Initial setup questions...

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Originally Posted by starmom

Perhaps, unless you're creatures of the night like myself and my kids.... We have a blast watching them cruise at night!!

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Good point :)

I have a lamp with an infrared bulb, and an undertank heater, but I'm not sure how those are going to work with a tub. My husband offered to figure out a way to put a mesh window in the tub's top, so the heat lamp could be used. Any suggestions?

Return the heat lamp and get a refund. Spend that money on a rheostat or dimmer to control the UTH. The snake doesn't need light, and all it's going to do is to suck the humidity out of the enclosure.

If he's in a warm room - then a UTH on the warm side controlled by a rheostat or dimmer should be all you need to maintain proper temps and humidity. Make sure to pick up a digital thermometer/hygrometer from Walmart in the hardware department - it's about $12 and is with the indoor/outdoor thermometers.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Return the heat lamp and get a refund. Spend that money on a rheostat or dimmer to control the UTH. The snake doesn't need light, and all it's going to do is to suck the humidity out of the enclosure.

If he's in a warm room - then a UTH on the warm side controlled by a rheostat or dimmer should be all you need to maintain proper temps and humidity. Make sure to pick up a digital thermometer/hygrometer from Walmart in the hardware department - it's about $12 and is with the indoor/outdoor thermometers.

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Good advice, as always. However, I don't have a temp regulated snake room and so my temps dip at night as we try to save on electric and gas bills! If your ambient temps are not consistently high in the day and nighttimes, you'll need a thermostat to regulate the UTH! :D

I only bought the bulb... there was an extra lamp hanging around.

When placing the UTH, does it need a layer of something between it and the bottom? I'm very worried about the plastic being way too hot and melting.

Well, either way it will need to be hooked up to a thermostat. Plastic will not melt at 95 degrees, so you shouldn't have to worry about that. Just place the UTH on the bottom of the tub. If you don't want to peel the sticker off it and permanently adhere it to the tub, you can tape it on with aluminum tape. I'd put the thermometer and thermostat probes under the substrate directly about the UTH. That way, you can get a good idea of what the temps are through the tub and closer to your ball.

My husband and roommate are insisting that we hook up a fan (like one that goes in a computer case) to blow air through the tub. I keep telling them that it won't be necessary. Who's right?

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Originally Posted by dr del

Hi,

Avoid those little round stick on things most pet shops sell as they tend to be very innacurate.

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I can vouch for this. I had the stick on ones on the front of my tank, (the type that change colors) and I thought my temps were too low. I had a UTH attached as well. I went to walmart and purchased the acurite thermometer and found out my temps where 106.

I ordered a t-stat right away!

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Originally Posted by Indigo

My husband and roommate are insisting that we hook up a fan (like one that goes in a computer case) to blow air through the tub. I keep telling them that it won't be necessary. Who's right?

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Putting some holes in the side using the soldering iron will be more than adequate for airflow. In fact the fans will probably scare the poor thing half to death. Imagine that you are as sensitive to vibrations as a snake is and then stick a fan some place running all the time. Fan is not a good idea.

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Originally Posted by Indigo

My husband and roommate are insisting that we hook up a fan (like one that goes in a computer case) to blow air through the tub. I keep telling them that it won't be necessary. Who's right?

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You are right!! Yeah, girl power!!!! :rofl: