Temp/Humidity

[elevatethis]

I have a 2 month old ball in a 20 gal long, I use a UTH all the time and an overhead heat lamp during the day.

With both sources on, the temp of its corkbark hide, located in the middle of the cage, is around 88F. The basking area gets to be about 95 with both sources. At night the entire cage drops to about 80 with the overhead lamp off.

Is this too warm for him at the hide? Do they prefer to bask when they want to get warm and have a cooler hide?

[BallKingdom]

Seems good. You might wanna move it where it is not under both heat sources tho.

[elevatethis]

the heat pad is on the warm side, its hide is just over the edge of where the heat pad covers.

[bigslimrich]

I just got my setup how i want it... It is a 20 gal. tank and I have a heat pad under his box hide and a ceramic heater on the same side (this is the warm side). on the other side i have his water dish and no heaters,(cool side) stuck on the back wall i have a -Tropicaire- humidifier tube (which hooks to the water tank outside the aquarium) and i have a plastic sheet to cover the top. My temps are 85-88 on the warm side and 70-72 on the cool side and the humidity gets up to 67% and my housing stays at these temps and humidity day and night, i used to use a heat lamp to get the temp up on the cool side during the day but it dries the air out very bad. My snake LOVES it he stays in his hide a lot but will come out and lay on the humidifier tube on the cool side at least once or twice a day. What do you guys think about my temps and humidity??

[Marla]

I think your temps are too low and you need to get the cool side up to a minimum of 75F and bump up the warm side a few degrees. If you have a screen top on this, you might be able to get a couple of degree boost by covering most of the wire mesh with anything impermeable, like duct tape or saran wrap.

[bigslimrich]

OK, I dropped a digital thermometer in the tank on the cool side and it says it is 82 degreesF. the thermometer i have stuck to the glass says 69... I believe the digital thermometer because i use them at work all the time (I do heating and a/c). The warm side digital says 95 degreesF. Both of these readings are at the floor of the tank. My aquarium is covered with a wire top that i have taped plastic to the underside to cover the entire top, and cut a hole to place the ceramic heater on top. This keeps the heat and humidity in very well my humidity says 68% at these temps... How does all this sound????

[Marla]

Much better. Definitely believe the digital before the analog gauges. The 95 is a little warmish, but as long as your snake has plenty of floor space with heat gradient to thermoregulate and it's not 95 in the only hide in the cage, it should be okay. I would monitor your warm side frequently until you're sure it doesn't go above 95 tho, and if it doesn't I'd say you're in good shape. If you can drop the temps to 80-cool/90-warm, even better.

[JLC]

the heat pad is on the warm side, its hide is just over the edge of where the heat pad covers.

A lot of folks will use two (or sometimes even three) hides. One on the warm side, one on the cool side, and if they use a third, they put it right in the middle of the gradient. That way the snake doesn't have to choose between feeling secure and being the right temperature. (They'll often choose to be too warm or too cold if that is their only option for a sense of security.)

[Hoomi]

Another thought on the screen top, if you have one. When I first brought my BP home, a friend at work that had kept many snakes recommended attaching a piece of plexiglass under the screen, covering most of the screen, to prevent the snake from rubbing against the screen and possibly abrading away scales and skin from the nose. I've noticed it also seems to work well in helping to hold humidity in.

As I recall, the piece of plexiglass cost just a few bucks at Home Despot, and I have it secured with several tie-straps passed through the screen and then through holes drilled in the plexiglass. I had to make sure to secure it at all four corners AND in the middle, as I found Phil had managed to push his way between the screen and the plexiglass one evening when I only had the corners secured. Since securing the middle as well, he hasn't managed to do that again.