Help with our first tank

[stephford6610]

We just adopted Medusa, a Yellow belly BP. We are so excited to bring her home, and we are trying to get her enclosure ready and we are having trouble with heating the tank. She's only a year and a couple months old. We have a 30 gallon glass enclosure, 36x16x12, with a metal "screen" top (I put that in quotations because it's not like window screen, it's thicker than that. More like a metal sheet with holes in it).
We purchased a 100 Watt ZooMed bulb, and have it in a zoo med dome, and it's sitting on top of our lid, pointing down into the enclosure. We covered the lid in aluminum tape (outside only) to keep the heat in, with just a small area open for venting, and under the bulb is open.

We have 2 probe thermometers/hygrometers, digital in the enclosure. The highest we have been able to get the temp reading to be is 75. We used one of those gun looking thermometers and the surface temp of her warm hide was 85, but the ambient is just 75. The cool side ambient is only 72.

We turned the lamp off before bed last night, and this morning the tank was 68.

What are we doing wrong?! The guy we adopted her from, who raised her from hatchling, said he has a 70 gallon tank and is able to adequately heat it with just that bulb and dome.

Our house stays between 65 and 70 degrees during these cooler months.

Thanks for the help!

[Bogertophis]

You're doing many things wrong- sorry.

Many issues here: Never bring home a snake without setting up & testing the temperatures in a tank/enclosure for at least a week* FIRST- otherwise, it's very stressful & scary for a new snake when you have to keep adjusting his home, plus the substandard temperatures + the stress puts their health at risk- it makes them more likely to get sick from whatever they may have been exposed to. (*It takes time for the entire tank + furnishings to warm up.) Hint, you probably need to add UTH (under tank heat) a.s.a.p.

Next question- what is the HEIGHT of this tank? When a light (or any other heat source) is too far away for the heat to reach the bottom, that's not a correct set-up. You should be running a CHE (ceramic heat emitter- heat only, no light) overhead, 24/7- that's much better than a light. BPs & most snakes do NOT like bright light, not even for warmth.

I assume you know that all heat producing sources must be regulated by (preferably) a thermostat, or at least a rheostat ("lamp dimmer"), & you need a way to accurately verify the temperatures. Never just set a thermostat ("t-stat") to the desired temperature & assume that's what the temperature is in the tank where the heat is needed. You need to check & re-check for a while to make sure it's not too hot (excessive heat- over 90* can burn or cause nerve damage in snakes) or too cool (snakes can get sick if they don't have adequate warmth because their immune system doesn't work well when they're too cool- plus, they cannot digest their food unless warm enough).

The cooler your house is (or room where the snake is) the harder it is to keep enough warmth in a tank or enclosure. 68-70* won't cut it for a BP- not even just overnight- the temp. shouldn't fall below 77* at night- Cooler temps. tell a snake it's winter & they refuse to eat-& may also end up fasting for months. Not the right way to keep a BP healthy. You may need to insulate the tank- that can help. Better yet, bump up your home's thermostat, at least until you fix this.

Foil conducts heat, it doesn't keep it in. But to regulate the humidity (you want 55-60% most of the time for BPs, & 65-75% when they're in shed) you'll need to cover MOST of the screen top to maintain adequate humidity. For that you can use foil, plastic, or anything else that air cannot go thru. (not fabric!) I think you've already done that, but thinking it was for warmth.

There is always the chance that the guy you got him from wasn't honest about his set-up. Or he kept his house a LOT warmer? Unless you actually SAW his set-up & verified what he said, I'd take it with a grain of salt.

[stephford6610]

We haven't brought her home. We have adopted her but we are working to get her tank set up before we bring her home.

The height is 16 inches, however our substrate is built up a bit so the floor is only about 13-14 in from the lamp. This seems to be standard from what I've been seeing.

We don't have a tstat set. We have two different digital thermometer probes in the tank to monitor temps. Our lamp dome does have a dimmer, but we have it running at full blast since we can't get that temp up.

I will look into UTH options. Thanks

You're doing many things wrong- sorry.

Many issues here: Never bring home a snake without setting up & testing the temperatures in a tank/enclosure for at least a week* FIRST- otherwise, it's very stressful & scary for a new snake when you have to keep adjusting his home, plus the substandard temperatures + the stress puts their health at risk- it makes them more likely to get sick from whatever they may have been exposed to. (*It takes time for the entire tank + furnishings to warm up.) Hint, you probably need to add UTH (under tank heat) a.s.a.p.

