Eeden troubles (my rescue pueblan)

Ok just did a cage clean. While I was moving things around I took his uth temp with a heat gun. 85.2. Reset his hides, water dish, plants, ect and put his accurite temp/humidity gage at his warm hide under the lamp. Whoa! Holy schmoalas! 90! So I moved down to a 40w bulb to see what readings we get on the warm side. If it goes above 80 I'm buying a new lamp itself with a dimmer. This is the one he came with. He also looks to be a little darker so he "might" be starting a shed. Looking at his feeding charts he shed 5/31. He ate 3 hoppers on 6/2 (I weighed them and made sure they were total 10% of his body weight). He did eat all 3. He hasn't eaten since and just roams the cage like I'm starving him. His average shed is every month to month and a half.

Here is his feeding chart.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...717be9cd94.jpg

I'm wondering if you really need that overhead lamp for added warmth? (especially this time of year?) In any event I ALWAYS run overhead lamps (if any) on
a dimmer, as they generally make tanks WAY too hot...& unless your house is really cold (?) I'm betting you'd do better with a 15-25 watt bulb, especially for a
tank this size. (and dim down even that wattage) I think he's been getting over-heated...he's a ground-dwelling snake that will burrow & use the UTH warmth,
it's not as if you need to warm all the air, as you might for a BP. "Cool it" as they say...:cool:

Also, this is a desert snake...and deserts get quite cool (cold) at night...so you don't need that overhead basking warmth at night, only by day.

Ok. Temp is down to 82 now so I will get a dimmer lamp. I will also turn off the lamp at night and see if it makes a difference. Thank you!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sunnieskys

Ok. Temp is down to 82 now so I will get a dimmer lamp. I will also turn off the lamp at night and see if it makes a difference. Thank you!

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During the day, if it gets to 86* between the UTH & the lamp, that's OK as long as he can get a LOT cooler at the other end of his tank. In a 20L, it's a challenge
because the heat builds up to where the "cool" end just isn't cool enough. A 40 gal. "breeder" tank would be preferable...you'd have a better separation of temps.

Ok, so I bought a smaller dome (5.5") with a dimmer. I did this so it really only heats his hot side and doesn't spread to the cool side. 40w red heat bulb. Dimmer is at max right now and temp is sitting steady at 79. He is in shed since he is not coming out of his hide at all right now. The lamp is sitting over his hot hide only and his heat mat reads 85.

Does this sound good?

Sounds fine. I assume he's in his cool hide now? That's typical for shedding, probably don't need the light on at all if he's deep in shed, but won't hurt.