Im newb with BP's

Hi,

Maybe you could try returning some of the stuff they sold you that perhaps isn't the best?

Those stick on thermometers are they the round ones? The problem if they are is they have been shown to be very inaccurate which makes it harder to know if your getting things set up right or not.:(

What are your room temperatures and maybe we can find some alternative things you can do as a stopgap measure.

Firt thing that springs to mind are the dimmer switches - at $11 they shouldn't break the bank and are definately better than nothing.

Raising the tank up off the heat mats is another thing to try.

But without the accurate thermometer your really going to struggle to know when it's right.

I would try the heat lamp in the middle (try different wattage bulbs if you have them and don't have a dimmer - but its blind luck if one of them is right) and one heat pad at the warm end and see what the temperatures are in the 2 hides.

A lot of the stuff you could use comes from unexpected places like hides made from plastic plant trays etc from the dollar store.



dr del

okay i have a digital thermometer for temp. its a computer temp monitor.

Hi,

OK, I'm afraid I have no idea what that is, but as long as it is relatively accurate it should give us somewhere to start.



You need to get some way of controlling the heaters so that you can adjust it in responce to the results though. The main thing to remember is to start cooler rather than too hot.

Fist thing to check is the temperatures in the warm end of your tank to make sure they are not dangerously high so try it firstly in the warm end hide then under the newspaper on the hot side (snakes will go under it and theres no safe way you can stop him at the moment - tape in a snakes tank is a really really bad thing).

let the thermometer sit there for about 10 minutes then tell us what it reads.


dr del

The temp on the glass is 124. WAY TOO HOT!-heat pad.
The temp in the basking is 86 or so.
The temp on colder side is like low 80's

Hi,

Your right that is dangerously hot.

First thing I would do is raise the tank off the heatmats - even if its a slim book or something under each end.


Your going to have to get something to control those I'm afraid.:(

Minimum spend I can think of offhand is 2 of those rheostat dimmers from lowes. I would put one on the lamp in the middle of the tank (above the lid obviously) and one on a heat pad under the warm end. Once the tank is insulated its easier and thankfuly poly sheets or reflectix are really cheap and do a great job.

Use the lamp (if you need it) to get the general tank temp up to 80-83 at the cool end then use the heatpad to boost the warm end to 92-94 on the glass of the warm end then adjust the substrate depth to get the surface inside the hide to 90-93.

It might be time to let your mom read the caresheets and things on the site and have a serious discussion about what you can do.

It's sadly quite common for the petshops to sell things that are expensive and not really all that usefull but the poor lil thing needs to be kept safe at the end of the day.


dr del

Im gonna try to feed him tonight in a dark warm spot. not his tank.
Whats this rheostat? i can pick up one of those maybe.

Hi,

I would hang on on the feeding for a day or two untill you get his tank closer to the ideal as you don't want to be disturbing them or anything for a couple of days after they have eaten and at the moment I really wouldn't trust that tank for 2 days.

Rheostats and like dimmers for lamps - they can turn down the brightness of a lightbulb is the way to ask in store I think.

If you do a search on "rheostat" on the site it might give you a better idea of what your looking for.


dr del

Hi,

Here's a post that talks about them and where sells them - ignore the advice on the zoomed thermostat though its not the best (he says delicately).

Click here.


dr del

I pulled the pad away from the glass and its alot cooler, about 90!
and i have to use the non electric stats my mom said...

Hi,

Do you mean the dimmers?

Just remember if your room temp changes you have to keep adjusting those so you can't forget to check the temps on a very regular basis.

Hope everything works out ok.



dr del