Next question- what is the HEIGHT of this tank? When a light (or any other heat source) is too far away for the heat to reach the bottom, that's not a correct set-up. You should be running a CHE (ceramic heat emitter- heat only, no light) overhead, 24/7- that's much better than a light. BPs & most snakes do NOT like bright light, not even for warmth.

I assume you know that all heat producing sources must be regulated by (preferably) a thermostat, or at least a rheostat ("lamp dimmer"), & you need a way to accurately verify the temperatures. Never just set a thermostat ("t-stat") to the desired temperature & assume that's what the temperature is in the tank where the heat is needed. You need to check & re-check for a while to make sure it's not too hot (excessive heat- over 90* can burn or cause nerve damage in snakes) or too cool (snakes can get sick if they don't have adequate warmth because their immune system doesn't work well when they're too cool- plus, they cannot digest their food unless warm enough).

The cooler your house is (or room where the snake is) the harder it is to keep enough warmth in a tank or enclosure. 68-70* won't cut it for a BP- not even just overnight- the temp. shouldn't fall below 77* at night- Cooler temps. tell a snake it's winter & they refuse to eat-& may also end up fasting for months. Not the right way to keep a BP healthy. You may need to insulate the tank- that can help. Better yet, bump up your home's thermostat, at least until you fix this.

Foil conducts heat, it doesn't keep it in. But to regulate the humidity (you want 55-60% most of the time for BPs, & 65-75% when they're in shed) you'll need to cover MOST of the screen top to maintain adequate humidity. For that you can use foil, plastic, or anything else that air cannot go thru. (not fabric!) I think you've already done that, but thinking it was for warmth.

There is always the chance that the guy you got him from wasn't honest about his set-up. Or he kept his house a LOT warmer? Unless you actually SAW his set-up & verified what he said, I'd take it with a grain of salt.

[Homebody]

Kudos for setting up the enclosure prior to getting your bp. Can you imagine how much more stressed you'd be if you had a young bp in there?

I'm not surprised you're having trouble maintaining your temperatures. How's your humidity? Glass enclosures with screen tops don't hold heat or humidity well. You can insulate the sides. Try foam posterboard and, definitely, get a UTH. I like heat tape.

All your heat sources need to be regulated with a thermostat. If the temp jumps when you're not around, it can be disastrous for your snake. I use Jumpstarts on my enclosure.

Post a pic of your set up and we may have more suggestions for you. This thread will show you how to post them: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...-Post-Pictures.

Frankly, though, you'd be better off getting a pvc enclosure and outfitting it with a radiant heat panel and heat tape. It's expensive, but it should work, even in a cool home like yours. It'll look a lot better too.

[Malum Argenteum]

Frankly, though, you'd be better off getting a pvc enclosure and outfitting it with a radiant heat panel and heat tape. It's expensive

Well, it would cost about as much as one proper RI treatment (vet visit, antibiotics, swab for viruses, followup visit), so is a great value. I recommend a PVC enclosure as well.

[Bogertophis]

We haven't brought her home. We have adopted her but we are working to get her tank set up before we bring her home.

The height is 16 inches, however our substrate is built up a bit so the floor is only about 13-14 in from the lamp. This seems to be standard from what I've been seeing.

We don't have a tstat set. We have two different digital thermometer probes in the tank to monitor temps. Our lamp dome does have a dimmer, but we have it running at full blast since we can't get that temp up.

I will look into UTH options. Thanks

Great-I'm so glad. I wasn't quite sure from the way your post was worded [whether or not she was already home with you].

When your snake moves in, you don't want temperature probes in the tank/enclosure, because your snake will pull them out of their location & that can cause dangerous temperature spikes when the thermostat thinks it's too cold & causes the heating device to go on full blast.

So if you install UTH- the t-stat probe controlling that would go under the tank/glass, & sandwiched between the glass & the UTH below it. Then you adjust the t-stat to whatever level gets the right amount of heat (the right temperature) inside, where your snake may be touching the floor.

Keep in mind that if you do use UTH, you do not want thick substrate over it, as it becomes "insulation", not allowing the heat to properly rise into the tank. (That can also cause UTH to overheat.) See? You do not want more than 1/2" of substrate over a UTH. (This is a very common error, btw.)

And when it comes to heat, remember it rises, so while UTH can only be so high (you're not trying to cook your snake!) it's still more efficient than overhead lights or CHEs, because they're outside & much of the heat never goes into the tank. Some does, sure- but much doesn't. In a glass tank &/or a "cool" house temperature, you most likely need both UTH & overhead heat sources.