New BP owner blues

[Quahog]

So I'm a total newbie and a hot mess. I feel like I'm just screwing up left and right.

I did loads of research and lurked here for a couple months. I got a hatchling on september 10th. She came from one of the better breeders you could purchase a snake from. I did my initial set up before I got her...except I forgot to put paper towel substrate down... d'oh. I've been monitoring my husbandry and I just can't seem to get it right. I only handled her twice to check for possible shedding(once Tuesday, once yesterday) and that was for 5 minutes each time.

Ambient is 78-82
Humidity - 60-72
Hotspot - 88-92 (when all is well)

I have her in a small 9qt RUB, paper towel substrate, VE-100 thermostat, UTH (probe taped with foil tape, in the middle of the UTH, initally set to 100 to get the substrate temps to 90), digital humidity/ambient monitor, and a Ryobi laser thermometer(it's about 4 years old), 2 small hides for hot and cold end, and a small water dish. I had been monitoring the hot spot temps and Coco's and her movement, if any. She stays in her hot spot all day and the temps had initially been around 90. I checked her temps this morning, and the heat gun said 78...which I panicked and tuned her thermostat up to get the hotspot temps up. ( I had it set to 100 so the substrate would get warm enough). I even checked the heat gun on my hand to make sure it wasn't messed up and it read correctly.

About 45 minutes I had may have blasted the poor thing with heat and she was pressing herself up against the cool side of her tub, behind her hide. I have a computer with lighting FX next to her tub (just steady green light), so I put a hand towel over the tub, and checked on her about 30 minutes later, and she was back in her hot hide. I measured the temps again just inside of her hide and it said 86 (Thermostat was at 110, bumped it up to 113).

She hasn't been showing any signs of "hunting" at night, or interest in food, and the last meal when she was with the breeder was a week ago. That's the other issue, is she was on live hopper mice, and I'm trying to get her to take a F/T hopper. I thawed/heated the hopper's up near her tub (30 minutes in a plastic bag and hot water). I offered it to her and she pulled away from it. I had removed her hot hide to feed her, and I was this giant heat source sitting next to her, so I'm sure I terrified her. So I'm not entirely sure what to do as far as the feeding goes.

So I'm stuck, is she too cold, and not wanting to feed? Is the light bothering her, so she doesn't want to feed? Is my temp gun or thermostat malfunctioning?

I'm screwing things up, being a hot mess, and doing a horrible job getting her to adapt. Any of the seasoned BP owners ever feel like this when they got their first BPs? Thanks in advance, I'm sure you guys read a ton of these T_T.

[tttaylorrr]

you need to be taking the hot spot temperature measurement from the ABSOLUTE bottom of the enclosure, NOT the substrate. i can guarantee you the bottom is FAR TOO HOT for the snake.

take your measurement from the bottom and adjust accordingly.

[Quahog]

Aw crapola T_T So bottom of the enclosure, not the substrate temp...oh no O_O!

Thanks tttaylorrrr!

[tttaylorrr]

Aw crapola T_T So bottom of the enclosure, not the substrate temp...oh no O_O!

Thanks tttaylorrrr!

it'll be alright. let us know how it goes once the temps settle down.

[Quahog]

Just took a temp reading from the enclosure bottom, not through the substrate, 86, argh, getting closer!

Got a lil' hiss from scaring her when I put the hide back on top of her.

[tttaylorrr]

Just took a temp reading from the enclosure bottom, not through the substrate, 86, argh, getting closer!

Got a lil' hiss from scaring her when I put the hide back on top of her.

what's the thermostat set to?

[Quahog]

The thermostat was at 100 this morning. Bumped it up to 105, it was only reading 82 about 2 hours ago. Bumped it up to 110, heat gun read 86 from bottom of the enclosure.

So I just bumped it up to 115. Thanks again for helping me get this figured this out , tttaylorr

[Newbie39]

115 wow. mine is at 92 to 94 and I get 91 on hot spot.

[Quahog]

K, checked the temp from enclosure bottom, it's at 92, and she's in her cold hide now. Going to bump the temp down to about 112 and see what the reading is in a bit.

She's in her cold hide now, towel down. It's only the second time all week, during the day, in which she's been thermoregulating. Not sure about night time.

[tttaylorrr]

The thermostat was at 100 this morning. Bumped it up to 105, it was only reading 82 about 2 hours ago. Bumped it up to 110, heat gun read 86 from bottom of the enclosure.

So I just bumped it up to 115. Thanks again for helping me get this figured this out , tttaylorr

115 wow. mine is at 92 to 94 and I get 91 on hot spot.

yeah, that's seems way too hot of a temp for a normal hot spot. are you sure your temp readings are accurate?