Adopted a Ball and have temp probs.

[morbidph8]

Hi, I adopted a ball from a friend of mine. My friend was doing a horrible job at taking care of her. First she had no heat. Then it was a heat mat with no regulation. So finally my friend decided she would be in much better care with me. I currently have
0.1.0 Sonoran Gopher Snake
1.2.0 Western Banded Geckos
1.0.0 Long Nose Snake and
0.0.1 Great Basin Toad.
I also keep tarantulas and scorpions. All my herps are natives to my area so the husbandry is simple. (Note I am properly licensed in my state to hunt reptiles.) So I have experience in reptile keeping. Well I get the ball named Athena with a Exoterra 10gal, 4x5 zoomed heat pad, fake log, and a water bowl. Her bark was dirty and had multiple poops in it. I mean come on they don't poop every day not that hard to clean it. Well Athena is very shy and I understand why. She is under 2 foot, she is so fat though lol. She's as big around as my 5ft gopher. I had an extra 20L so I went shopping and using the info from this board, have set her up really nice. I bought a 20gal Zoomed Mat, Zoomed dimmer, another hide, fake plants, digi thermometers, the works. I even used black foam board around her tank. Multiple fake plants, vine, and branch. She has a lot of dark places to hide all over her tank. I have a water bowl more than big enough for her to soak. I have the heat mat on a dimmer. I also have a digi probed thermometer directly in the middle, on the glass, over the mat. Last night I had it at hot spot 94.5F, ambient 70F (I know to low.) So After I get home from work. The warm end is reading 104F!, and the dimmer is at medium. So I backed it to Low, and it's still reading 100F. I know the dimmer works I tried a lamp with it. I need another thermometer to check to see if it's my digi therm. It really does not feel that warm under the warm hide. I would need a IR temp gun to know for sure. I'm having such a prob dailing the dimmer in. So tomorrow is pay day I think I'm going to go get a thermostat, and be done with the dimmer. My other problem is my cool side is cold. I have the Zoomed 5gal pad from Athena's first cage. I was thinking of putting it on the cold side and plugging it into the dimmer with the 20gal pad. I was hoping since the larger pad is 8 watts as opposed to the 5gal 4 watts. When dimmed the 5gal would run a lower temp? I could easily bump up the temps with a lamp. Then the humidity would be gone. So yea I'm kinda frustrated on the temps. Maybe if I get some plexiglass for the top I can use a lamp and keep the humidity?

[GoBoilers]

Hey! I had a similar set-up before going to tubs...definitely get a thermostat and put that on your UTH...dial in the appropriate temp and it takes care of itself! Then take the dimmer you have now and put that on a light (I used a blue "moonlight" bulb but red works too). Cut a piece of plexi to cover most of the screen with enough space to put your light. Finally, put your water dish under the light and that should help keep your humidity up. I had pretty good luck with this set-up...the thermostat is worth its weight in gold!

[Kaorte]

The bes thing to do would get the reptitemp 500r thermostat and plug the bigger uth right into that. Dial it in to 92-94*F and leave it. Then plug the dimmer into the other outlet in the thermostat and plug the smaller UTH into the dimmer. Both should be around ~92-94* so you can lower the cool side temp to the low 80's.

[morbidph8]

Thanks for the info guys. Well I got the temps down last night to about 95-96F so I'm doing a lot better. I'm using a towel on the screen top to hold the humidity. Well after work today I check on Athena, and she finally shed. It was in pieces, but I found the head piece and the eye caps where there. I was worried about that. Her humidity stayed at 70% the whole time so that helped. So I fed her for the first time in my care as well. I thawed a mouse and placed it on the screen, within 10 minutes she was going around looking for it. Man did she take that mouse with a quickness! Still have not got a thermostat yet but right now except for the cool side shes good. Thanks again

[CoolioTiffany]

I'm glad you took the Ball python into your care, I think she will do a lot better in your care.

The ReptiTemp 500R is the cheapest, yet works brilliantly. I purchased one and I love it. It keeps all my tubs at the right temp, so I have no worries. I also bought another at a reptile show for a back up just in case, but I'm positive this thermostat will last a long time. You can purchase it here: http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=75

I bought my first one from this site when it was down to $24, and the entire purchase (+ shipping) was only $32. At the reptile expo I purchased it for $32 or $33 I think, which isn't that bad of a deal at all. It has two outlets, but I got an extension cord and plugged that in so I have more outlets to plug in more UTHs LOL

[morbidph8]

Ehhh dimmers suck lol. I have it at the lowest setting it can possibly go and its at 100F all day now. It's not like my house is warm the temp in my house is 70F. So yea I ordered a Zilla Therm on Ebay the 1000watt model for a good price. When that comes in im gonna buy another 20gal Zoomed pad and use it with the rheostat and therm to get my cool side to low 80'sF. For the hell of it I bought a 25w exoterra moon glow bulb so I can check in on my girl at night. My humidity is staying ok 40%-65%. But low temps are still low 70'sF. Geez desert snakes are so much easier to keep. lol Im gonna have fun when I get a Emerald Tree Boa some time in the future. Im sure making a micro rain forrest will be a breeze. lol Well I have 3 Brazilian Salmon Pink Bird Eater Tarantulas (Lasiodora Parahybana(sp? it's late). There in tubs so the humidity and temps are a breeze to keep up. Im sure a ETB is gonna be a chore seeing how Im gonna have to display a beauty like that. Oh well at least I gave a neglected snake a good home.