10 gallon setup for my baby albino ball

just got a gorgeous albino ball at the pomona expo!!! the guy i got the snake from hooked me up with one of his buddies who sold tanks and he set me up with a 10 gallon short, with a exo-terra hide, aspen bedding, water dish, and a mini-under tank heater by zoo med. now my only concern with this setup is when i got home i read the label on the UTH and noticed it said it was for a 1-5 gallon tank. i don't know if the guy made a mistake or this is the proper UTH for this snake. she's 3 months old...i placed the hide on about half of the UTH. outside temp is pretty much room temp. right now. inside the cave it ranges from 85-95.

my question is...is this the proper UTH for my snake or is it not good enough??? what do you guys recommend?

As long as your temperatures are spot on then you have the correct UTH. What's the exact temp or the hot spot and the exact temp of the cold spot? 85-95 is a big range for a hot spot.

well i used an infa-red laser thermometer and seems like the temp. of the air inside the cave is around 85 and the temp of the floor is around 95. outside room temp. of 78

i was going to put a 50 watt heat lamp about 10 inches from the floor and about 6 inches from the top of the cave but i don't want to overhead her. are these UTH's supposed to heat up the ambient air in the tank or do they mostly heat up the substrate????

UTH mostly heat up the substrate, but ball pythons don't need a light. I only use under tank heaters on a thermostat and my cages stay between 82-85 ambient. I also have an under cabinet light on them just for my viewing purposes and they put off a small amount of heat. IMO a heat lamp is overkill unless really needed in winter. But generally heat lights dry out the cages and lead to more problems than not. In my experience.

i put a 50watt black light on her last night about 10 inches from the bottom of the tank and this morning the tank hottest spot under the light at the bottom was 94, surrounding areas were in mid 80's. oh the cold end of the tank it was 79 but temperatures above the UTH were in the 100's. i'm guessing the UTH and heat light combined are too much. i found my snake on the cold side of the tank under a new hide i put for her. temp. was 80. so...i'm guessing that it got too hot for her comfort...

do you think the mini UTH i have, 4watts rated 1-5 gallons is sufficient for her or should i go with the next size UTH made for a 10 gallon? i don't know if the guy gave me this UTH on mistake or if this is the one he recommended. i didn't notice till i got home.

Order a cheap hydrofarm thermostat for now to run your uth. with those temps she will boil.

first problem IR gun can measure only surfaces not air. They also are totally unreliable measuring anything that is reflective or shiny.

I'd say the UTH is too small it is the 4x5 inch one right and only 4 watts? I'd go with the bigger one, designed for the 10gal tank. You also as mentioned need a thermostat or at the very least a rheostat. hydrofarms are ok I am in the process of testing them. So far they are ok but not great you get what you pay for.

You really need:
2 hides not just one
a thermometer ideally an IR gun and a probed one.
Hygrometer, one from a cigar humidor works really well but I am super fussy with instruments.
T-stat (proportional is the most versatile type<herpstat, helix, ve> On/off type <hydrofarm, johnson, ranco>

Or at least a rheostat they work great in stable room temps but not so well in variable room temps.

Read over a few care sheets more than one there are a lot of variations.

http://www.vpi.com/publications/the_...hon_care_sheet

http://www.theurbanpython.com/caring-ball-python

there are lots of other ones out there read a few.

what is a better UTH for my ball in the 10gal short setup i have....the exo terra 4watt rainforest or the exo terra 8 watt desert???? both are 8x8" if i get a rheostat or a thersmostat what is the recommended temp. setting to place it at????

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Originally Posted by 6spdrt

what is a better UTH for my ball in the 10gal short setup i have....the exo terra 4watt rainforest or the exo terra 8 watt desert???? both are 8x8" if i get a rheostat or a thersmostat what is the recommended temp. setting to place it at????

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set your thermosat at 94* at first, leave it for a couple hours then measure temps & adjust as needed. You want your surface temp to be between 92-94*

what do you guys think of the repti temp 500R by zoo med??? is this a good thermostat???