Switching from frozen to live

Get that acurite thermometer and put it IN the tank on the wall near the floor of the coldside. Attach it with some 3M sticky squares which you can get at any home and garden chain store. I find everything at lowes personally. Anyway, mount the thermometer there and run the probe over to where the UTH is and put it IN the substrate above the UTH. Then you'll have both cool and hot side readings. I tinfoiled the top of my terrarium to keep humidity in and am also using terrarium moss. Keeps the humidity up in the 60s all day WITH a lamp over the cool side(its cold here lol). I'm still working the kinks out with mine too, got a lot of help from people on this forum and once my hides from reptile basics finally show up I should be good to go.

As for regulation, you really should have at LEAST a dimmer on a UTH/lamp but I'm running a basic on/off tstat for the UTH and a dimmer for the light.

but isnt the substrate going to be a complete different temp them the air in the cage? how do i measure both and what should the temps of both be?


what type of dimmer should i get? (cheapest would be best)

use a temperature gun to measure surface temperature and a digital probe for ambiant.

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Originally Posted by JeffJ

use a temperature gun to measure surface temperature and a digital probe for ambiant.

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is ambiant the temperature on the bottom of the tank?

so i need the acurite and a temp gun?

do you have any specific models you know of that are reliable yet affordable?

My Rtb did the same thing. He was eating Medium F/T rats and then went off feed and starting losing weight. So we tried the live medium rats, he was scared to death. We went to adult mice and he snatched them right up. Now he is on 3 small live rats and hoping we can go to F/T again. Good luck!

You don't need to run out and spend hundreds of dollars here. I never worry about ambiant temps too much. Acurite thermometers (about 12 bucks) come with a probe. Just place the probe on the surface of the substrate at the warm end (mine are actually in the warm side hide). And, stick the unit at the other end on the glass and down low. The first reading on the acurite will be your cool side ambient temp (80), the second reading will be the hot side surface temp (90) and the third reading will be humidity (50-60). Heat lamps suck.... the humidity out. Plug your uth into a thermostat and set for as close as you can get to the above readings. Ambiant temps can be raised by insulating the tank. Humidity can be increased by covering the top. There are tons of great threads on the proper set-up.

You do not NEED both the acurite and a temp gun. It is best to have both if you can afford it. I would go to Reptile Basics as the best place for getting many of the more specialized supplies such as a temp gun and a t-stat.

However, you can get by with an acurite and a dimmer (also called a rheostat). A lamp dimmer from Walmart or Lowe's or Home Depot will work. But you have to remember that the dimmer does not adjust itself, so it will not work well unless the snake's enclosure is in an area with a pretty stable temp. If you turn off or lower the heat in your house at night, a dimmer cannot compensate for this. That is why t-stats are better.

Place the acurite on the floor of the enclosure on the cool side, and place the probe under the warm side hide. You don't want it up near the top of the enclosure, because that is not where your BP spends most of its time. I also recommend that once you think you have everything tweaked to the right temps that you move the probe around to see what the temps are everywhere in your enclosure. Leave it under the cool hide one day. Attach it near the top of the enclosure one day, etc. This will not quite be the same as having a temp gun, but it will give you a very good idea of the entire range of temps in your enclosure including highs & lows over a 24 hours period, which a temp gun can't give.

Someone suggested attaching the acurite to the side of the tank with double sided sticky squares. I do not recommend this. First of all, you will want to be able take it out for cage cleaning, battery changes, etc., and I don't see how you could do this if it is stuck to the tank unless you pull it off and use new sticky squares every time, and that just sounds like a pain. But more importantly, I do not want anything that sticky in my snake's enclosure. If the snake managed to get the acurite knocked lose, then stick itself to the tape, that would be very bad. I have used that blue painter's tape that is not very sticky and it seems to be ok. But the acurites I just stand up in a corner, and the snake knocks them down and I stand them back up.

Hey where did you guys all get the foam to insulate the tank from? Lowes or Home Cheapo or somewhere else?

very good to know, THANK YOU

what wattage should my heat lamp be if the UTH is the correct heat. do i need to leave the heat lamp on all night to maintain temperature? do i even need the heat lammp?

If your temps stay up without a lamp then you don't need one. I just need one because it is cold in this house in the winter. BPs do not need a light for the actual light, just for the heat if needed.

As far as a lamp... if you use a bulb use infared or use a ceramic heating element but the one I just bought isn't working half as well as the red bulb and I'm taking it back. $40 for a ceramic heating element...sheesh, I'm glad I saved the box and receipt!