New Owner/wish i was more prepared!

I have a 1 1/2Ft bp in a 20 gal tank. i have a red and blue heating lamp on the top of screen and a heating pad on the side of the tank for the warm side. Should i have put the heating pad underneath or does that matter? was wondering where to put the temp guages and humidity guage. top or bottom? what temps do i try keeping tank at for day and night?

Ok im not the most experienced with them only owned for about two years. But first take a deep breath and dont panic. Put your gauges close to the bottom since thats where hes gonna be at the most. Belly heat is better and lights are gonna cause you stress with humidity. They'll dry out the air. I keep my warm side at 92-ish cool side mid 80s and humidity at 50%. Also cover most of your screen top with a towel or aluminum foil it'll help keep humidity in.

I'd say put it on the bottom because ball pythons tend to like to absorb heat through their stomach to aid with digestion but otherwise sounds like your doing a bang up job

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Originally Posted by Kslab

I have a 1 1/2Ft bp in a 20 gal tank. i have a red and blue heating lamp on the top of screen and a heating pad on the side of the tank for the warm side. Should i have put the heating pad underneath or does that matter? was wondering where to put the temp guages and humidity guage. top or bottom? what temps do i try keeping tank at for day and night?

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First of all:

Is the heating pad being regulated with a thermostat, or is it directly plugged into the wall? If its not regulated, unplug it NOW. Heat pads can easily reach unsafe temperatures that can burn your ball python.

What type of thermometers do you have? Are they those circular stick on ones? If so, get rid of them as they are total garbage. Get thermometers that are digital and have a probe.

Warm side should be 90, cool side 80, ambient 80 with humidity of at least 50%.

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Originally Posted by Bobbafett

First of all:

Is the heating pad being regulated with a thermostat, or is it directly plugged into the wall? If its not regulated, unplug it NOW. Heat pads can easily reach unsafe temperatures that can burn your ball python.

What type of thermometers do you have? Are they those circular stick on ones? If so, get rid of them as they are total garbage. Get thermometers that are digital and have a probe.

Warm side should be 90, cool side 80, ambient 80 with humidity of at least 50%.

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This is a great little write up. X2!

Now the daylight and heating pad are both on a thermostat. i moved the pad to the bottom of warm side. i have a probe temp gauge on warm side. should i have that laying on ground or floating just above?

I just made the switch yesterday from aquarium to $6 plastic tub from walmart. I wish I would have saved some money and done so from the start. He already seems much more calm when I open the tub and do anything to/around him. Next is to build a rack!

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Originally Posted by Kslab

Now the daylight and heating pad are both on a thermostat. i moved the pad to the bottom of warm side. i have a probe temp gauge on warm side. should i have that laying on ground or floating just above?

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The probe of the thermoMETER should be directly over the heat pad, inside the cage, over the glass.

Where is your thermoSTAT probe?

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Originally Posted by Bobbafett

The probe of the thermoMETER should be directly over the heat pad, inside the cage, over the glass.

Where is your thermoSTAT probe?

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both probes are floating just above the substrate on the warm side.

The thermoSTAT probe is supposed to be on the outside of the tank, directly over the heat pad.

The thermoMETER should be inside the tank, directly placed over the heat pad.