BP without heat- going on three days. :/

[doganddisc]

A few days ago I was cleaning out my bp's tank and checked the guage on his heat pad- it was at 110 degrees! I don't have it connected to a thermostat and had no idea it was getting so hot. I immediately unplugged it (he hadn't been using it for about a week and I'm sure that's why). I ordered a thermostat on Amazon and am waiting for it to arrive- it should have arrived today, but for whatever reason did not. This is going on day three without heat for my guy. It is about 80 degrees in the house. Is this going to hurt him in any way? Is there anything I could/should be doing to help him warm up a bit?

[The Serpent Merchant]

Well if you carefully monitor the heat pad you can regulare it manually (either by plugging/unplugging it or with a lamp dimmer. As long as you haven't fed him in the past few days then 3 days without a hot side isn't the worst thing (as long as the ambiant didn't drop too low)

Did you check your BP for signs of burns?

[doganddisc]

Regulating it sounds good to me- I'll start doing that now.

He has no burns that I can see. He's been avoiding the pad altogether, I think.

[The Serpent Merchant]

Checkout this thread on cage heating:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-Thermometers

[Inarikins]

Well it's better for him to be slightly too cold than too hot. He'll probably be okay if your thermostat comes in tomorrow or even Monday. If you're really worried, go to a home improvement store (Lowe's, Home Depot, etc. - I haven't had any luck finding one that would work at a place like Walmart, unfortunately) and pick up a lamp dimmer for $10-15. It'll work well enough until your thermostat gets here and then he won't be without heat. Just make small adjustments at first and if possible remove him entirely from the enclosure to help prevent any chance of getting burned. If your ambient temps don't fluctuate then you won't need to adjust your dimmer much at all once you get it dialed in, but I would still check your temps a couple of times a day to make sure everything's on track.

EDIT: As usual, Aaron beat me to it!

[doganddisc]

He hasn't eaten in a week- he's actually due to eat today but I'm waiting for that thermostat first.

Thank you so much for the help everyone! I'm regulating the heating pad right now- letting it warm up to about 90 degrees and then going to shut it off. I'll be looking into another heat source if the thermostat does not arrive tomorrow.