New setup... Advice?

not to mention if you ditch the bulbs and use a UTH only will help your power bill. I had a night time light on mine at first and it killed the humidity in the tank really fast

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Originally Posted by Jessica Loesch

He may climb up and use it, but it is unneeded. Also, you are assuming he likes the branch when really he may just be antsy and looking for a better place to hide. Maybe it isn't warm enough through the cypress from the UTH and he is looking for heat, but this is the wrong way to go about it.

As mentioned the UTH needs NEEDS a thermostat and the glass is going to get very hot despite the reptile carpet and cypress and this is not recommended (PS reptile carpet is hard to disinfect and gets nasty, i wouldn't use it).

Your temps seem fine now but they aren't coming from the right sources. I would take out the carpet, thin the cypress, and get a thermostat. You don't need any of the lights, at all. No photo cycle needed, no black light, no anything. Unless you are having trouble with getting your hot spot warm enough, but the other method I suggested should fix that. You do NOT need an inch and a half of substrate, that's making your UTH virtually useless other than a hazard to the glass. That is why your temps aren't right.


Here is my suggestion ... take back all the lights if you can. Exchange for a thermostat. Thin the cypress a LOT and then play with the temperatures after that. Good for you using the infared temp gun, which will lead you in the right direction. You can leave the branch etc in there, as long as you have a cool hide and a warm hide. Also, bump the temp up in your home. 70 is awfully cold for your baby (and me!) and it will translate on the cool side. If you must leave it that low, keep that infrared light on the cool side with the water dish beneath it to aid in humidity and keep the cool side closer to 80.

Good luck.

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I totally agree with all of this!! Although I will submit that some BPs do like to climb just to climb. But from the description of your setup, I think Jess is right that he's climbing more from stress and struggling to find the correct temps.

I would add that if you do have to keep that infared lamp over the cool side, make sure you do cover the other half of your screen top with foil or wax paper to help hold in humidity. It's amazing how quickly a tank looses humidity especially with a lamp. Here is a pic of my setup so you can see what I mean. There is a 1" gap along the back of the screen for ventilation.
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/...lascage009.jpg