Thank you

Thanks to everyone who gave advice and feedback. My ball has gone from

http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/u...n/S7301050.jpg

to

http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/u...n/S7301054.jpg
(there's also a piece of wood that will go in there, but at the moment it's in the 10gal. i'm also thinking about adding another small plant to the left/warm side to provide a little natural shade from the "sun")

I went out and got a zilla t-stat until I can order a Ranco, which is keeping the warm hide's surface temp at 90-92F. The cool side has a UTH as well, with a rheostat keeping it at 82F surface temp. Ambient temps are around 78F, the day/night bulbs are only 40 watt so they dont really add much to room temps, and with 55% humidity (thank you Miami and 49% humidity inside the house to begin with). Picked up a really sweet wireless Acurite thermo/hygrometer to monitor all of that, too.

Question, though... should the temperature probe on the t-stat be touching the bottom glass, or in between two layers of substrate? I found that when I had it touching glass, it would shut off far sooner, and my infrared temp gun would register about 83F or so on the top of the substrate.

He just ate today for the first time since coming home with me. He wasted no time, either... must've been hungry! I picked up a frozen hopper to try in another 5-7 days, but so far he's only ever been fed live prey from birth. We'll see how he takes to it. I'm going to give him a good 48 hours before transplanting into the new habitat.

I appreciate all the info and useful links. Thank you.

Looks great!!! Those Exo-Terra hides are really nice. All my boys use them more than any other hide I've tried.

You should put your T-Stat probe right on the glass, and adjust the temp on the T-Stat till you get the desired temp on the surface of the substrate. You'll have to adjust the T-Stat temp quite a bit higher to get the right temp on the surface of the substate.

A word of caution about this method: The glass is going to get pretty hot. If you notice your BP starting to burrow into the substate, TURN DOWN THE T-STAT...it could get thermal burns if it burrows down to the glass. Also, take Temp Gun readings INSIDE the floor of the warm side hide. Those Exo-Terra hides hold heat pretty well.

Edit: Are you going to try covering the top of the cage, except for the lamp part, to try and keep humidity up?

Thanks for the info, Slim. In response to your edit, the natural humidity in the house is around 50% as it is, so once I cover the tank and add the lamps, it goes up to 55-60% without much effort. When he starts shedding, I'll probably cover half of the screen with a towel and mist/add sphagnum until it gets up around 70%.

My little snakes love those hides too. Florida weather is a big help when it comes to tank setups.:gj:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cshouston

Thanks for the info, Slim. In response to your edit, the natural humidity in the house is around 50% as it is, so once I cover the tank and add the lamps, it goes up to 55-60% without much effort. When he starts shedding, I'll probably cover half of the screen with a towel and mist/add sphagnum until it gets up around 70%.

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Ahhh! I didn't notice you were in Miami...I'm a old Florida boy myself.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Slim

Looks great!!! Those Exo-Terra hides are really nice. All my boys use them more than any other hide I've tried.

You should put your T-Stat probe right on the glass, and adjust the temp on the T-Stat till you get the desired temp on the surface of the substrate. You'll have to adjust the T-Stat temp quite a bit higher to get the right temp on the surface of the substate.

A word of caution about this method: The glass is going to get pretty hot. If you notice your BP starting to burrow into the substrate, TURN DOWN THE T-STAT...it could get thermal burns if it burrows down to the glass. Also, take Temp Gun readings INSIDE the floor of the warm side hide. Those Exo-Terra hides hold heat pretty well.

Edit: Are you going to try covering the top of the cage, except for the lamp part, to try and keep humidity up?

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I always set my t-stat so the temp on the glass (plastic) is 94*. That way they can burrow if they want to get to the heat. I would rather them burrow and be the correct temp than burrow and get burned. :/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

I always set my t-stat so the temp on the glass (plastic) is 94*. That way they can burrow if they want to get to the heat. I would rather them burrow and be the correct temp than burrow and get burned. :/

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Back when I had a set up similar to the OP's, I only had one BP at the time, and he didn't burrow at all. If I had set up the T-Stat as you described, his warm side temps would have always been to low. Just goes to show you that there are several different ways to do the same thing right...just depends on your set up and your snake.

I only used that set up for less than a month before I went to a rack system.