Set-Up Okay or Needs Modified?

[AtomicJok3r]

Hey everyone, I've found myself on this site searching google about BPs so I figured I'd come and join in. I just want some help trying to get my tank set-up before I actually get my snake. I have a 20 Gallon Long (12x30 base) tank. I've read all about everything but I'm having trouble with picking a UTH. I was originally going to buy a Zoo Med one meant for a 20 gallon is only 6x8, when you should have 1/3 of tank covered. The next size up is 8x12. Or is it best to buy one of the ones from that guy's wonderful post of him setting up that 20 gallon tank, which is 11x11 I believe is closest size. I'm also going all out and getting a Herpstat since they are highly recommended and I want something to be able to keep temperature stable, although I know I'm going to have to adjust dimmer for infrared light. Also is a 75W infrared bulb too much for a 20 Gallon, or with dimmer it's fine in case I need extra heat in winter? Anyways, but with Aspen substrate, two hides, water, and some fake plant vines for some extra concealment for him, does it sound good? I want my BP to be as comfortable as possible when I get him. Thanks!

[Sauzo]

I would personally go with either a Flukers, Ultratherm or THG or Flexwatt. All of those have the same style. Zoo Med has that thick rubbery coating that is sticky on one side. Pain in my opinion. You can foil tape the sticky side and then use it like a flexwatt but I would just get one of the ones I listed as those are non sticky thin types that you secure with foil tape and can remove easily. As for size, Ultratherm and Flukers both come in an 11x11 which is the medium size. THG and Flexwatt, you order by the foot but unless its changed, Reptile Basics can crimp the ends and plug on so you have a ready to plug in unit. Just have to let them know and then pay for the extras like clips, plug etc.

As for the light, I would go with something like a 100 watt and then use the dimmer to lower it down. Better to have more than you need if you need it than not enough if you need it.

Sounds fine with what you listed. I'm a minimalist and prefer not to clutter my cages as that just makes more stuff I have to clean and I tend to do cage cleaning every month. So for my snakes, they get a couple hides, water bowl and aspen substrate and they all seem happy.

[SnakeBalls]

Welcome, Atomic.

I'm actually rocking 2 Zoomed UTH, I forget the size but I think I paid about $20 for one. I have one on the hot side and another on the cold. The cold side one has never been plugged in.. I have the hot side hide sitting directly over the center of the UTH (Through the glass of course..). Ulfric always pushes the substrate out anyways from his hides, so I usually do that for him and dial in the glass temp to 89 per my laser-momiter (Get one of these, best way to get an accurate temp). I'm also using 2 Zoomed thermometers, if you're going with Herpostate you are well set there.

As for lights I have a day and night in a shared ballast (don't run them both in a shared, the heat kills them faster) at 60w's. As Sauzo said, more is better when you need it. My house stays pretty warm in the winter but they struggled a few times this season to keep it at 80 ambient.

Check out my tank. The cardboard wrapped with foil and taped to the outside makes the heat stay in much better. I also have a loose sheet that stays on top and I open it more/close it depending on what my humidity demands are.

I applaud you for setting up your tank BEFORE you got the snake. So many people bring a snake home and it's life is miserable for the first few weeks because something is messed up in their husbandry. I waited roughly 12 years to get my ball, my tank was dialed weeks before Ulfric showed up on my doorstep

[AtomicJok3r]

Thanks for the info! So it is best to go with the 11x11 and not something smaller, especially since I'll have it to a herpstat I think it would be good, but not sure. Also, do I need to put something at bottom of tank in case he burrows down into the aspen? I mean I read that you need to set the temp little higher because of disapassation through the glass and stuff, I'm just not sure if it would be too hot for snake if they burrow down.

i might drop my temp in case he does burrow through the substrate, I don't want to burn him. And the foil on sides is a great idea, I will def try that over insulation board if needed, I plan on doing too for humidity reasons so.

Yeah getting his tank set up when I know there will be stable temps makes me feel so much better. The room he is going in gets quite cold, my beardie is in there and I have a space heater and my beardie has a Che just to help combat it, but for him his temp drops at night and the low watt Che works perfect.

I am am torn though, I read online that having a uv bulb does give them beneficial things. I don't know if it's fake, but I read even though it's not needed it can help be beneficial to them.

