Is this normal for a new ball?

probably not, snakes like cramped hides, it would be ideal to have 2 identical hides so the snake doesnt play favorites with one and goes to where the temp is right. Maybe buy a hide identical to your new one...

It could be the snake is too hot in its hide, just be glad its a snake that finds a way to get away from the heat. A lot of them will just sit there and cook...

Also you can return that thermometer to any wal mart they have a very light return policy. I dont know if that makes it any easier on you

Okay then, looks like I'll need to get another one of these smaller hides. I'll take the damn thing with me this time. =p

Heres a couple of thermometers at Target I dont know if one is close to you or not.
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html...mometer&page=1

You want to make sure that you go to the tool section or they may be in the lawn and garden section, but you will see thermometers rain guages, find a digital one with a probe. They are also called weather stations...

Oh awesome! Target is way closer to me than wal-mart!! =D And yeah, I went to the pet section first and then to the kitchen supplies... lol

cool I would search the entire hardware section, they are usually at the same isle as the wall thermostats for your house that control AC and heating...

Eh.. about rheostats. I use them, and they work fine If your room does not change temperature. I have a room thermostat that will keep my snake room the exact temperature I need it to be so that the rheostats keep my UTHs (under tubs, in a rack system) correct. Now I am upgrading soon to Flexwatt hooked to the Helix proportional thermostat that I am using for my incubator now. This is really hands-down the best way to heat a BP enclosure; Flexwatt hooked to one (maybe even two if you desire a backup!) proportional thermostats. I have only ever used Helix, but many people use Johnson Controls with success. And if and when you want more snakes; simply buy identical Flexwatt and hook it to the same thermostat! T-stats have an exact digital number on them that tells you what exact temperature that you're setting it for.. no rheostat does this.

Wow. Helpful information. I'll keep these supplies in mind if I ever want an upgrade. [= Thanks.

I reccomend searching for a good thermometer on ebay or amazon, more specificly a Timex TX5170. Its what I use and its fantastic, it has a nice large screen, indoor/outdoor temps with a probe, hygrometer, min/max temps and even a clock so your snake always knows what time it is.

"and even a clock so your snake always knows what time it is."

LOL =D

This right?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Timex-TX5170-Ind...2em118Q2el1247

That isn't a bad price at all... would one work for my entire aquarium?

The $10 thermometer at walmart has all the clocks and doo hickies on it. All you need is somthing that gives you an accurate reading. This is the exact one I bought at wal mart and it works great...

http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Thermo...9453470&sr=1-2

Update! I went to my Target and wouldn't you guess it, they didn't have a single digital thermometer... BUT the Petco in that area did have some digital ones WITH probes! So I picked up two and just got done installing them. You guys were right-- the side with the heat pad is currently at 114.5 degrees F!!! >_< I'm turning the UTH off because I know that is WAY too hot. The "cool" side is at 83.9 degrees F. So I think I'm good there. How will my ball handle not having a heat pad for a while?? I need to find one of those damn light dimmers now. Which with my luck isn't going to be a quick scavenger. o.o I also picked up a tiny aquarium plant. Bad idea?

*stressing out*

It is time to order a thermostat since your snake is not going to do very well in an unheated tank :O

Check these out: http://www.reptilebasics.com/Thermostats-p-1-c-250.html. There are a couple to choose from and many of us order from Rich at Reptile Basics a lot. He is an awesome guy who gives lots of care to his customers.

He might be in Daytona right now, but please email him to check. You need a thermostat. You can also give Jeff a call at Helix and order from him directly or call Dion at Herpstat and order from him.

Bottom Line: Thermostat :)

...and, I must say, you are listening very well and taking it all in. :gj:

I would love to have all the fancy, high-tech gadgets but for one snake it's not financially feasable for me...YET! So, I went to Lowes and bought two sliding dimmer switches, one for the UTH and the other for the red bulb. It's not ideal and I still keep a constant eye on temps but at least my temps have never gone above 100! It's not the best solution but it's better than nothing..obviously.

You could also get the accurite from Lowes as well..that's where I got mine from. It was a bit more expensive than Walmart but since our Walmart was out of them, I didn't mind paying the extra money.

Good job on the thermometers!! If you need a dimmer switch go to Home Depot or Lowes into the electrical section and buy a dimmer switch some yellow wire nuts and a electrical wall box to screw the switch on....

An employee should be able to help you find all of thease. When selecting the dimmer switch I like to get the switches that have lines at different places on it, this makes it wasier to remember settings on the switch.

To hook up the dimmer switch you need to wire the switch to one wire on the UTH power cord, I remember see a diagram somwhere on this site that shows how to hook it up... Maybe somone else can chime in with that post...

heres one of the posts
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...=dimmer+switch


If you cant find one like the above then get a wall dimmer switch wire nuts and a plastic wall box for the switch, and a face plate for a dimmer switch

Thanks for the instructions... I'll have to study that a bit, because right now its making my head spin. So, I turned the pad back on. It got down to like 85 degrees and it kept going down. So I'm worried its going to be too cold for the little guy/girl. >_> And I don't mean to argue with the wisdom here, but I can't wrap my mind around the idea that a pet store would sell a product specifically designed for a cold blooded animal that would hurt it. I'm really worrying guys.

