Flexwatt questions

I am new to the snake keeping thing. right now i have a 29 gallon tank with a mesh cover and a peice of plexiglass cut for a light. i have a accuright temp gauge and i have the probe under about a inch of substrate under his hide. during the day it stays about 85 and at night about 80. i plan on getting some flex watt but i want to know if a foot of 11" will work. I know that a foot of 11" will put out 20watts. but it will have to travel through about 2-3 inches of substrate. i have reptibark in the bottom. i also plan on getting a rheostat. i also want to get a another flexwatt on the other side for his cool side. what do yall recomned. i will hook it up to a dimmer then to the rheostat. i am keeping a 75 watt infared light on right now constanly if i didnt the temp would be about 68-70 constant in his home. i am not owrried about him burring becuase he never ddoes it but when i putt he flexx watt in there i keep a close watch on him.
also one more thing. i bout a cheap bird ladder from walmart. is it ok to hang from the top of his cage for him to climb on. he seems to love it.

Hi!
You've got some great questions and I'll try my best to answer them.

The first thing I noticed was that your warm side temps are pretty low for a ball python. Many owners keep the warm side from 91-94F and the cool side at about 82F with ambient (air) temps at around 80F.

It sounds like you have quite a depth of substrate in your snake's cage and this depth might interfere with the flex watt doing its job. Could you perhaps decrease the amount of substrate?

You mention that you have a light on all the time to help with heat. If this is a white light bulb, your snake is not appreciating this methodology!! They really need a distinct 12 hour daylight and 12 hour darkness cycle.

Rheostats are inexpensive and are also a real pain if your room temps are not really constant. Any fluctuation in room temps of more than a degree or two will mean that you'll be constantly adjusting the rheostat.

I would recommend for your situation purchasing a thermostat and flexwatt and decreasing the amount of substrate. With this approach, the t'stat will monitor the heat output for you and the flex watt will be able to do it job. If you discover that the tank is still too chilly, or the ambient temps are too low, you could wrap the sides and back of the tank with insulation.

A terrific place to purchase flex watt and t'stats is Reptile Basics (http://www.reptilebasics.com/Heating-p-1-c-248.html). You could also email Rich (the owner and an extraordinary person) and ask him what might be best for your situation.

As for the ladder, I'd take care to not hang it too high. While some balls tend to be climbers, they are not arboreal; meaning they fall! Perhaps you could affix it from the ground to the side of the tank?? This type of jungle gym might be safer for him in the short and long run!

I hope I've addressed your various concerns and questions! Take care.

thanks the light i am using is a infared red light. it not real bright. i will decrease the substrate when i get home. i am trying to do all the reseach i can to give my ball a great home. i will talk to rich and see what he says. thanks for all your help and input

anybody else have a opinion of this

Hi,

Well as mentioned you should use less substrate with a UTH.

How much flex you want depends on the ambient room temperatures really - if they are really low you might need a bit on the cool end as well.

The normal way to calibrate it is to set the thermostat at the point needed to get the bottom of the cage to around 94 max then adjust the depth of the substrate to the level needed to get the temp inside the warm end hide to between 90-93f as measured by the probe on your thermometer. It doesn't really matter at all what temp the thermostat is set to to achieve this as long as the actual temps are bang on and it can keep them stable.

This ensures that even if the snake burrows all the way down to the bottom it doesn't come into contact with temperatures it shouldn't. :)


dr del