New BP owner - need help with temperatures

Thermostat probe stays outside then, right where it is! I don't know if I can make a probe sandwich because these reptitherms say not to remove after sticking it on there, so I might have to play around with that thermostat then. I will move the bulb and remeasure when I get home today- and measure the glass directly. The heat gun is one of the best tools, I swear by it. Do you guys have a good reccomendation for different thermometers for each side though? My thermometers probes are inside above the substrate, should they go on the outside on the bottom of the tank instead? They are just measuring the air above the substrate right now.

Also, would a separate thermostat be better for the lamp? Instead of a rheostat? I heard that rheostats can be a pain to control, and our house changes temperatures pretty frequently. How would you set that up if so?

And I don't think there's too much substrate- I just used one brick of the coco husk after putting it in water. It doesn't even fully cover the tip of my finger, but enough so you can't see the glass. I would say .5 inch or less. And thanks for the concern on the tank size- this guy is about 3.5/4 feet so we might be upgrading to a larger size.

I included a picture of my setup now in case a visual helps! This is sans the lamp, which is currently placed on the warm side(side the cat isn't on), but I will be moving it over. :)

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui...2756&zw&atsh=1

I can't see the picture

Peel the Reptitherm slowly from one corner until you can get the probe in the middle and stick it again. You can use foil tape to keep it stuck again.
One of your thermometer probes should be under the substrate, over the hot side, touching the glass. This one should read 90-92F. Your other thermometer could be a couple of inches above your substrate measuring ambient temps. This should be 79-82F
If you can get a second thermostat for your lamp that would be great!
.5 inch of substrate is just fine.

No pictures here either.

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Originally Posted by Hootea

Do you guys have a good reccomendation for different thermometers for each side though? My thermometers probes are inside above the substrate, should they go on the outside on the bottom of the tank instead? They are just measuring the air above the substrate right now.https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui...2756&zw&atsh=1

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i use AcuRite brand thermometer/hygrometers, this one and this one. i have the probed thermometer's probe at the bottom of the warm side underneath the substrate; that's where yours should be, too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hootea

Also, would a separate thermostat be better for the lamp? Instead of a rheostat? I heard that rheostats can be a pain to control, and our house changes temperatures pretty frequently. How would you set that up if so?

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thermostats will always be the better option to a rheostat. personally i use a rheostat for my CHE, but my room is stable enough and i've messed with the dial enough to know what works.
with a thermostat for the bulb: hang the probe and inch or two above the substrate inside the enclosure and dial it in, or hot glue a cable clip to the inside of the enclosure wall and use that to keep it in place. the reason this thermostat probe can go inside the enclosure is because it will be off the ground where the snake will very likely never mess with it.https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui...2756&zw&atsh=1

Ok, awesome. I will try re positioning everything when I get home. I'm very excited to see if it'll work out better. And I'm thinking we might go for a thermostat instead because my house is a heating and cooling nightmare. It can have a 20 F variance all within one day because we don't use central heating systems because it's a smaller apartment. We rent the upper level of a house and it just uses wall units and coil heaters, and I got the lamp knowing my house runs more chilly in the winter, so that had to be taken into account.

https://pasteboard.co/GI4Z6xh.pnghttps://cdn.pbrd.co/images/GI4Z6xh.png

and I tried redoing the picture, did this one show up for you guys?

again, thanks for all the awesome help everyone! And that sticky really helped, I didn't see that when I went through the stickies.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hootea

Ok, awesome. I will try re positioning everything when I get home. I'm very excited to see if it'll work out better. And I'm thinking we might go for a thermostat instead because my house is a heating and cooling nightmare. It can have a 20 F variance all within one day because we don't use central heating systems because it's a smaller apartment. We rent the upper level of a house and it just uses wall units and coil heaters, and I got the lamp knowing my house runs more chilly in the winter, so that had to be taken into account.

https://pasteboard.co/GI4Z6xh.pnghttps://cdn.pbrd.co/images/GI4Z6xh.png

and I tried redoing the picture, did this one show up for you guys?

again, thanks for all the awesome help everyone! And that sticky really helped, I didn't see that when I went through the stickies.

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yup, picture worked! i'm going to ask some questions/give you some tips based on the picture:
get some more clutter, like a fake leaf vine or something to place in the enclosure. this will help the snake feel secure when moving around.
cover 3 out of the 4 sides with a dark fabric or paper to block off the snake's view. this is also for security.
i'm not seeing any hides...but i could just be blind. regardless, two identical cave-like hides is standard operating procedure for beeps. identical hides help the snake not favor one or the other and sacrifice thermoregulating for their security.
since you have a mesh-top enclosure: how's your humidity?

Ok awesome!
We are working on clutter lol. He's a little big so I didn't want to over crowd him. We are also currently using live plants- those are both live and snake safe! We were going to add more live after seeing how he fares with those, or move to plastic if it's not so great.
I will try that blocking off thing! I have lots of fleece so that's not an issue.
It's hard to see, but we're using the wood planks as hide to conserve space and also he was so large none of the pet stores had hides in his size. Once that blackout fabric is up I think that will make them more hide like, but they have a nice chunk of space behind them right now for him to curl right up!

My humidity is actually good! Reads around 50% at all times, higher when I mist. My house is naturally humid.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We are using that hydrometer/thermometer in the center back, halfway up the side of the tank.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hootea

Ok awesome!
We are working on clutter lol. He's a little big so I didn't want to over crowd him. We are also currently using live plants- those are both live and snake safe! We were going to add more live after seeing how he fares with those, or move to plastic if it's not so great.
I will try that blocking off thing! I have lots of fleece so that's not an issue.
It's hard to see, but we're using the wood planks as hide to conserve space and also he was so large none of the pet stores had hides in his size. Once that blackout fabric is up I think that will make them more hide like, but they have a nice chunk of space behind them right now for him to curl right up!

My humidity is actually good! Reads around 50% at all times, higher when I mist. My house is naturally humid.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We are using that hydrometer/thermometer in the center back, halfway up the side of the tank.

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ball pythons do best when their bodies touch all sides of the walls of their hides, almost like a hug. if you notice him not using the "hides" you have, you might need to consider an alternative. these are the hides i use for Yellow and he's almost 900g.

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

ball pythons do best when their bodies touch all sides of the walls of their hides, almost like a hug. if you notice him not using the "hides" you have, you might need to consider an alternative. these are the hides i use for Yellow and he's almost 900g.

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Oh, nice! Okay! I will watch him and if it's not going so well we'll make a switch. I definitely want him to be comfy in his new home!