# my house burned down to some extent... anybody got a spare heat matt/thermostat?



## SLACkra (Jun 10, 2007)

Hey guys,

long story short my house burned down this morning. well not completely but a fair bit. I apparently lost my two gilleni however some way my morelia bredli survived! everybody is ok no injuries only losses were the two goannas the other pets are all fine. luckily the smoke alarm in my room went off(which was promptly dispatched of) which woke me up then the smoke alarm in the hallway went off(which was de-batteried, i was very tired and rather grumpy) finally i noticed the smoke then went down stairs to find a fire in my cellar, i dumped a bucket of water on it which did nothing then i ran back into the house screaming my lungs out and we got everybody out of the house safetly. this was around 3:30am. however my snake is now residing in a plastic tub that is slightly over a heating vent at the neighbours house we are currently staying in. i was hoping that some one in the area(i live in Eltham, NE melb) could lend me a heat matt temporially and a probe thermostat if possible. I'd like to keep him with me but if i can't i'm also looking for some one to babysit him as a last resort. i have to say it was a great site to see a woman in the cfa walking up to me with him curled up in her hands.

hope everybody is having a better long weekend than me,

Andrew


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## jimjones (Jun 10, 2007)

cnt help with the heat matt but im sry for ur loss hope things look up for u


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## IsK67 (Jun 10, 2007)

Damn!

Sorry for your loss.

IsK


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## Nikki. (Jun 10, 2007)

sorry for your loss:cry:


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## Forensick (Jun 10, 2007)

i just liquid nailed my spare thermo to my beardie enclosure a few days ago....
sorry...
i have a spare heat lamp if it would help?


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## Snow1369 (Jun 10, 2007)

I did have a spare heat mat but i'm putting somthing on it monday, sorry for your loss.


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## yommy (Jun 10, 2007)

That's no good mate, your can replace possessions not lives, glad everyone is ok except your lizards


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## inthegrass (Jun 10, 2007)

good to hear everyone is ok,sorry about your goannas. hope it all comes together for all concerned.!!!
cheers


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## Hoppa1874 (Jun 10, 2007)

Sorry that im too far away to help.. but i wanted to say.. im very sorry about ur goannas..:cry:
Glad ur bredli is ok.. and especially u and ur family...


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## shamous1 (Jun 10, 2007)

*Best wishes*

Hope everything works out. If you get stuck let me know and I will see what I can work out.

We had a house fire 10 years ago and the smell has never left my nostrils to this day. Ours was caused by an electric blanket and took out half the house. I know what your going through and my families thoughts are with you lot.


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## SLACkra (Jun 11, 2007)

*Thank you*

Thank you to everybody for your support. atm snake seems fine hes in a plastic tub which is partially over a heating vent however thats not always going so i am regularly refilling a hot water bottle with a 1:1 mix of boiling water and tap water which i wrap in a towel, hes currently curled up on it. 

atm our family is staying in our other neighbours house(their in the uk atm) untill the racv set us up in a rental place. 

cheers 

Andrew


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## Lozza (Jun 11, 2007)

thats terrible news - sorry for your loss. At least you and your family are ok. Good luck with it


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## Jarrah86 (Jun 11, 2007)

Damn man... so sorry about that.
I'm a fireman and i;ve seen first hand, quite a number of times, how bad a fire can be for a family and house . So i hope things sort themselves out for you and your family.
You'll get through this shed 

jarrah


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## Bryony (Jun 11, 2007)

Damn!
So sorry for your loss....

But how did the fire start?


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## krissy78 (Jun 11, 2007)

:cry:a pity about your goannas mate, but atleast you and your family are safe... hope it all comes good for you guys soon... thoughts and prayers are with you all


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## Greebo (Jun 12, 2007)

Our house burnt down when I was 13. Well..half of it was burnt out..the other have was water logged from putting the fire out. No one was hurt and fortunately we were insured and could start again. It makes you realise that possessions are not that important in the whole scheme of things.
Did they work out what caused the fire?


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## MMAnne (Jun 12, 2007)

I am very sorry to hear that! Must have been scarey. 

RIP to your goannas.


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## SLACkra (Jun 12, 2007)

thanks again for all the good wishes and thoughts etc. i'm not terribly sure how the fire started. I'll be interested in what the cfa's report says. 

