New to BP.net

Hiya all, i'm not entirely new to this forum, but i haven't posted much. But i just wanted to let everyone know that this site has truly helped me in caring for my boy Monty (ahha yes i know the name is kinda lame but he had it before i got him)When he got mites, i found P-A-M on here, it worked like a charm, and everything else when it comes to feeding, housing and whatnot. So thanks!!!

So here's a pic of my handsome boy. I also was wondering if he is small for his age, hes roughly about 2 years, and i measured him at about 29" in length, but he doesn't have much girth.

Here's a pic. i'll put up better ones when i can.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...2/IMG_0592.jpg

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...2/IMG_0593.jpg

Hi,

Good looking lad you have there. :D

They do tend to grow at different rates so there is no fixed size he should be really.

He looks healthy and not malnourished in any way or anything like that so I wouldn't worry unduly.

What weight is he and what is the feeding regime? Maybe people with similar sized snakes can tell you what size/ weight of prey they feed and how often. :gj:


dr del

The only gram scale i have is over 10 years old, and i dont trust it's judgement, but it said he was about, 275 grams. I was feeding him 1or 2 large mouse bi-weekly, but now i know i was mi-informed, and he should be fed on rat pups weekly, so I've been feeding him one small rat pup every Sunday. He took the switch gracefully.

I've also struggled with maintaining the ambient temperature. It hovers inbetween 75 and 80. Im currently using a UTH and i keep a blanket over the top to maintain the correct humidity, but maybe i need another UTH?

75-80 ambient is fine as long as he has a hot spot in the low 90s. He sounds a little small for his age but not malnourished. Keep feeding him appropriately sized meals and he should chunk up a bit :)

Hi,

I would probably invest a little dough in a cooking scale to get a better idea of his weight and the weight of his food. You don't need devastatingly accurate but you need to be able to trust it's reasonably close.

If he is two years old and 275g then you really might want to think about bumping up his food to 10-15% of bodyweight every 5 days and see how he gets on with that.

I like to grow my snakes fairly slowly but my black pastel is 365g at around 9-10 months old. I fed him once every five days for the first 6 months (roughly ), starting with one half grown mouse, then graduating to two half grown mice and finally changing to interval to every 7 days when he was ready for full grown mice. I have kept him at one full grown mouse every 7 days since but he is almost ready for two full grown mice at a time - whether he takes them of course is up to him. :rolleyes:

What are the hot and cold end temps as measured in his hides? 75-80f isn't a terrible ambient ( though 80-82f would be best ) but it is serious if the snake cannot get access to higher temps.


dr del

Should i have the basking spot on the same side as the UTH? Or somewhere else?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cheezeit32

Should i have the basking spot on the same side as the UTH? Or somewhere else?

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If you use an over head lamp or CHE it should only be to raise your ambient air temperatures (if you live in a particularly cold house or climate). The UTH should be more than able to provide your snake with an adequate hot spot.

Alright, well i'm going to look into CHE, his hide is at about 86*f. Also, with an accurate scale he weights just over 350grams. I just fed him sunday also. So technically i should be giving him feed that weighs about 38grams+/-?

What kind of thermometer are you using to measure the UTH with? 86* is a little cool for the hot hide.

You are right on with the amount to feed. :)

I'm using a commercial temp-gun. I could make it warmer by making the substrate thinner. I spread it out thick only because i was afraid of burns. So i'll do that, and the cool end of the tank is way too cold, around 68-69 so i need to remedy that as well. Im thinking of strappin in another UTH since i have one. I'm just setting up this terrarium, it's new and a lot bigger than my last. So trial and err till i get it right. :/

If you shoot the temp gun right on the glass you will get a wrong reading since it is a reflective surface. I would shot the temp with a tiny bit of substrate over the UTH and that would be more accurate.

Hi,

How do you get temps at the cool end 7 degrees below ambient? :confused:

How are you controling the UTH?

The best plan would be to adjust that until the temps on top of the glass (under the substrate )inside the hide are 92 - 95f (ish) and then adjust the depth of the substrate until the top of the substrate reads between 90-94f.


dr del

alright, so here we go.

As of right now, i have two UTH one on each side. Currently i have no means of controlling the heat output on them other than putting a thicker layer of substr. above it.

The ambient temp is 75* and humidity is 52*(i have an analog thermo on the glass on the inside), (and using the gun) the hot spots' surface is 91*, and the cool side (with more substr. covering it) is 85. Since i've put the second one in, he has been more active and not hiding. So the second one has already helped. I have trouble with the ambient because the terr. is infront of a window. So i think the cold coming off of the window directly affects his ambient temp. I would move him but the only other place, is another window. So i put a thick pillow inbetween the terr. and the window to help insulate, but it seems that hasnt done much in the way of keeping it warmer. I do have a lamp to add head but it just drops my humidity to 30%. Argh...*sigh*

Hi,

I know getting things dialled in can be a complete pain in the sit-upons.

The good news is it doesn't have to cost the earth for a lot of the fixes.

For insulating the tank I would suggest foam board on the back, sides and possibly the bottom if you really need to. It's fairly cheap, can be cut and taped taped over aquarium background picture paper so it doesn't have to be ugly, and works well.

To control the UTH's I would recommend, at a minimum, an inline lamp dimmer for each one ( I think they are about $12 each ). The reason for this is simple - your snake is perfectly capable of moving the substrate if it decides to and could easily get burnt on an unregulated UTH.

If you can afford it then the better option is a thermostat to control the hot end UTH and the second cool end heatmat connected to that via one of the inline dimmer switches to allow you to dial it down to the correct temps.

I would also invest $12 in the acurite digital thermometer and humidity weatherstation with probe from walmart - those round analoge ones are, seriously, only fit for throwing at the people trying to sell them.

I may be slightly off but I think that should help you tremendously getting things spot on for only $40 or so.


dr del

Just to be clear, him being more active is not a "good" thing really. If it is during the day in particular it means he is stressed out with his environment.

Since you have a hot spot in the 90's and a cool side UTH, then 75* ambient is fine.

Hi,

Well if the cool end heatmat isn't being controlled either it might also be sitting at 91f under the substrate. :(

At the very least a lamp dimmer would let him dial that one in correctly to give the correct temp range - when he insulates the tank the temps are likely to go up a few degrees at least.

Which at least means he should be able to avoid using the lamp that ruins his humidity.


dr del

Alright cool. Thank you guys, so much, i will definatly invest in the dimmer switches as i just whitnessed him burrowing in the substrate. Case and point! I will also invest in a digital thermo. Had i known from the beginning about the analong ones being to terrible, i wouldnt have gone cheap with the meters.

I tried researching all this stuff on the forum but sometimes it's more benficial to talk to someone about your own situation. :)