Temperature advice.

[middle_skirt]

Recently got my first ball python. I have a 4ft viv which I know is a little large but with all the structures i've put in there she seems happy enough. My only worry is the temperature, I have a pulse stat with a 100W ceramic bulb for temperature, this gets a 31c hot spot and its around 25c down the cold end with an ambient temperature of around 26 with the thermostat probe for the ambient down the top left of the cold end. However at just before I go to bed when the heating in the house comes on these temperatures seem to increase, the hot end going up to around 36 and the cold end around 29, whenever this happens I lower the pulse stat probe slightly, and during the night temperatures drop, the ambient being around 25 hot end around 29 and cold end about 24? I can't seem to monitor the temperature correctly without constantly having to alter the pulse stat cause it seems to not regulate according to outside temperature, I have a wooden viv so a heatmat isn't really viable. Also cause i'm using purely overhead heating I struggle to head the hides, the warm end his will be about 27c and the cold end hide around 25c, any advice would be great, thank you.

[LittleTreeGuy]

I would seriously look into some good RHP's, maybe one large one, or two smaller ones depending on your enclosure configuration. If you did two, you could keep one at a higher temp to help with your warm side, and the other set a little lower to keep your cool side warm, but not hot. Put them both on good thermostats, and you'll be set.

[middle_skirt]

Okay thanks, can they be used with a pulse stat? Would I mount them to the top of the viv?

[LittleTreeGuy]

They mount to the ceiling of the inside of the cage. I cannot answer about whether or not they would work with your current t-stat, as I don't know.

[Polyangler]

Yes, they can run on a pulse type T-stat. I've been using one since the week of Christmas, and love it!





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[Polyangler]

Don't mind the temps/humidity reads on those thermometers. I was in the process of setting it all up, so the RHP wasn't running

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[middle_skirt]

I have a habistat pulse thermostat, and my viv is wooden, would I just have to mount two of these to the roof of the viv? I don't doubt my current ceramic bulb has enough power to heat up the viv, but it's not stable by any means, both thermostats I've tried don't seem to react to outside temperature meaning when the heatings on it goes as high as 36 in the hotspot and when it's off i'm lucky to get 28, and that's with no alteration to the thermostat, any suggestions?

[KMG]

If the tstat is working properly you should not have to repeatedly change it. Are you giving it enough time to adjust the temp in the cage once the house heater comes on? It does not happen in an instant so maybe you need to give it more time.

It really sounds like you are using a dimmer and not a tstat at all.

[KMG]

I have a habistat pulse thermostat, and my viv is wooden, would I just have to mount two of these to the roof of the viv? I don't doubt my current ceramic bulb has enough power to heat up the viv, but it's not stable by any means, both thermostats I've tried don't seem to react to outside temperature meaning when the heatings on it goes as high as 36 in the hotspot and when it's off i'm lucky to get 28, and that's with no alteration to the thermostat, any suggestions?

After my first post I had a second thought.

Where is the probe mounted?

A che is like a spot lamp bulb. They do not spill the heat out as a regular heat lamp bulb does. You may get better results with a flood style heat bulb.

[middle_skirt]

That's an old photo of the viv, the hides where replaced with more suitable snake hides and I know it's a bearded dragon viv and i'm losing a lot of heat through the ceramic but its not deep enough to mount it inside as it recommends it be 42cm away from the snake and mines only 40cm deep. The probe is mounted just above the wooden hide on the right, and the ambient temperature probe is mounted on the top far left, just above the plastic shelter.