Andrew


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## Chris1 (Jun 12, 2007)

damn, sorry to hear about ur house and goannas,..glad to hear everyone else is ok.

try microwaving a 2kg bag of rice and wrapping it in a towel, that should hold the heat fro a bit longer than the hot water bottle,...


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## jordo (Jun 12, 2007)

Damn that sucks  sorry I can't help but I'm sure someone will be able to lend you a hand...


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## slither (Jun 12, 2007)

very sorry to hear mate glad to see u are all ok though and thats u didnt loose anything more


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## tempest (Jun 12, 2007)

Andrew, I am so sorry for the loss of your goannas. You are so lucky it wasn't worse. I am in SA but pm me if you are having trouble finding a heatmat, I have a small one and large one (both never been used, not sure of sizes because I'm at work) but I'm happy to post one over to you via express post for you to keep/use. No need to worry about money for it. Let me know and I can send it in the morning.

My thoughts are with you and your family. Best of luck with everything!


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## SLACkra (Jun 13, 2007)

little update. snakes now got a temporary heater my old horticulture teacher/family friend dropped off a horticulture heat matt which is basically a huge (1m x40cm very aprox) heat matt. not sure if it produces enough heat but snakes curled up on the hot side of the tub atm. 

also good news, today was my chem exam so thats its for midyears except for the GAT tommorow. 

andrew


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## bredli84 (Jun 13, 2007)

make sure u apply for special consideration, even if u dont need it! 
dont worry about the GAT, it's BS anyway.


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## montyette (Jun 13, 2007)

Andrew probe thermo heatmat and a dual thermomiter were expressed post to your house this arvo should be there in the morning...

cheers pete/chris


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## Jarrah86 (Jun 14, 2007)

montyette said:


> Andrew probe thermo heatmat and a dual thermomiter were expressed post to your house this arvo should be there in the morning...
> 
> cheers pete/chris



ahhh the love!


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## spilota_variegata (Jun 14, 2007)

*Goodony*



montyette said:


> Andrew probe thermo heatmat and a dual thermomiter were expressed post to your house this arvo should be there in the morning...
> 
> cheers pete/chris



You're the man - a true credit to society


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## SLACkra (Jun 14, 2007)

thanks chris/pete! you two are great!

andrew


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## tan (Jun 14, 2007)

Sorry to hear of your bad news. My husbands house burnt down when he was little, 7 or 8, and his younger brother was severely burnt (clinically dead a few times), he survived but has bad burns over a lot of his body. They lost all of their possessions and their house insurance, believe it or not ran out 2 days prior so they weren't covered. They lived pretty much at the hospital for the next year or so but I believe the community pitched in a bit to help. A hard thing to watch your brother in such agony I imagine and a tough experience for both as children to live through. I'm glad everyone was Ok, sorry for your pets, Smoke alarms are a must!


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## herptrader (Jun 14, 2007)

Andrew,

I have an old heat rock you are welcome to. I only keep it in case of emergencies but that sounds like you at the moment.

It is kind of scary how much damage a fire can do in a short amount of time. We have two fire extinguishers in addition to the smoke detectors. I hope I never have to use them.


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## montyette (Jun 14, 2007)

Andrew good to hear that they arrived mate all working ok are they.

Let us know how things are going regarding your accomodation situation may be able to arrange a 2x2x2 enclosure if you need one once you have it sorted out.

cheers pete/chris


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## SLACkra (Jun 15, 2007)

actually a guy i know who knows a guy who runs this animal type company installing enclosures in buisnesses with snakes, fish etc has offered to lend me a tank i just need to ring him up and stop buy the hardware store to get some peg board and he'll be right

thanks again everybody your support is greatly appreciated.

andrew


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## SLACkra (Jun 20, 2007)

little update,

with the house atm the question is, is it cheaper to start from scratch or fix what is there. we also got a rental place which we'll move into in 10 days or so.

with the snake he seems fine other than is little adventure. went to check on him and hes sprawled out on the table next to his heat matt... he must have lifted up othe lid and gotten out i had thought i was secure however i have since placed to weights on it and it is excape proof.

getting a tank for him asap.

andrew


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## SLACkra (Jun 30, 2007)

just a little update. fed snake serveral days ago he really himself normally he goes postal, this time he just looked at it for a while, slowly opened his mouth, moved forward slowly and grabbed it. hes looking ok and is atm curled up on the hot side of his tub. If i have time i'll take some photos of the house and post them.

