help on tank temp

please excuse my lack of knowledge... i am posting on behalf of my husband... and our ball python Scooby...

we live in a 2 bedroom condo and up until now the 2nd room has been "Scooby's room"... but with a new baby coming... he now has to share the room come April... My husband and I of course are not ones to give away animals on a whim or something along the fact of "omg im having a baby there cant be any pets"... so i ask you a few questions..

this summer we moved Scooby to a 40gal tank... hes a little over a foot long i want to say... and my husband takes care of him mostly... my job is mainly to check on him everyday and add water to his dish...

but the questions we are coming to now is heating... we have one heat lamp on the one side of his cage... and a couple of those sticky heat pads on the underneath of the cage on the same warm side... and right now we have the room temperature set in the mid 70s in the bedroom and keep the door shut... and his cage seems to stay warm enough....

his tank is in the high 70s to low 80s on the cool side (his fav side) and in the low 90s on his warm side... oh and his light is on a timer so its not always on.

well our dilemma is now that the baby will be sleeping in there it cant be that warm in the room... and the door will be open more often... so does anyone have any suggestions we can do to keep his cage area warm and not heat the whole room... other than the two items we have on there now...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...y/PICT1252.jpg



i am open to any and all suggestions... my main concern is when we turn the room temp down we are afraid that the tank temp will drop too (we haven't tested this yet)... so i would like to prevent this as much as possible.

Thanks in advance :D

First of all, welcome aboard, and congrats on the baby. -Grins.-

Second, I am going to try and help you as much as possible, without having you spend a lot of money.

Do you have a thermostat for those UTH(Under Tank Heater)s? You'll need one.
That forty gallon glass tank is WAY too big for a snake that size. If I were you, and I'm not, I'd run to Wally World, pick up a 5 to 15 quart sterilite/rubbermaid/iris tub with the locking lid. Put the UTHs on the bottom(underneath) of the tub and hook those into a thermostat. Zoo Med makes a cheap thermostat that's pretty easy to use; it won't break the bank and works pretty great. While you're at Wally World, please pick up an Acu-Rite thermometer/Hygrometer if you haven't already. Place the probe of said thermometer on the inside of the enclosure right above the UTHs. I use newspaper as a substrate. It's easy to clean, easy to find, and easy to toss. And HEY! You're recycling!

You should be able to keep that enclosure almost everywhere, save, perhaps a garage. You can regulate and change the temps of the UTH to suit the temps of the room you've got your Scooby in. Hope this helps. I'm sure there are others here who can help you with the glass, but I usually don't bother with glass. The humidity issues with glass are too much of a pain for me, and all of my snakes love their tubs and/or rack.

He needs 2 enclosed hides for each side (he stays on the cool side cause that's where his hide is). You can wrap the sides and back of tank with insulation wrap (reflectix (sp) ), also cover the lid. You could change the bulb in your lamp to the red one so it won't wake the baby, if you are gonna continue with the heat lamp

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Originally Posted by llovelace

He needs 2 enclosed hides for each side (he stays on the cool side cause that's where his hide is). You can wrap the sides and back of tank with insulation wrap (reflectix (sp) ), also cover the lid. You could change the bulb in your lamp to the red one so it won't wake the baby, if you are gonna continue with the heat lamp

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Thanks. The pictures don't always load for me. O_o Two identical hides, mind you. I would hit up Lowes or Wally World. You can find some great stuff for pretty cheap. Woot!

ahh so glad to see great responses already! You guys are awesome.

I will pass the info on to my hubby... the snake is more his baby than anything and he'll know what will work best for us. I am just the researcher.

and im also glad to hear people who dont scold me for wanting to keep the snake in the baby's room... best comment so far from anyone... was my mom... she says "the snake will eat the baby!!"... my response is always the baby is WAY bigger than any of Scooby's food. haha.

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Originally Posted by magikaldragon

ahh so glad to see great responses already! You guys are awesome.

I will pass the info on to my hubby... the snake is more his baby than anything and he'll know what will work best for us. I am just the researcher.

and im also glad to hear people who dont scold me for wanting to keep the snake in the baby's room... best comment so far from anyone... was my mom... she says "the snake will eat the baby!!"... my response is always the baby is WAY bigger than any of Scooby's food. haha.

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Hahahaha. And just think! With the snake in the bedroom, your little one will be growing up with Scooby. They'll be the best of friends, and any fear of snakes will be squashed pretty early. That's a great idea. I want to do that when I have kids...ten years from now. O_O

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Originally Posted by Melicious

Hahahaha. And just think! With the snake in the bedroom, your little one will be growing up with Scooby. They'll be the best of friends, and any fear of snakes will be squashed pretty early. That's a great idea. I want to do that when I have kids...ten years from now. O_O

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yeah we're having a little boy... i figured little boys like silly creatures so why not introduce him early on...

i personally am terrified to stick my hand in the cage but have no problem looking in on him to monitor his behavior... and pour water through the screen into his bowl... someday I'll get brave and pick him up... but that day isn't today...

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Originally Posted by magikaldragon

yeah we're having a little boy... i figured little boys like silly creatures so why not introduce him early on...

i personally am terrified to stick my hand in the cage but have no problem looking in on him to monitor his behavior... and pour water through the screen into his bowl... someday I'll get brave and pick him up... but that day isn't today...

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Haha. I'm one of the lucky ones. I grew up in Texas, so I picked up everything that slithered, crawled, scurried...and my mother loves snakes, so that made it a lot easier. She demands I go get her Ophi(my female) whenever she wants so that can curl up on the bed together. It's really cute. I think Ophi loves my mom more than she loves me. -Pouts.-

And a little boy to boot? Aww. I'll take him off your hands. ^_^

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Originally Posted by Melicious

Haha. I'm one of the lucky ones. I grew up in Texas, so I picked up everything that slithered, crawled, scurried...and my mother loves snakes, so that made it a lot easier. She demands I go get her Ophi(my female) whenever she wants so that can curl up on the bed together. It's really cute. I think Ophi loves my mom more than she loves me. -Pouts.-

And a little boy to boot? Aww. I'll take him off your hands. ^_^

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aww thats cute that your mom likes your snake... my mom wouldn't even look into the snakes room when she came to visit for our wedding in June... haha...

she was more occupied with my 3 cats... which is another thing my mom is terrified of the snake eating...

we tried explaining to her that my cats are actually scared of the snake... now i haven't introduced them face to face but they've seen him move around in his cage and they don't like it...

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Originally Posted by magikaldragon

aww thats cute that your mom likes your snake... my mom wouldn't even look into the snakes room when she came to visit for our wedding in June... haha...

she was more occupied with my 3 cats... which is another thing my mom is terrified of the snake eating...

we tried explaining to her that my cats are actually scared of the snake... now i haven't introduced them face to face but they've seen him move around in his cage and they don't like it...

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-Giggles.- My het. albino male might try to eat one of your cats, but most likely he'd just bury his head in my bra. O_o

The likelihood of a ball python eating your cat is much less than me trying to eat your cat. Or something like that. They're just too big. The baby's going to be too big. Women are so crazy.