help! new hide and under tabk heater!

[Sacstate707]

Ok guys and gals, here's the situation. My ball Lucy finally got over her belly burn from an unregulated UTH from previous owners, that's the good news. The bad news is that she wont ever go to the "hot" side of her tank. I've tried 3 different hides with her only going halfway in, then saying Awww hell Nah. But if I take her normal hide that she loves, and put it on the hot side she does just fine. Idk what's going on but to my knowledge, you need to have a regulated UTH in order for them to properly digest. I currently have my hydrofarm thermostat set to 91° but bumped it up to 94° to see if she liked that better, since she likes chillin around my neck and stuff. She just shed and it was a nice clean 1 piece, so I know the humidity and air temps are good, just not sure on what my UTH should be set to. Anything you guys could reccomend? Thanks!

[The Serpent Merchant]

Can you give us some more details?

Thermostat probe placement, UTH placement, thermometers, current temperatures/humidity, substrate, and thermometer placement.

Check out this thread on cage heating:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...04#post1845904

[liv]

Get two identical hides. That way she doesn't have to sacrifice heat for the hide that she prefers. Plus, going through three different hides rather quickly is probably stressing her out more and driving her into the hide she is familiar with. If you haven't tried them already, I can highly recommend the ones from Reptile Basics (http://www.reptilebasics.com/hide-boxes).

Regarding what to set your thermostat too, I also have a hydrofarm and set mine to 92 using paper towel as substrate. It fluctuates +/-2, and 96 is way higher than I (and my snakes) are comfortable with.

Good luck with Lucy

[satomi325]

How are you measuring temps? The thermostat temp may be different from actual enclosure hot spot temps. You need a thermometer too.

I have a hydrofarm on my quarantine rack. Its set to about
96 to reach an ~88 hot spot in a room of 75ish degrees

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[liv]

How are you measuring temps? The thermostat temp may be different from actual enclosure hot spot temps. You need a thermometer too.

I have a hydrofarm on my quarantine rack. Its set to about
96 to reach an ~88 hot spot in a room of 75ish degrees

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I think this is a great example of why you need to take substrate into consideration when you're setting temps. I set mine to 92 and my thermometer on top of substrate measures, on average, 91.2. Are you using aspen satomi?

[Sacstate707]

ok here goes nothin, let me know if i missed anything.

here's my whole set up.

20 gal long, screen top lid w/ 2 wet rags to keep humidity up, 75 watt black night heat bulb, coconut fiber substrate(moving to repti-bark as soon as she poops), small corner water dish, 2 strip thermometers( cheap and utterly useless), a petco thermometer like the round ones, same thing with the humidity gauge, a zoo-med heating pad, hydrofarm thermostat with a probe. i took the probe and placed it under the pad between the furniture its on and some cardboard i put under the pad to support it. this is because the pad lost its stick and i had to spray adhesive it to the bottom of the tank. temps are 75 on the cold side, 80 in the middle(where her hide is, the one she likes.), and about 88 to 85 on the hot side. i keep the pad set to about 91, but just recently put it up to 94 to see how she would like it.

[The Serpent Merchant]

Ok, your main issue is your thermometers. UTH's do not change the temperature of the air in the cage so your strip and dial type thermoneters aren't telling you anything. You need a probed thermometer so you can see what your hot side temps are.

Here is a good one. These can be purchased at Walmart for $12. They measure 2 temperatures and humidity. (so all you need is one unit for the entire cage)



You need to set your thermostat to whatever temperature achieves a 90 degree hot side but also keeps the bottom of the cage under 95 degrees.

[Sacstate707]

Well the 75 watt bulb keeps the air temp regular. I will def invest in that thermometer. And that sounds good. I can't measure the surface of the substrate and the pad just yet, but I will as soon as I get that thermometer.

[The Serpent Merchant]

How thick is the substrate layer? For UTH's to be effective the substrate later should be 1/2" thick or less.

[satomi325]

I think this is a great example of why you need to take substrate into consideration when you're setting temps. I set mine to 92 and my thermometer on top of substrate measures, on average, 91.2. Are you using aspen satomi?

Newpaper. And im using flexwatt to heat.
Although I find that most hydrofarms aren't identical to each other in terms of calibration. I believe it was Kitedemon(I could be wrong) who has tested several and not one was identical.
This is why hydrofarms are one of the less recommended tstats.
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