andrew


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## SLACkra (Jul 5, 2007)

a little update and sorry no pics yet. we moved into the rental place on saturdayish and we just got the internet hooked up tonight. anyways snake is in his new enclosure a 120x60x45cm glass fish tank(with foam) which i was given(from the guy who has the buisness installing and maintaining reptile/fish type setups in buisnesses among other things). Also got the pegboard to use as the lid really cheap as the new bunnings in eltham had some left over from the material they used to make the shop so i got him a lid for just $3. 

fed him again and he went nuts. striking heaps which i wasn't expecting and dropped the rat onto him. didn't notice it and kept looking at my hand. managed to get the rat again with my tongs and he lached onto it. hes out exploring atm.

thanks again for all the support expecially to chris and pete!

Andrew


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## xwgtho99 (Jul 5, 2007)

I live in Kilsyth 20 min from eltham if you need a baby sitter i have a spare 4 foot enclosure if you need help


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## SLACkra (Jul 6, 2007)

thanks for the offer xwgtho99 but hes fine now hes got himself a nice enclosure(better than the one he had before) and is doing great.

Andrew


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## Ali (Jul 6, 2007)

hey andrew... so sorry to hear about the bad thats happend to u lately. glad u and snake are all k. post some pics as i am sure many people would b interested in having a look!

good luck mate
ali


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## SLACkra (Jul 6, 2007)

here are some photos

the stairs to the 2nd floor with new skylight...





my room almost got a skylight but just didn't make it




another shot of my room, notice the picture hanging on the wall. the front bit of protective plastic has completelymelted. kinda looks like icicles.





andrew


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## shamous1 (Jul 6, 2007)

*Chin up*

I know exactly how you feel. The smell stays with you forever. What the fire does not get to, the heat and smoke sure makes up for it. 

When our house caught fire 12 years ago the plaster studs 30 foot away heated up and popped through the ceiling.

Hope evevrything works out in the end.


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## crush the turtle (Jul 6, 2007)

howz ur snake, got ne pics of him/her,, sorry 4 the loss


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## SLACkra (Jul 6, 2007)

here ya go 






him cruising around his new 4ft tank


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## SLACkra (Jul 6, 2007)

atm their saying electical fire. the theory is that a rat/mouse/anouther annoying animal nocked over the 2 40watt party globes i had heating the roaches. at least thats the theory. 

the cellar where it all began:





the top melamine enclosure was the goanna's enclosure. I have actually found them and burried them. their bodies were completely intact even though they had been in the cellar for quite some time, no sign of decomposition. they weren't burnt etc so i assume they died from asphyixiation or the heat. hopefully it was asphyixiation.

andrew


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## scotchbo (Jul 6, 2007)

Im very sorry to hear about your loss mate i hope you get up and running again in no time


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## crush the turtle (Jul 7, 2007)

nice setup, i bet the snakes happy


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## scorps (Jul 7, 2007)

aww poor snakes i feel for you i no how it feels to lose monitors  (bad experience)


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## Wrasse (Jul 8, 2007)

Just found this thread. SLACkra, you sound like a real toughy and I take my hat off to you. No sooking or whinging, just a good attitude to get on with life. Refreshing to see. 

Sorry for the loss to you and your family.


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## SLACkra (Jul 8, 2007)

> No sooking or whinging, just a good attitude to get on with life. Refreshing to see.



well i don't think you can do anything else other than just get on with it.(now to get that attitude for my homework and studies and i'll be golden...). I was bit sooky for the first few days i spent most the morning just sitting around not eating much watching tv etc. but i was straight back into school doing my exams 3 days later which i wreckon helped instead of just sitting around doing pretty much nothing.

once again thanks for all the kind comments and thoughts guys and gals,

andrew


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## mines bigger (Jul 8, 2007)

i hope all is going well and the snake is coming along well too


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## shamous1 (Jul 8, 2007)

*It's hard*

I know it's hard slackra, but if you can turn this rather big negative into a positive (which I am sure you will) then you'll do well in your exams. Good luck with them.


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## SLACkra (Jul 8, 2007)

shamous the exams were weeks ago! i had my chemistry exam on the tuesday after the fire happend then another on the wednesday and the GAT on the thursday! 

andrew


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## shamous1 (Jul 8, 2007)

*Results*

When do you get your results? Or do you know already? If not how do you think you went?


