Newbie cage setup

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Originally Posted by sweety314

According to his description, he's using the moist husk ON TOP OF repti-carpet.


:sunny:

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Yep! In my opinion that makes the situation worse.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sweety314

According to his description, he's using the moist husk ON TOP OF repti-carpet.


:sunny:

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Whoops! I missed that somehow. I had a long day yesterday. :P

Snikt- Would it be feasible for you to get a space heater for the room the snake's cage is in? That's what I do.. my snake room(s) are 80 degrees year round.

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Originally Posted by Shelby

Whoops! I missed that somehow. I had a long day yesterday. :P

Snikt- Would it be feasible for you to get a space heater for the room the snake's cage is in? That's what I do.. my snake room(s) are 80 degrees year round.

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I'm not sure, the cage is in my room and I don't know about keeping my room at 80 degrees. Never heard of someone using a space heater in Florida. How much electricity do those things use anyway?

I added a little bit more insulation on the top and tweaked the thermostats some more. I'll see how that works tonight. Right now i'm at 75 on cold and 81 on hot. It doesn't seem like the UTHs are having any problem keeping temperature.

What do you guys recommend for the substrate? The carpet + bark is what was recommended in the glass tank setup sticky.

You've got to get those temps up to 90-92 warm side 80-82 cool before it's fit for a ball python.

If you've got a thick layer of substrate like the bark, it can effectively insulate the heat right out of the tank. I would take out the repticarpet.. and try a fairly thin layer of the bark. If you don't mind how it looks, use newspaper instead. I use newspaper for all but my burrowing snakes.

If that doesn't work, try a higher wattage bulb (or a ceramic heat emitter (CHE), which does not emit any light) Remember not to have lights on all day.. that's why a CHE or a red bulb is useful for nighttime heat.

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Originally Posted by Shelby

You've got to get those temps up to 90-92 warm side 80-82 cool before it's fit for a ball python.

If you've got a thick layer of substrate like the bark, it can effectively insulate the heat right out of the tank. I would take out the repticarpet.. and try a fairly thin layer of the bark. If you don't mind how it looks, use newspaper instead. I use newspaper for all but my burrowing snakes.

If that doesn't work, try a higher wattage bulb (or a ceramic heat emitter (CHE), which does not emit any light) Remember not to have lights on all day.. that's why a CHE or a red bulb is useful for nighttime heat.

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Is that ambient temperatures you're talking about or above the heating pad?

I'll play with the setup I have for a little bit longer then i'll try to re-arrange the substrate or get different bulbs. I'd like to get it working within the cage, that space heater uses 600-1500W. I'm trying not to send the energy bill through the roof.

I'll probably pick up some of those cave style hides from the petstore also.

Ambient temps.. you don't want any part of the cage to be below 80 degrees.

I'm sure you can make it work without a space heater.. it's just easier for me since I've got so many snakes.

Ok, here is the update.

Removed the carpet and i'm just using the repti bark substrate, Added more insulation to the bottom. I also got some new hides which are the same.

Switched to 100W lights.

Not very cold tonight, but right now i'm at 82F on cold ambient, 86 on hot. 84 on the ground in the left cave and 89 on the ground in the hot cave.

Humidity is way too high right now (80%), but the substrate is still pretty wet.

Am I good?

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...03813_3300.jpg

Get the warm side on the ground up to around 92, and if you can, lower the cool side ground temp to around 82.. then you should be good.

you can try to cover three sides of the tank with this foam poster board stuff that they carry at any wal-mart. It may be enough insulation to bump the temp up a degree or two.

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Originally Posted by Snikt228

Removed the carpet and i'm just using the repti bark substrate, Added more insulation to the bottom. Humidity is way too high right now (80%), but the substrate is still pretty wet.

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IMO if you thin the substrate a bit more and let it dry out further, your temps will come up that 1-2 degrees. Less substrate = greater heat transfer from UTHs. Plus the snake creates heat from breathing and metabolism which will raise the temperature inside it's hide. Personally I think you're good to go!