[Sauzo]

You want to take the UTH reading from the glass with the temp gun. not the top of the substrate for the the exact reason they burrow. My girl pushes all her aspen out of her warm hide and just likes to sit on the glass directly above the UTH. 11x11 is fine. I use a 17x11 Flukers in my 36x18 tank and its fine. I would use some sort of heat bulb regardless as UTH only heat the bottom, not the air. I use a 100 watt CHE on a lamp dimmer for said cage and it sits around 81-83f cold side and 84-86f warm side. I also got a CHE on my beardie at night as well set to 80f with the room temp being 75f.

As for insulation, you can use stuff like http://www.homedepot.com/p/R-Tech-1-...0876/202524156. This is what I used to insulate the bottom of my red tail boa cage during really cold winters. You can also cut a thick piece of cardboard the same size as the top of the cage and then wrap it in tin foil. Then cut a circle out for the heat lamp dome. I cut about an inch bigger than the dome. That will keep humidity and heat in as well.

As for UVB, they will benefit from it but its not needed. Just take him outside during the summer for a little bit. I take my boa and beardie outside during the summer and let them hang out on me. My beardie hates it unless she is sitting on me, shes a chicken. My boa loves it and tries to climb on anything she can get near like a railing, a tree, trying to get on the roof when im on the back deck. I personally don't use UVB tubes on my snakes. My beardie I use a T5. Unless you got a setup for it, I probably wouldn't go out of my way to set up UVB. My ball python doesn't even have cage lighting, she just gets all her lighting from the room lights and my beardies lights.

[AtomicJok3r]

Yeah, I was just on the border between buying a dual dome and using one side for an extra UVB bulb I have from when I upgraded my beardie to a T5 Hood, and the other for infrared. But since there are 2 windows in the room and my beardie with his light, I guess I'll go for the cheaper option and just get one dome. I just didn't know how beneficial the direct UVB was, or if it was even noticeable than that compared of them just getting light from windows or other fixtures. Thanks for the help guys, it is much appreciated! I'm hoping by the time I get everything together and set up, that the weather around me will warm up into the 50-60's for a day or two so I can order my new addition to the family haha

Also, does anyone have any recommendations on some hides and water bowls? I looked around my local stores for hides and they are either way too overpriced, too small, or look horrid. I'm guessing the best bet is to just buy some of those black hide boxes from reptilebasics. Also, on the water bowl. I don't know if it was this site or another I found on google while learning about BPs, but I read that the plastic ones are better because they are non-porous as opposed to the ceramic ones and they don't trap bacteria. I mean I use plastic furniture in my beardie's tank and it can be a pain to clean sometimes, as apposed to ceramic or stoneware I'd assume. So just wondering. And the size needs to be big enough so they can fit in it mostly at least correct?

[AtomicJok3r]

Sorry for double post, I looked and looked for the edit button, I guess it does away after certain amount of time.

Anyways, I was searching through forums and stuff about the hides, I've decided to just go with the basic ones from reptilebasics. http://www.reptilebasics.com/hide-boxes My question from reading through is what size should I get for a baby that is listed 19-22" from site I am buying him from. Should I buy a medium for him to grow into, or buy a small and wait for mediums? Because I have no idea what is too small or too big lol.

[Sauzo]

I use http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/water_dish.php x-large water bowl for my boa. Its heavy and she hasn't managed to move it at 6ft. I use http://www.zoomed.com/db/products/En...o0OiJGb29kIjt9 for my ball python, the large size. I use large or xtra large bowls more for humidity reasons than anything else. I've never had either of my snakes actually go into the water bowl. They actually seem to think water is acid the rare times I give them bathes. My boa has enjoyed a bath once in 2 years. I mostly just wipe them down with a warm wet rag when its cleaning time for them

Avoid coiled UVB bulbs as the wave lengths those produce will hurt beardie eyes. Not sure about snake eyes but I wouldn't chance it. Stick to Reptisun tubes.

