Is my ball too cold?

[wickedserpent]

Hey guys this is going to be a pretty long post but I am a new bp owner and have a lot of questions! I want to make sure my bp is as comfortable as possible! I have a 36gallon tank with a screen lid. I cover the sides and half the top of the lid to keep in heat/humidity and give more security. I have a heat pad and a 100W red bulb on the hot side. My cool side is reading at 76.5 and hot side 86.5( I use the zoo med digital thermometer) I had my uth on a sandalwood garden brand thermostat at 89-90 degrees F until today when I noticed my Uth had stopped working. I bought a new one and now my thermostat has stopped working... Anyways right now it is 2:38 pm and my snake has been out of his hide since I've been home from work at 10am, under his heat lamp. He likes his heat lamp and is under it quit a lot during the night. He cruises around during the day sometimes but not for this long I don't think. He stays in his cool side hide most of the time except for after eating. He ate a small hopper mouse last Saturday and digested it perfectly and even pooed! I tried feeding him Thursday night but he did not eat. I'm just wondering is all this cruising and crawling the sides of the tank during the day because he is possibly too cold? Or hungry? Or just being a normal bp? He ate last Saturday so that seems to me that he is comfortable in his enclosure. Could he just be an active snake? Ps I have had him a little over a month and he seems perfectly comfortable with me and his enclosure.

[Trisnake]

How is the digital thermometer positioned in the enclosure? And I've never heard of sandalwood thermostats but you said the thermostat wasn't working, are you sure that your first heat pad actually died? Maybe it just wasn't getting power due to the thermostat dying? Since it's plugged into the stat that's plugged into the wall. Also, where was the stat probe placed and what have you been setting it at? 75 cool and 85 warm are too cool of temps for ball pythons; they need an ~80 degree cool side and ~90 degree warm side. This can be accomplished with use of a UTH and heat bulb like you already have, there's just some tweaking needing to be done to the setup. Is your lamp on a dimmer? And how do you measure humidity?

Personally I don't think he's cruising because he's too cold; they tend to hunker down in the warmest spot they can find and not move when that's the case. It could be hunger, but since you said he refused a meal I'm thinking it's more than likely stress due to some issue with husbandry. More info about your setup and pictures of it would help a lot Tapatalk is a good app to use for posting pictures to the forum

[wickedserpent]

My cool side probe is placed on top of the bedding but not beneath it. My hot side probe is about half way down the side of the tank(i know they are supposed to be placed under the substrate but did not want to place it there at this time because it was kind of close to where he was resting and didn't want to upset him any further.) I had my thermostat probe under the substrate inside the hot hide directly on top of the uth. I had the therm. set to 89-91. I also have one of those cheap non digital thermostats for humidity and heat. It seems to work pretty accurately.. when i had my heat pad on, when my thermostat was working it read 90F but the cool side did not get any warmer. Could I be needing a lower watt bulb for the warm side as well? And i keep my humidity at 50-60 sometimes 70. I use a reptifogger for humidity. If he's not to cold than what could his stress be caused by? Im going to try feeding him a small mouse tonight. I will post pictures as soon as i download the app.

[wickedserpent]

and i should add that he does hunker down in the corner of the tank under the heat lamp occasionally cruising and crawling the side of the tank

[wickedserpent]

My cool side probe is placed on top of the bedding but not beneath it. My hot side probe is about half way down the side of the tank(i know they are supposed to be placed under the substrate but did not want to place it there at this time because it was kind of close to where he was resting and didn't want to upset him any further.) I had my thermostat probe under the substrate inside the hot hide directly on top of the uth. I had the therm. set to 89-91. I also have one of those cheap non digital thermostats for humidity and heat. It seems to work pretty accurately.. when i had my heat pad on, when my thermostat was working it read 90F but the cool side did not get any warmer. Could I be needing a lower watt bulb for the warm side as well? And i keep my humidity at 50-60 sometimes 70. I use a reptifogger for humidity. If he's not to cold than what could his stress be caused by? Im going to try feeding him a small mouse tonight. I will post pictures as soon as i download the app.

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