Starting to have a bit of a heat regulation problem!

Greetings fello Snake people:

Boy that sounds wierd,, ANy way, I am having a heating problem at the moment. By the way a thermostat is not an option at the moment. My set up has recently changed so let me bring all the experts up to speed with my rig.

I just moved little Felix into his own room to better suit his needs. I figure it is more quite in there than by the boob tube in theliving room. Any way, My warm end is not that bad off, I have a heating pad (human kind) under the warm end of the tank. THis is assisted by a 60W heat lamp during the day, and a 50W IR lamp at night. My warm side stays around 92-95 deg. during the day and dips around to 88 or so at night. Now for the problem. My cool side stays around 77-79 deg at night and only reaches 80-82 durring the day.

As far as tank set up I have a 55 gal glass tank with screen top. It is 12.5" wide and 48" long. I have a hide over my heat pad (that is under the botom of the tank) and under the lights. I have a ceramic branch thing that reaches almost 3/4 of the way to the top. In Case he needs to get closer to the IR light at night. I have a hide in the middle of the tank and another on the far cool end. I also have a pond for him that is about 1/2 covered so he can actually hide in the water if he needs.

Since I moved him into his 0wn room his humidity has droped to around 52%. I mist the tank about 8 times a day and it brings it up to mid 60's but drops back down. at night the humidity satys around 56%. I am using aspin for substrate (sp). The room has a celing fan, I wonder if that is hurting my humidity levil? I have a digital Therm/Humidity thingy at the cool end and a digital thermomiter at the warm end. The one at the warm end is one of them with the probe. I put the probe right at the botom on top of the aspin, I figure that is where the snake is so why not take the temp there.

Any way, Felix seems to stay in the middle hide more often and comes out for short stents on the heating pad or in the fern at the cool end. He has yet to lay in the water, however, he does drink every so often.

Should I be concerned. Or is everything all right. I am guessing that the middle hide's temps must be right where he likes them because that is where he hangs out. I tend to leave the IR light on all the time and the Regular light is on a timer set to run 8 hours a day. I did notice the temp clime to 95.6 Deg today and paniced a bit and shut the big light off for a bit, But I guess with the cool side staying as cool as it does, he can always go and chill down there if the temp gets a bit too high.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. I am also fighting with the humidity it think, (depends on if 52 % or so is really that bad). Should I worry about that too much or is everything alright considering he has a water dish he can soak in if he needs to? Like I said, a thermostat is not an option at the moment, I am lookig for other means right now.

Thanks again.
Ray

Well, you might not like what I have to say, but you asked for it ....

You don't want your temps dipping below 80, especially for a young ball python. It can lead to fasting and possibly a respiratory infection.

55 gallon glass tanks are extremely hard to regulate heat and humidity in. A 20 or 40 gallon breeder tank would be much better (if you have to use a tank), although I always recommend an enclosure made for housing reptiles such as an AP cage.

A humid hide can easily solve your humidity problems ... 52% is fine for the ambient humidity .... in my opinion misting 8 times a day is a little too much work and a chore that makes keeping a ball python a lot less fun.

A smaller IR bulb or UTH on the cool side should help keep the temps above 80.

Also, I'm not a big fan of human heating pads ... there are several threads on this site about human heating pads shorting out or developing hot spots and running well over 100 degrees! .... They are simply not designed to be run 24x7 for sustained periods of time. An under tank heater designed for continuous use is a much safer alternative for you and your snake.

-adam

What kind of UTH pad do you recomend with my size of a tank. Also, How do I regulate the temp of the pad with out a thermostat? Do they have settings? Also should I put the pad right against the tank botom or leave a small space. Should I put something like a towel under the tank and pad to keep it off the surface of the stand? I am kind of stuck with the tank I have a the moment, however I am plannig on building a snake box for him out of wood, with glass front and screen top. Possibly some type of ceramic tyle around the sides and back. Thanks for the advice and more will be listened to.

Thanks again
Ray

any kind of heat mat from matt at mg reptiles or your local herp store will do better than those heating pads. wired to a dimmer switch will help until you can get a thermostat. the thermostat and a good heat source will solve all your heating issues. your humidity can be controlled by experimenting with the venting, more venting=less humidity, less venting= more humidity. 50-60% is fine.


vaughn

What about getting a piece of plexiglass or something and reducing the area your bp has access to in the large tank. Kindof like a divider or something. You may even want to consider a rubbermaid until your snake gets bigger. Good luck.

Is your tank covered with anything besides the screen top. I have a similar setup only my tank is a 30. I have 2 10inch lights and a UTH to control my heat. I also have a humidifier with all that and simply covering the tank with a towel at one end. I still had problems with my heat and humidity. It wasn’t until I covered 80% of the tank top with a sheet of lexon polycarbon sheeting (a 12inch X 24inch 1/8th sheet cost me 8.90 at home depot.) that my humidity and temps came under control. (Acrylic sheeting may be cheaper but is very fragile and difficult to cut without cracking it. And its nearly impossible to cut a circle in the stuff. ) with the lexon I simply put it on the top of the tank. Took a sharpie marked it for the length and with I wanted. Put my two lights on it and traced the opening I wanted to cut. I then removed the sheet put it on the end of my work table and cut everything out with a saws all. I used an saws all because I couldn’t find any blades for my jig saw. (a saws all is a big clunky power saw used to cut 2X4s and anything else its like a giant power hacksaw.) it did not crack the sheet. I don’t recommend you use one a jigsaw is much better and easier to control. But I just wanted to point out how easy it is to cut this stuff and how durable it is. As for clarity lexon is as clear as glass.



If you don’t have a jigsaw maybe you can borrow one from someone or mark up the top as needed and have someone cut it for you.



Poly carbon is 250 times stronger than glass is non toxic if you can get it to burn, Is nearly unbreakable and extremely heat resistant. Unlike acrylic sheet or Plexiglas which is only 10 times stronger than glass can burn quite easily and is toxic when it burns.


after covering my tank. ginger had her first stress free shed. it was stress free for me anyway. i saw her eyes go blue and 2 days later she had shed without any help from me

for 3 or 4 dollars u cant go wrong with a dimmer if u cant fork out the cash for a tstat at the moment. i am using one on my IR light that is my main source of heat and stays on 24/7. just splice into the power wire running to your lamp and u are set.

I prefer dimmers as well for lighting, the themrostat will burn your element out super quick...:)