As for hides I would say go for the Reptile Basics ones or Bean Farms ones or Pangea Reptiles also has the same offset door style like Reptile Basics. I had a couple extra large Exo Terra rock caves laying around from when my boa was a baby so I just gave those to my pied gal and she loves them. She does the same thing my boa used to and just sits with her head sticking out relaxing and then when sleeping, she curls up in the back of the cave. The general rule is you want hides that the snake fits into snugly. I used plastic bowls from Walmart for my pied gal when she was tiny but she grew so fast that it became a hat for her. She would curl up under it and it sat on top of her. That's why I pulled out the caves. They are too big for her but she seems to actually love them. She is probably about 20 to maybe 24" If it was me, I would probably order the mediums since if your snake is anything like mine, it will grow like a weed in no time. Slightly bigger is fine and if yours seems stressed in it, just crumple up a couple paper towels or even dry reptile moss and put it in there to make the hide a little smaller. Then remove it as your snake grows.

[AtomicJok3r]

Awesome! Thanks for the links! I actually have a water dish I remembered, probably too big until he gets older, because it came with the 5ft tank I bought from someone that kept a boa in it. I'll have to dig it out and see before I buy one. And with the hides, thank for letting me know I could do that, cause like I said never had one, so I don't know how big they are curled up.

And For the UVB lighting, yeah I read that long ago when I was doing my research for my beardie. I agree with you though even if I haven't had a snake, I'd imagine it's same way with snake lol.

thanks again for all the help!

[AnnaK231]

Welcome, Atomic.

I'm actually rocking 2 Zoomed UTH, I forget the size but I think I paid about $20 for one. I have one on the hot side and another on the cold. The cold side one has never been plugged in.. I have the hot side hide sitting directly over the center of the UTH (Through the glass of course..). Ulfric always pushes the substrate out anyways from his hides, so I usually do that for him and dial in the glass temp to 89 per my laser-momiter (Get one of these, best way to get an accurate temp). I'm also using 2 Zoomed thermometers, if you're going with Herpostate you are well set there.

As for lights I have a day and night in a shared ballast (don't run them both in a shared, the heat kills them faster) at 60w's. As Sauzo said, more is better when you need it. My house stays pretty warm in the winter but they struggled a few times this season to keep it at 80 ambient.

Check out my tank. The cardboard wrapped with foil and taped to the outside makes the heat stay in much better. I also have a loose sheet that stays on top and I open it more/close it depending on what my humidity demands are.

I applaud you for setting up your tank BEFORE you got the snake. So many people bring a snake home and it's life is miserable for the first few weeks because something is messed up in their husbandry. I waited roughly 12 years to get my ball, my tank was dialed weeks before Ulfric showed up on my doorstep

Do you mean if you run the bulbs in a shared dome the bulbs burn out faster or the unit itself gets ruined?

Yeah, I was just on the border between buying a dual dome and using one side for an extra UVB bulb I have from when I upgraded my beardie to a T5 Hood, and the other for infrared. But since there are 2 windows in the room and my beardie with his light, I guess I'll go for the cheaper option and just get one dome. I just didn't know how beneficial the direct UVB was, or if it was even noticeable than that compared of them just getting light from windows or other fixtures. Thanks for the help guys, it is much appreciated! I'm hoping by the time I get everything together and set up, that the weather around me will warm up into the 50-60's for a day or two so I can order my new addition to the family haha

Also, does anyone have any recommendations on some hides and water bowls? I looked around my local stores for hides and they are either way too overpriced, too small, or look horrid. I'm guessing the best bet is to just buy some of those black hide boxes from reptilebasics. Also, on the water bowl. I don't know if it was this site or another I found on google while learning about BPs, but I read that the plastic ones are better because they are non-porous as opposed to the ceramic ones and they don't trap bacteria. I mean I use plastic furniture in my beardie's tank and it can be a pain to clean sometimes, as apposed to ceramic or stoneware I'd assume. So just wondering. And the size needs to be big enough so they can fit in it mostly at least correct?

I have two (make sure you have two hides too) cave like hides from exo terra that are extra large and fit our snake snugly. He's about 30 inches long I believe. I ordered them online from amazon because our local stores just had little ones. You want the hides to "fit the snake" so they feel secure. The black boxes look nice and seem to work for a lot of people so I think those would be fine to get. It's up to you what size you want to get, you just may have to use something else in the meantime if you go too big, or may have to upgrade if you go too small.
We made a swimming pool in our BP's 55 gallon and it was a pain to clean so for now we are using plastic dishes. He's got two for now (little ones) but since he likes to soak I'll probably upgrade to a ceramic bowl. If the humidity is high enough and stable you shouldn't need a really big bowl, from what I've read that's really all it's used for.
I didn't see in your above post, what do you have to read temps/humidity in the tank?