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## SLACkra (Jul 9, 2007)

i get my results in august. however i find out my derived results at the end of the year. so i get my really cruddy results then i get my what you would have got results.

honestly i'm not sure how i went. i lost a few days study and concentrating wasn't terribly easy but i think i did ok, definatly not as well as i wanted to do though.

andrew


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## bredli84 (Jul 10, 2007)

did u apply for special consideration?


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## SLACkra (Jul 11, 2007)

sorry bredli took a while to nice your supply,

yes actually i did, and they have been approved! i wasn't terribly worried though, i mean serious house fire 3 days before the exam, if that isn't worthy of derived scores then what is? not sure how it works crazy vcaa its all very complicated. i believe they calculate my derived score at the end of the year based on my end of year results in those subjects, my results in the SACS leading up to the exam i am getting derived scores for and what my teacher thinks i would have gotten etc.

Also snake is about to shed he hasn't left his warm hide for the last few days and when i went to take a look at him he was very dark and a bit grumpy. misting the tank every now and then to make sure it goes well.

Andrew


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## SLACkra (Aug 29, 2007)

Hey guys,

It's been yonks since I updated this thread. Good news, after a couple months of deciding who was going to get the job of fixing our house the RACV made their decision! They started work last monday and it's amazing to see what they have already done! Here are some pics:

Was:




Now:




Was:




Now:





So my room and my parents room is now completely gone. At this pace I think their estimate of 12weeks could have been right! Snake is still good though i'm refering to him more and more as a gluton as he does things such as continue hunting after being fed and hunting only a couple days after being fed. He's eating weaners/small juiveniles now and loving them. Also another thank you to montyette, for lending me the heater and thermostat. Just need to get my thermostat wired up by a sparky and i'll send your stuff back mate thanks for your patience!

cheers

Andrew


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## shamous1 (Aug 29, 2007)

*Good luck*

Sorry to put a dampener onthe repairs but do not for a minute take any insurance companies word for how long they estimate the repairs to take.

We had a house fire years ago and it took 4 months for us to get back into the house and by the looks of it we did'nt have half the amount of damage that you had. 

I wish you all the best and may it not take that long


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## falconboy (Aug 29, 2007)

So did the CFA confirm it was the 40w globes being knocked over that started it?


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## SLACkra (Aug 29, 2007)

> Sorry to put a dampener onthe repairs but do not for a minute take any insurance companies word for how long they estimate the repairs to take.



That is true shamous I must not get my hopes up. I hope their done by christmas though that would be great. Oh and the 12 weeks was the companies quote. and they've been at it for a week and a half and they've removed HEAPS so one can only hope. 

The CFA wasn't able to exactly say with 100% certainty that it was the 40watt globes but i believe the official report says it was most likely started by the 40watt globe being nocked over by some sortof animal. However I can tell you right now it was definatly the 40watt globes. I still have the image of the cellar on fire burned into my mind and it definatly started there. The roaches probably went up really quick with the cardboard and egg crate(not to mention some of the dried leaf litter which i had in there as i was experimenting with different suitiable habitats). 

Andrew


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## PhilK (Aug 29, 2007)

Funny how when smoke alarms go off people get annoyed and take their batteries out, instead of making sure there's no fire! We do that all the time, it can't be too safe...


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## shamous1 (Aug 29, 2007)

SLACkra said:


> I still have the image of the cellar on fire burned into my mind


 And I bet the smell is still in your nostrils. I can still smell our fire 12 years later.


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## SLACkra (Aug 29, 2007)

> And I bet the smell is still in your nostrils. I can still smell our fire 12 years later.



ya i find the smell of smoke a bit unsettling now even more so if it has even the slightest hint of sortof a melted plasticy smell. 



> Funny how when smoke alarms go off people get annoyed and take their batteries out, instead of making sure there's no fire! We do that all the time, it can't be too safe...



Thats why it's really a good idea to have several around the house just to be safe. Having more than one near my room saved our lives. Also the smoke detector went off in the rental place(mom was cooking), I practically jumped a meter in the air and ran to check everything was ok. Scared the crap out of me.

Oh and guess what we could have ended up with another house on fire. The halogen downlights in the kitchen of the rental place are illegal. Way to close to timber and one of them was scorched a bit!

Andrew


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## dentech (Aug 29, 2007)

im sorry to hear of your loss and misfortune, as a vol firefighter, i have seen the loss and fear at first hand our thoughts and wishes are with you all


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## pugsly (Aug 29, 2007)

Wow... thank god for smoke alarms hey..


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