setup question

[rarzi11a]

so i just got my BP yesterday from a lady on craigslist. she gave me the snake, tank (20L), uth, light housing, thermometer (cheap stick on kind) and all the accessories (cave, water dish, and a small branch). the light she had burned out right before i picked it up. i went and bought a 150 W day light (recommended by the guy at petsmart).

right now i have the uth on the cool side (left) with the cave over that. the water dish is pretty much in the middle of the cage. i set the branch up on the warm side (right) with the light over the branch. the thermometer is pretty much in between the water dish and the branch. the thermometer was reading about 90 degrees. i turned the light off over night and when i woke up the thermometer was reading about 78. i realized that is way too cold so i went and bought an infrared light today (100 W), so i can leave it on 24/7. its reading about 92.

the thing is i never see the snake come out of the cave. im not exactly sure the temp inside the cave, but it seems like she should come out every now and then to regulate body temp but she doesnt. is she just stressed from the move? should i be doing something different? this is my first snake so i still learning here.

anybody have any advice/suggestions?

edit: also, how long is too long for her to be out of the cage? how fast does their body temp drop?

[dr del]

Hi,

to the site.

BP's are shy little snakes for the most part and have a tendency to pick security over thermoregulation if forced to make the choice.

I would recomend getting another cave (identicle to the one you have if possible) and putting it at the hot end so each side is equaly secure.

I tend to keep my waterbowls near the cool end next to the hide but that depends on the humidity in your tank as well - picking up an acu-rite from wall mart for $12 will be the best investment here as it can be used to measure booth temps and the humidity as well.

Now for the cage setup ideas;

I would recomend using the temps inside the caves as your guide as that is where the snake will be spending most of its time in all likelyhood.

It might be easier to get the correct values for that (80-83f cool side 90-93f hot side) by using the heat lamp to raise the ambient temperatures in the tank till the cool end is in the right range then using the UTH on the hot side to get that right.

All these heat sources need to be controlled obviously and the best thing to use to control them would be thermostats or (if your room temps are stable enough) rheostats (lamp dimmers).

I would say you should do a couple of searches to see how others have set theirs up (there are a few ways) to see which one will suit you best.

As to the how long can they stay out of the cage question it depends on the ambient room temps really - but I would suggest getting her tank setup then leaving her to settle in for a week with no handling and after that trying to feed her.

I like to wait till mine are eating consistently before starting to handle them and if they go off food handling is the first thing I stop.

It might also be worth mentioning offering food to often can also stress them out a little so sticking to once every 5-7 days depending on size is best and don't panic if the first couple of meals are refused.

Settling into a new home can be fairly stressfull for them after all.



dr del