Okay, my boyfriend had the idea to detach the heating pads from my snakes tanks... to tape them to the surface the tank is on. [yeah, i adopted a baby corn snake last night. lol] So far the tank has remained at 94-93 degrees on the side with the pad, so yay! Anyone else hear if this being done? Are there any flaws with this method I can't see?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jorgasm

Okay, my boyfriend had the idea to detach the heating pads from my snakes tanks... to tape them to the surface the tank is on. [yeah, i adopted a baby corn snake last night. lol] So far the tank has remained at 94-93 degrees on the side with the pad, so yay! Anyone else hear if this being done? Are there any flaws with this method I can't see?

---

You might want to take that out immediately. If water gets spilled on it, or the snake urates on it, it could cause a spike or electric shock for your snake.
What type of UTH do you have?
What do you have hooked up to the UTH at this time that is making the temperatures so low? If it is by itself, you might want to give it overnight to warm up completely.
Do you have a heat lamp?

Also, regarding a baby corn snake, make sure it's in something smaller than a 20 gallon (just makes things easier) and make sure there are ZERO POSSIBILITIES to escape! They are so small and capable of squeezing out anything larger than screen holes. So be careful! :]

Yes you can attach the UTH to the surface that the tank sits on. I do the same thing with tubs in my rack system. The heater isnt attached to the tubs, its attached to the shelf the tub sits on...

I recommend have some type of heat control such as a rheostat or a thermostat. If you have a hot day the temp could rise and become too hot, you dont want the temps going above 94. I like to keep my warm side around 90-92

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by blackcrystal22

You might want to take that out immediately. If water gets spilled on it, or the snake urates on it, it could cause a spike or electric shock for your snake.
What type of UTH do you have?
What do you have hooked up to the UTH at this time that is making the temperatures so low? If it is by itself, you might want to give it overnight to warm up completely.
Do you have a heat lamp?

Also, regarding a baby corn snake, make sure it's in something smaller than a 20 gallon (just makes things easier) and make sure there are ZERO POSSIBILITIES to escape! They are so small and capable of squeezing out anything larger than screen holes. So be careful! :]

---

The UTH isn't inside the tank... its under it, just not sticking directly to the bottom. It came with rubber "footies" that slightly elevates the tank so there is a space between the tank and the surface its sitting on. The temp is staying around 91-92 degrees which is A LOT better than 115.........lol. And yeah, I'm keeping the baby corn in a way smaller enclosure. About 14-16" long. The height is pretty small too. Perfect enclosure for a baby corn. And the lid snaps secure, so escape won't be a problem. [=

Perfect. 90-92 is the range its staying in. I'm so very relieved right now... I don't want to hurt my snake. Thanks again guys. And yeah, I'll get some kind of heat control as soon as I can.

The cool side [the side with the heat bulb] is around 85.4 degrees F.

Hi,

A dimmer on that bulb should let you tweak it to 80-82f which would mean its pretty much bang on.

Remember though that you need to keep checking and tweaking dimmer switches unlike thermostats.

On the shops selling dangerous items;

They sell them because they are suitable for a wide range of animals. :)

It is up to you to ensure that you then control and moderate them for the specific requirements of the species you keep. :gj:


dr del

Thanks del. Yeah, I need to get a dimmer for it. But at least the temperatures are better than what they were. Asar is basking on his grapevine with his tail wrapped around the humidity gauge. =P

hey doc hes using a white heat bulb that even a dimmer cant dim enough at night to provide a day/night cycle.i have had a private pm with joe and he will be using a red/black lite for ambiants as soon as he can.i would just like to ask this community to gather more info befor telling someone somthing that is stressful to there snake.also i seen a post from a newb asking about there cage and they got one responce referreing to look at the sticky posts.let me remind you most new commers have no idea wat a sticky post is making it a more difficult situation than it should be.i like to think that some of the veterans and others that know somthing about husbandry would chime in instead of being lazy and saying look at the sticky posts.in my opinion this is a lame responce to a newbie question.

If you ever intend to keep multiple snakes a heatgun is a must have! Fortunately my profession called for having one so I already had one but I find myself using it more for my snakes than for my work :P.

sorry for my prior post.im not meaning to point anyone out just lookin out for the newbs

Hi,

Don't appologise you were right on the bulb - for some reason I just assumed it was a red heat bulb. :rolleyes:

Even a red fireglow bulb would be a good temporary replacement - over here they cost the same as regular bulbs for the most part so shouldn't break the bank as a quick replacement. :)


dr del

lol.i just didnt want to get attacked by others that seem to defend mods to the death even if the mod has made a mistake.just covering my butt.

So I got a black light bulb and a red light bulb. I'm going to use to black light and have the red one for backup. I finally found a dimmer at Lowes. Yay! It works like a charm. Did someone say I could use the light dimmer on the UTH? Because I need to cool that thing down somehow... when I got home it was at like 97.5 degrees. O_O

yes you can use a dimmer for a uth.i would still get a thermostat when you have the extra dough

Yeah, the thermostat is going to have to wait for a while... I've used up a big chunk of my spending money for a while. >_> But I'm confident the setup I have now will be a healthy one for my snakes. (= Thanks for your help Butters.

any time dude man bro!

100 degrees is too hot. 90-93 is the ideal temperature. You need to get a thermostat, so you can regulate the temp. Always a thermostat is needed when using a UTH.