181732/
  

Buy a cheap laser thermometer and figure it out for yourself- every device and coil configuration varies.

https://www.amazon.com/Nubee-Non-contact-Thermometer-Temperature-Adjustable/dp/B00JA3BMDW/

Ill try to go over your concerns, i hate quote posts but here we go.

>so I got the 40 gallon

Good choice

> Warm Light

Consider that your dragon will need temps from 90 - 100f 10 hours a day in his basking spot down to no lower than the upper 70's in his chilling spot. Buy [This](https://www.amazon.com/Nubee-Non-contact-Infrared-Thermometer- Temperature/dp/B00JA3BMDW/ref=sr_1_3? ie=UTF8&qid=1482273280&sr=8-3&keywords=ir+thermometer+gun) no really, go buy it now.

If that bulb which sounds like its one of the little spotlights can keep your tank to that temp then great, if not you want to look at heating solutions, a ceramic heat bulb is a favourite, relatively low cost and high heat out put, very high so be careful ive clocked mine at over 220f.

> I set everything up including adding the sand to the bottom

Nope. I mean shes your pet but sand is harmful, especially to a young lizard, you will notice they lick EVERYTHING this means all that sand may build up and cause compaction, which is where the content of the gullet presses against the spinal cord eventually severing it. Key Hint: Never feed your lizard a item of food larger than the space between its eyes.

I would use kitchen paper for now as she will be a little poop monster but eventually switch out to tile, you can use chia seeds or the like as a bathing area for her to dig.

The size of the tank can be a problem, just slide a cardboard divider in half the tank, you will be taking it out soon enough.

Now, regarding food. In the juvenile stage you should be feeding her exclusively protein based foods, insects, then after a few months move to some greens uptill adulthood where it should be no more than 80% greens to 20% insects.

This si where it gets fun, those dried flukers insects you bought, go throw them away, one of the largest problems with keeping dragons is hydrating them they dont really drink, they absorb moisture through their food and skin, feeding them dried food means they have to use moisture to digest it, so rather than be a gain its a loss, im surprised they even sell that trash.

What i and many would reccomend is the good old dubia blaptica. The NUMBER one best feeder and the worlds worst roach. Many of us keep a small colony of these things as free feeders as you will notice the cost of insects is going to be one of the highest, there are many many good sites online to guide you in this process, in the meantime try to avoid crickets, they smell and are noisy.

UV light wise, as long as it is a strip light and INSIDE the tank (the UVB she needs is 99% reflected by glass) and she can be in bright direct light for at least 10 hours a day she will be fine.

https://www.amazon.com/Nubee-Non-contact-Infrared-Thermometer-Temperature/dp/B00JA3BMDW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1474395011&sr=8-2&keywords=hand+held+temp+gun

I've done that as well. But I found that with just the light on, the temp can get to the 90-100F range over a couple hours in my cheap apartment oven. I cooked some starter that way. I've had better success with a tiny heat pad used for reptiles.The tiny 4-watt one is still pretty hot, but with some dish towels placed on top, it works really well.

I use one of these to monitor the temp. It's kinda awesome and fun.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JA3BMDW?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00

Everything looks good, but a little feedback.

First with your UVB Light unit, I see that you have selected a double bulb unit. In addition to the bulbs being quite expensive, the beardie doesn't need two of them in their cage. One is perfectly sufficient, so save your money and at least get a single bulb fixture. Also, feel free to use a dedicated fixture if you want, but a standard cheap household fixture like this is just fine. I paid $15 for this at my local store instead of a "reptile" fixture for $60. Edit: I just noticed you're going with a 4ft wide viv, so that may be why you're doing the 2 lamps fixture. If thats the case, disregard my comments about you not needing the second bulb. The standard rule is 2/3rds the length of the viv should be ran with uvb lamps so you may be on track.

Secondly, the 2 temp gauges are okay, but the stick on ones are known to be wildly inaccurate (especially since the thermometer will not be on the beardies basking spot). I don't even have thermometers in my viv, I decided to use this to monitor temps and it has been great. Especially as you move the furniture around the viv getting your setup finalized.

Third, you'll want a humidity gauge in there for sure. As you put food and water and whatnot in the viv, it can raise the humidity too high and cause respiratory infections. In fact they get a lot of their hydration from veggies and fruits so you may want to forego a water dish altogether (they're desert animals, after all). A lot of times they just poop in their water dish anyway.

Fourth, I'm assuming by the double dome fixture you're planning on a ceramic heater. Take a look at the lamp stand I posted in another comment so you can lift the lamps up away from the screen if needed. By the time you put something for him to bask on, he may be 12-14 inches in the air, you don't want the lamps only a few inches away or you may cook your lizard. I only have mine up in the air a couple inches, but it was necessary. When the lamps were resting on the screen his basking spot was up over 120 degrees. I can't tell from the website, but if your viv is not a screened top, the lamp stand may not work and if that's the case, your solution will be to either buy higher/lower wattage bulbs as needed, or maybe a dimmer.

Lastly, don't forget a reptile light timer. Cut corners somewhere to get one, but it will make your life so much easier and your beardie life so much less stressful.

Edit: No upvotes yet after all this typing? Help me out!! 😂😂

what type of thermometer/hygrometer are you using, analog or digital? where exactly are you measuring the temperature? on the wall? on top of the substrate? on the floor beneath the substrate? a UTH that is not regulated by a thermostat will run somewhere between 100 and 200 F. you need a thermostat, like this. the probe can be sandwiched between the UTH and the outside of the enclosure, or it can be placed inside the enclosure secured to the floor by hot gluing the probe to the floor. you should have an infrared thermometer, like this, to accurately spot-check the temperature anywhere in the enclosure, which will help ensure your thermostat is on the right setting to maintain a floor temperature of 90 F. if your cool/ambient temperature is below 75 F [with 80 F being the ideal] you'll need some sort of supplemental heat source like a second UTH run on its own thermostat, a radiant heat panel, or a ceramic heat emitter.

glass tanks are not great enclosures for ball pythons. the glass doesn't retain heat, and the screen lid allows too much air flow to retain any humidity. glass tanks can work, but it's an uphill battle of modification, monitoring, and maintenance. plastic storage tubs or pvc reptile cages are much more suitable for BPs. plastic is a much better insulator for heat, and the minimal air flow means you should be able to maintain 50%+ humidity with no special efforts. substrates like aspen are very dry and will contribute to low humidity, though, so you may want to switch to something more moisture friendly like cypress mulch. going backto enclosure types, i personally have one BP in a 74qt sterilite underbed tub secured with a pair of luggage straps, and my other two are in pvc cages from boaphile plastics. tubs aren't pretty, but they're cheap and effective. pvc cages are nice to look at, but they cost somewhere between $150 and $350 depending on which manufacturer you buy from and what size you get.

even without knowing how much your BP weighs, i can tell you that you're severely underfeeding her. a hatchling BP is capable of eating prey the size of an adult mouse. at two years old, she should be big enough to eat small or medium rats. get a digital kitchen scale to weigh her. right now, while she's growing, she should be eating approximately 15% of her own weight, though you'll want to build up to that gradually so you don't shock her system. you'll also want to switch to appropriately sized rats ASAP, because feeding several mice per meal is impractical at best and just not going to happen at worst. on rare occasions, a BP will just take a rat with no hesitation, but in most cases they won't eat it because they don't recognize it as food. i wrote a simple breakdown of how to switch a BP from mice to rats here. you won't find rats that are smaller than small adults in places like petco, petsmart, etc, so you may need to find a different rodent supplier if she's not ready for smalls yet.

your hides are inadequate. there should be two, one for the warm side and one for the cool side, that are snug [little/no empty space around the snake], enclosed [one entrance, snake is actually hidden], and identical [except for temperature]. this is VERY important to fix. your snake needs to be able to feel secure and be able to thermoregulate comfortably. hides like this are ideal. half logs are not appropriate.

regarding your snake biting you: she's immensely stressed. everything from your poor enclosure, being underfed, being moved to a feeding tub, all of these things are contributing to her being stressed, scared, and defensive. right now, you need to forget about handling her unless you're taking her out to weigh her. she should be fed inside the enclosure, and she should not be handled at all for your own pleasure until she is 100% healthy.

