Hi everyone I have questions about my enclosure. I've read many many threads
on here, going back and forth to the store to purchase different things in hopes
of making my little habitat for my little one better but I just can't get the temps
right!!!
First off, I purchased him at pet smart and I know this is bad but the way I saw
it, I'm saving him (not sure if it's a boy or girl yet we are taking it to the vet
in a few days). He's 7 months old, about 1 1/2 - 2 feet long. He's very nice with me
and loves to sleep all day and night on his warm spot. I'm assuming he does this
because it's too cold. My room in the socal winter gets pretty cold about 60 degrees F
im guessing.
I bought a 20 gal glass tank by the brand All Living Things (I think it's called) it came with a UTH with
a sticky back, a dome fixture, a thermometer/hygrometer with a sticky back, and repti carpet.
I also bought a 40w infrared light, a thermometer with a probe, an additional heating pad and 2 hides and a water bowl. So setting up this thing has been pretty hard. At first, with only 1 heating pad on the hot side
along with the infrared light above, my hotside temp wasn't rising over 72 with the ambient temp
at 60 something! Way too cold. That's when I installed the second UTH on the cold side. Still everything
i felt was too cold. Read some more and thought maybe I need a diff bulb. So I went to the
store and got a 100w infrared, put that in and now the hot side is 84 f with the cold side analog therm that came w the tank reading 70 f (I stuck the thermometer
probe underneath the substrate on the hot side directly above the UTH on the inside on top of the glass- do I need another therm for the cold side UTH for more accuracy?). What the heck! Idk what else to do since 100w infrared already seems like too much..do I need a better UTH? I bought all this at petsmart I wouldn't doubt the quality isn't up to par.
im also going to purchase a better thermometer/hygrometer to replace the one that came with the tank.
i also want to buy some thermostats but at this point nothing is even getting warm enough!
Please help, I'm stressing so much over trying to get this right for my baby. I don't want him to be cold
and get sick, and there is no where else in my house to put him as my family is scared of reptiles.
Reply With Quote