Need help with heating t8 evenly, have a huge gradient =[

So, I will start off by letting you guys know that I have a ball python and he is housed in an animal plastics t8. I have flexwatt running as well as an RHP, both on the same sides as it gets pretty cold here. I am in a basement and the temperature is usually around 66-68 degrees. As it's coming into the colder months here in New England I'm worried about my buddy. The issue I'm having is that the temperatures on the hot and cooler side are very far apart. On the hot side the ambient is 80 when I use my temp gun the floor is reading 90-91 which is great. But when getting over to the cool side the ambient is around 74 and the floor just about the same at 74. I'm worried that this is too much of a jump in temperatures. Severus (my bp) rarely goes to the cool side unless its late at night and he's exploring climbing his tree and such. I just recently ordered a Herpstat 2 to help better regulate my heating elements as I currently am running a cheaper petstore thermostat, that probe is under the tank wedged between the PVC and the Flexwatt. I use acurrite thermometers on either side of the tank to gauge the ambient and humidity and as I stated I use a temp gun to check the floor temps and just adjust the thermostat accordingly.

I have been reading all over the forums and people (in cold climates) have no issues with the RHP reaching somewhat over to the cool side. That being said, I do know that RHP acts like the sun and heats the floor and objects under it's rays, but it has risen the ambient temp a bit since I've had it which has been awesome.

Any help/suggestions/duh-moments are gladly appreciated

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...6e847cb39f.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...f3ad8a6883.jpg

Here are some pictures of my setup


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how many watts is the RHP? i use an 80 W RBI RHP that's mounted in the middle of the enclosure and it works well. you might need a higher wattage.

Nope just fine. I have an ambient around 82ish and the hot side is 90 and cool side is 76. Works great. so long as the temps you just mentioned stay around that you are good to go. May need to up the RHP temp a tad to get the cool side a few degrees warmer but that's about it.

Now for something you might not like. Remove that skull. They can get stuck and trust me, you do not want to have to remove your snake from it. Those skulls are not meant for snake enclosures outside of really, really small reptiles of which a ball python is not.

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Originally Posted by SDA

Nope just fine. I have an ambient around 82ish and the hot side is 90 and cool side is 76. Works great. so long as the temps you just mentioned stay around that you are good to go. May need to up the RHP temp a tad to get the cool side a few degrees warmer but that's about it.

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you don't think 74° F is a bit too low for someone running an RHP? i can see why OP is concerned; not about the range in temps just the 74° F.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SDA

Now for something you might not like. Remove that skull. They can get stuck and trust me, you do not want to have to remove your snake from it. Those skulls are not meant for snake enclosures outside of really, really small reptiles of which a ball python is not.

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this this this, OP. there was a recent post of a nasty injury caused by a snake squeezing into one of those which was too small.

I have an 80 Watt as well, but its all the way to the right on the hot side.

It's not ideal but not going to kill their snake. I edited it to put in a few degrees warmer on the RHP as I had initially read it as 76 not 74 ;)

Still as long as they can thermoregulate and the hide, which is not placed at the far side of the cool end is warmer than 74 they are fine. My right bottom front corner of my enclosure for example read 73 this morning but I was not worried because the hide read 78

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SDA

Nope just fine. I have an ambient around 82ish and the hot side is 90 and cool side is 76. Works great. so long as the temps you just mentioned stay around that you are good to go. May need to up the RHP temp a tad to get the cool side a few degrees warmer but that's about it.

Now for something you might not like. Remove that skull. They can get stuck and trust me, you do not want to have to remove your snake from it. Those skulls are not meant for snake enclosures outside of really, really small reptiles of which a ball python is not.

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Oh no!!! I will absolutely remove it immediately. Thank you so much for letting me know, I will place another large reptile basics hide in it's place.

[QUOTE=tttaylorrr;2571456]you don't think 74° F is a bit too low for someone running an RHP? i can see why OP is concerned; not about the range in temps just the 74° F.


correct, my worry is that it's just pretty low from the recommended ranges I've learned. I take the temp gun all over the cooler side, under hides, etc and it is still the same. The hide he is currently in right now is a bit more in the middle but generally he is right under the log under the RHP. I could up the RHP to achieve higher ambient temps on the cool side but it worries me that the floor temps will then be too hot for him.

What do you have the temp set to on the RHP and what thermostat are you using and if it is a herpstat, are you using dimming or proportional for the RHP (dimming works far better for me on RHPs)?