This site has a pretty good explanation of what i am talking about with thermostats.

Unfortunately proportional thermostats are not cheap. A basic model is general >$80 (USD). Herpstat by Spyder Robotics is the most best around from everyone I talk to.

Honestly, before i dropped that kind of $, I would put in a 75 Watt bulb and check temperatures to see if you even need a thermostat. Too hot, try a 50watt and see if that is better.

Re: checking temps. I would suggest one of these they are cheap and fairly accurate.

Bet they've been overheating. Buy one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/Nubee-Non-contact-Infrared-Thermometer-Temperature/dp/B00JA3BMDW

check the temp after it has been on over an hour or two. My enclosures have seen temps over 350 degrees. You could bake a cake in there.

Here is the mobile version of your link

Here's one close: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00JA3BMDW/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1463704231&sr=8-2&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=ir+temperature+gun&dpPl=1&dpID=510Uzei5jZL&ref=plSrch

I ordered one of these infrared guns from amazon. It allows to measure the surface temperature of hot surfaces.

If the sensor on the card is giving misleading results due to a hardware problem with that sensor then no software tool is going to provide better results. You will need to use something like a non-contact thermometer: https://www.amazon.com/Nubee-Non-contact-Infrared-Thermometer-Temperature/dp/B00JA3BMDW

Okay, I was on mobile earlier so I couldn't tell you everything I wanted to. Those stick-on thermometers aren't very reliable and they measure the ambient temperature - you need to be able to measure the temperature on his basking spot. I use one of these which are pretty cheap from amazon. His basking spot should be right around 105F. It is pretty important that you get a good thermometer and find a bulb that gives you the correct temperatures.

The other issue is his UVB lights. Those tank kits usually come with coil UVB bulbs, which do not give out adequate UVB for beardies and have been known to cause eye problems as well. This ReptiSUN 10.0 bulb is the one you need for a 40 gallon tank. It will fit in this plug-in fixture (the plastic cover needs to be removed and thrown away). This thread on bd.org explains how to set up proper lighting. I highly recommend reading through this care guide to double-check the rest of your setup and husbandry.

Please let me know how Hagrid is doing and if you have any other questions! :)

this
https://www.amazon.com/Nubee-Non-contact-Infrared-Thermometer-Temperature/dp/B00JA3BMDW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1475072152&sr=8-3&keywords=infrared+thermometer

Just need to understand that any of these contactless thermometers are +/-5 degrees.

If your temp gun has emissivity settings, then you can adjust the number to get an accurate reading on shiny surfaces. But of course if you can't adjust the emissivity, then something black and matte is the best to get a reading from. That bbq paint is a good idea.

I picked up this guy a while back, https://www.amazon.com/Nubee-Non-contact-Infrared-Thermometer-Temperature/dp/B00JA3BMDW it great, and allows changing the emissivity setting to get accurate temp across a wide range of materials.

Also make sure you stay fairly close to a 1:1 ratio for your "distance to spot size" or you risk your measuring area to be too wide and may get some inaccurate readings.

It could not be any easier .

[Laser thermometer](Nubee 8380H Non-contact Infrared Thermometer Temperature Gun with Laser Sight MAX Display https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JA3BMDW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_1R8Dyb693VYQJ) costs 10 bucks

And the Vidometer app cost $1.99 if you want the fancy map, Otherwise it is free!! Then you simply upload from the phone.