Newbie!

Okie dokie, be careful driving!

Oh one more question before I take off on this epic jounrey.

Where should I place the probe of the Acu-Rite thermometer? On the substrate of the warm hide?

That's what I would do. I have a thermometer with a probe right next to the heat pad (I use paper towels, tho). You want to measure the hottest place your BP's skin will touch. That may be on top of the substrate or under it, depending on the substrate and the BP. I also have a thermometer/hydrometer that I place in the middle or on the cool side to gets temps/humidity there. Other people use two thermometers with probes, one on each side. It just depends on what works for you.

That was probably the most epic journey I've ever taken.

My plan was, go to Lowe's and get the thermometer, then go to Michael's and pick up some leaves.

First it took me 1.5 hours to get to Reno because of the snow. By the time I got there is was dark and I could not see three feet in front of me. I'm driving up and down the main street where Lowe's is suppose to be, and I can't find it. I pulled into about 6 other shopping centers. I went to OSH, I went to PetsMart, I want to Ace Hardwear, I went to Home Depot...nothing. I finally did manage to find Michael's and get some way cool plants. They then told gave me directions to Lowe's. I finally made it after 2 hours of looking. :rage:

Anyway, got his Acu-Rite thermometer. I just put the probe right in his substrate, hooked the UTH up to a heater, put black construction paper around three sides of his viv, washed plants and stuck him in. Thermometer is reading 90.9 on the warn side, 68.4 on the warm side and rising. Phew!

I'll post pictures when I get home. Irwin lives at boyfriend's place.

Cool,

Once you know the temperatures it makes everything a lot easier to evaluate.

As mentioned earlier I like to measure the hottest area the snake can get to ( usually on the bottom of the tank underneath the substrate) and make sure that stays around 95 ish tops and then adjust everything else till it is 90-93 inside the hot hide and 80-84 inside the cool end hide.

The contact paper will definately help him feel more secure but to improve the temps you could try cork sheeting or reflectix to raise the general cool end temps. :)


dr del

wow, well, no one can doubt that you will go to great lengths to care for this BP! Glad you got back safe!:banana:

Welcome to the site. I'm a little surprised more people haven't jumped in here. The most important thing I have discovered in maintaining temps and humidity in a tank is to regulate the amount of air that goes in and out of your set-up. I couldn't imagine having to use wet towels and mist all the time.

I find that a piece of one quarter inch thick plexiglass works great. Just cut the plexi to fit exactly the top of the tank. There is a quarter inch recess around the top of the tank it should fit into. Then drill holes in each end. I drill about a dozen quarter inch holes in the cool end and about twice as many in the warm end. This creates an air flow from the cool end to the warm end. There is no need for a light when you do this. In fact, the only problem I have is keeping my humidity down to 60%!!! And temps are perfect. I just use a smaller water dish and keep it on the cool end.

Well I was up all night last night being an insomniac and I had big tempurature woes.

The warm side it okay, the temp fluxuated alot, but it stayed in the general area of 90 and when I wake u pit was 94, so turned it down a little.

During the night I had a 100W red bulb him the warm half of his tank, it was all I had and man, my humidity dropped like a rock. 38% So I took a damp towel, draped it over 3/4 the mesh top and covered that with plastic. Humidity is now at 60%.

Bad news. the cool side because I took the light off (the wattage was just way too high) was 68 this morning!!! I immediatly took a 60W day bulb and the temp is going up already. Good thing Irwin was nestled in his warm hide!

Here is my plan. I am getting a red 50W bulb so I can keep it on all the time. I am going to keep the damp towel onto of his tank, re-wetting it as needed.

Also, I have the actual Acu-Rite unit on the cool side, but its in the back corner, will I still get an accurate reading this way?