Help for a newbie - Python On Cold Side!

Ok gotcha. I thought I was overcrowding her, but I'll go ahead and put a few of the plants and stuff back in tomorrow to give her more foliage cover.
Yes, those are ambient temps I reported :) I'm looking forward to measuring the daytime temps tomorrow to see if the CHE can get the hot side to the 90 degree mark.
Then it will just be a matter of getting that humidity up there!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SandmansDreams

I have a 100W CHE on the warm side right now.
Should I use a dimmer even though its on the warm side?
So far it does not seem to be emitting as much heat as the day bulb did, but it is also night so I need to keep that in mind (cooler air temp).
I'll be measuring the temps again tomorrow during the day to get a more accurate reading.

Right now, at 10:44pm EST, I'm reading as follows;
HOT ~ 83 degrees
COLD ~ 77 degrees

The timer on the CHE will kick off in about 15 minutes which will cool it a little more than this.

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Ok thats fine.. So are you using the CHE & UTH on the warm side? The reason I ask is that the CHE takes a long time to heat the tank up (if you remove the lid it starts all over) but as it gets hotter and hotter if its above a hide then that Hide can turn into a oven.... But you also mentioned a timer? I might of missed that post, whats the timer for? You want the CHE to run 24/7 to hold temps..

Yes, I am using a CHE and UTH on the hot side. For the time being I have stopped using the bulbs all together.
Should I move the CHE to the middle of the tank instead of being directly over the hot side?

I put the CHE on a timer mainly for the nighttime temp drop (simulation of night temp decline).
It is set to cut off at 11pm and resume at 4am.

You know what your looking for now & theres several ways to accomplish it, now its just you dialing it all in to where you want it..
I'll give you a quicky on how I have a Quarantine tank.. Its like yours, glass w/screen lid.
I have 3 sides cardboard, Lid has Duraplex plexiglas zip tied atleast 3/4 of the way across screen except for where the CHE bell goes. You can also use Tin Foil (not as good but a lot cheaper) or something else. (Dont use cardboard, its sucks up Humidity)
Acurite Thermometer Display on my cool side w/the Probe siliconed down on Hot side under the Hide & butcher paper substrate above the UTH.
That now reads cool side temp, Hot side tempand Humidity percent.
Dimmer on UTH, goes from 88 to 91.
60 watt CHE on Full Power Cool Side runs 24/7. Cool side gets 78-82.

Your tank is a tad bigger so Im thinking your CHE 100 watt is good but I wouldnt put it above a hide ever.. That can cook the heck out if a hide... Like sun beating diwn on a car hood all day.
Id order a $30 jump start Tstat for the CHE so you can hang the Prob down and set it for 81.. Then have peice if mind.
All my enclosures have Tstats and Dimmers, this tank here I explained is only my quarantine tank thats why i don't have a TStat. I use a safe low watt CHE only for low temps and Dummer in CHE.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SandmansDreams

Yes, I am using a CHE and UTH on the hot side. For the time being I have stopped using the bulbs all together.
Should I move the CHE to the middle of the tank instead of being directly over the hot side?

I put the CHE on a timer mainly for the nighttime temp drop (simulation of night temp decline).
It is set to cut off at 11pm and resume at 4am.

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Cycling temps is used for breeding not normlly everyday life. Trust me no matter what unless you heat the room itself the enclosure temps drop a bit anyway.
Yes I would move it, never use 2 heat sorces on the Hot side. Middle or Cool side. Remember the UTH is what gives the basking in this case. The CHE is only to raise ambiant a bit.

Also put the CHE above the water bowl.. Bigger the water bowl better the Humidity.
50% to 65%.

Ok. I'll make these adjustments, snap some pics, and post them in a min. Thanks!

This is 100% what we have been talking about, It's in the Stickys:
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...-With-Pictures!

Thank you!!
Yeah, I really wish I would have followed this manual beforehand.
As it is now, I'm already neck-deep in the mix. It would be tough to backtrack.
Probably best that I just do what I can to adjust moving forward instead of tearing everything down and redoing it, but it does give me some good ideas and the pictures help a LOT!

I have a client here for an appointment from 9am to 10am, but I'll post some pics of my setup after she's gone so you can see its status and advise from there.

After 5 hours of burning WITHOUT a dimmer or thermostat, the 100W CHE isn't hot enough on its own for this tank. I can let it churn for a while longer and measure again, but I think it'll be great for helping the ambient temps, but getting to that 90degree mark on the hot side is not happening (I still need to probe the hot hide today. Will report on that when I post the pics). So my initial thoughts are to possibly have both a CHE and a heat lamp? If I do, I'd put the lamp on the hot side and the CHE in the middle over the water bowl...but this just sounds wrong. I feel like it would be too much heat, but ultimately I would rather dial in the correct temps than allow my personal intuition to negatively influence the setup.

The good news is that the nighttime temps seem good.
They dropped to 81 on the hot, 75 on the cold

Im confused as to why your going back to the Heat Bulb idea? The CHE for 75+ ambient temps and the UTH for Hot side is best route for what you have now. Balls love UTH's. The CHE (as far as the way i explained to use it) was always for the cool side temps as you wont get 90 out of it with a tall aquarium style tank. That would be good for a lizard up on a branch not a snake on the substrate, heat rises and your starting out high to begin with using Lamos or CHE's not to mention glass is a bad insulator and you have a darn screen ontop hahahha. You also will never get Humidity over 50% steadily trying to run 2 lamp type heaters. They would dry out a puddle in a rain storm lol.
UTH Hot Side, CHE cool ambiant..
Run dimmer on UTH for 91 on glass.
Dont ever use tape inside a enclosure. Thats like pouring acid on your skin. Use silicone if you want to tack things down. I tack my Probe in hide under the substrate paper with silicone its safe for the snake.
Cant think of anything else right now. Your almost there just use the info to tweek things.