Soon To Be New Owner(I hope!) Questions.

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Originally Posted by sweety314

Because the UTHs generate heat (in order to heat your tub/tank ...duuuuh)you need to provide air space underneath. Air space of at least 1/2" is good, but I found out the hard way that my cedar chest STILL got too hot (started to crack the wood from the heat)....so MY suggestion would be, that if you're going to put it on the metal trunk, that you either give it about 1.5" of air space (we have a couple of our tanks this way w/the plastic cane tips glued on as feet), or some sort of fireproof blanket/pad or covering over the lid of the trunk in addition to air space.

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The link I posted said that those pads come with rubber feet--do those usually prove to be enough 'air space'?

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If the room is cold, your UTH isn't going to be able to compensate enough to keep the ambient temp of your snake housing warm enough.

Your UTH will boost the temp only about 10-15*. U can't expect it to be efficient to keep 1/2 the tank 95* when the room is only 50 or 60.....There are couple ways available...(when I got my first snake, MY roomie loooooooved the AC and it really buggered my snake, so I came up w/some workarounds.....) to get your temps right

1. Either keep your basement apt. /snake's "room" at least 70-80 (or so) so then the UTH is the "hot side" OR

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I have a feeling that this part is going to have to be a simple case of trial and error. I'm not 100% sure of the temp down here in the basement; I can see that I'll have to be checking it when I get the thermometer today. Sometimes, it feels really cold to me, but being cold-nature(aenemic, in this case), I don't trust my own judgement on this matter. And with winter coming soon, I trust it even less..However, should one not be enough....

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2. a little more wattage UTH w/dimmer for cool side and then CHE/heatlamp or a 2nd UTH w/the thermostat for the hot side..

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Will the second, on just a dimmer, be okay to support the cool side without the thermostat? I guess I'm a little frazzled about the whole thermostat thing--I've been reading so many mixed messages about how and where they should be applied-not to mention they're expensive!

I've sent you an email. (Check your PMs too. )


RuLyn

:D erm...I had to change my EMail address(the one I had from before was the old one. Oops!) and I have NO clue how to find out where the PMs are because I am AWESOME that way..::Searchsearch::

Edit: :D I didn't even have PMs on! Way to go, Lauren. -_-!

Actually you don't have to pay for wiring depending on what supplier you choose.

http://www.reptilebasics.com/store/p...cat=248&page=1

I'd recommend you consider flexwatt as it's used by the mile by some of the top BP breeders so has been proven very safe, very reliable, cost effective, etc. when used with a proper t-stat. Check out their FAQ about it and personally I'd say email them or give Rich a call, describe your tub dimensions, your room ambients being a tad on the cool side, if you have a concern about the table the flexwatt would be in contact with, whatever...and I bet they'll fix you right up with something that's just perfect.

Oh! Another question!

As far as Thermostats go...what, exactly, does 'proportional' mean, in this case? I think Night Drop means exactly what it sounds like--that, set on a timer, at night, the Thermostat is programmed to drop temps--though, please, if I'm wrong, correct me.

Yep night drop is night drop and something you don't need if you aren't cycling for breeding purposes.

Proportional basically keeps adjusting the amount of power getting to the heating "element" so if it starts to reach optimal temps it cuts back the power rather than simply turning the heating source off then back on when it drops below what you want it to be. Best analogy I can make (I'm no electrical whiz...this stuff confuses me too lol) is like switching a light switch on and off versus having a dimmer switch on a light...it's either all or nothing with the switch or with the dimmer you can do slight adjustments to reach the amount of light you want at any given time. The difference being of course that a light dimmer can"t automatically control and adjust to a preset amount of light during the day/night (they probably have those though come to think of it lol).

So what do you do--just plug the UTH(pad or Flexwatt; I'm EMailing Rich now, BTW) into the thermostat, put the thermostat's sensor in the enclosure, set the thermostat to 92-94, and the thermostat does the rest?

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Originally Posted by LSama

So what do you do--just plug the UTH(pad or Flexwatt; I'm EMailing Rich now, BTW) into the thermostat, put the thermostat's sensor in the enclosure, set the thermostat to 92-94, and the thermostat does the rest?

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Hi, I'm a little late (Ok, a lot late) to this thread! I tape the probe of the thermostat to the bottom of the enclosure on the outside, between the tub and the flexwatt.

Then I put the probe of the thermometer on top of the substrate inside the warm side hide to measure the real temperature where the snake will lay.

The thermostat will be a few degrees higher than your desired temp, because it has to heat through the plastic, then whatever your substrate is. You'll just have to play with it until you get the temps where you want them (adjusting the thermostat up or down). It can take a few hours for your temps to stabilize after you first set it up.

Hope that helps! And welcome! We're glad you're here and thrilled with all the prep work and questions you are asking!

Whoo! More questions! Is it common practice among breeders to make records of things like feedings, sheddings, etc? And if so, I'm guessing that when I go to buy my slitherbaby, this is something I should obviously ask to see. If it's common practice, is it something that, if the breeder doesn't have, I should take that as a bit of a bad sign? Because..well, to me, logically, it just seems like something you'd want to keep up with, you know?

Breeders should have feed records. Not all record every shed, urate, defecate, but should have feed records for you.