husbandry help, soon

ok, so for the last couple of days I have been testing out trying to get the temperatures in the tank right (before the snake got here) and I can get the warm side to around 90-94, but the cool side, unless I have another heat source the cooler side doesn't go over 70-72, but with another heat source makes the warm side easily in to 100+.

Any ideas on how I could solve this problem.

thanks

PS. I won't be bringing the snake into this tank until the husbandry issues are solved

Hi,

Sounds like you need some way of controling your heat sources - I recomend a thermostat over a dimmer if your room has variable temperatures.

You can use one thermostat to control both the cool side and the warm side if you use a dimmer (rheostat) between the coold side heater and the thermostat and adjust it correctly.

If you are using incandecent bulbs for heat then you really should buy a proportional thermostat but if you are using only CHE's and UTH's then you can use an on/ off type.


dr del

hey i would keep the day temp at 82-85 on the hot side and ten degrees less on the cool side with under tank heater and 50 watt red bulb if its not in shed keep humidity at 50-60 if in shed like 70 try feeding a slightly smaller live mouse

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bobby729

hey i would keep the day temp at 82-85 on the hot side and ten degrees less on the cool side with under tank heater and 50 watt red bulb if its not in shed keep humidity at 50-60 if in shed like 70 try feeding a slightly smaller live mouse

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I strongly believe that the temps you are suggesting are waaaay too low. It is common practice to keep temps between 90-94F on the warm side and 80-84 on the cool side with an ambient temp of about 82F.

Of course, if one is preparing a breeding female, the temps would then gradually be dropped to cooler temps, but then be brought back up to the above stated temps once the breeding was finished :)

Hi,

Actually we recomend the hot side hide be around 90-94f and the cool end hide to be 80-82f (approx).

There are many ways to keep these animals but we find that range works well with the setups we normally recomend. :)


dr del

Quote:

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Originally Posted by starmom

It is completely necessary to have a thermostat controlling your heat source in order to prevent possible thermal burns.

You could purchase a Herpstat II (spyderrobotics.com) which would control both heat sources :)

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I disagree. I think it is bad advice to a newcomer to say a thermostat is absolutely required. I think a dimmer switch is just as effective, so long as the keeper is willing to keep in mind that fluctuations in the room will affect the tubs, and that it may require tweaking several times a day. The fact is, a lot of keepers, especially the beginner keepers, just dont have the money to drop a couple hundred on a thermostat. I think a 10 dollar dimmer switch is a much better option if and only if the keeper is willing to go the extra mile for tweaking it to save them the hard hit on the wallet.