Heating

I have heard a lot of rumors and everything.

I have a heating pad on one side and a lamp on the other (it's 75 watts) so the temp gets about 90 to 94. I have heard that it needs to stay on all night and that I should put my snake on a cycle. I do it 12 hours on and 12 hours off. Is this right? Anything else about lighting and heating please let me know. :snake:

Hi,

We have a caresheet. :D

It should save you hunting all over the site for some of the basics - but if it raises more questions just post them up and we'll try to help.


dr del

This doesn't tell me if i should keep my lighting on or not. I'm not using a red or blue bulb. Should I be using one. It's a white light. Which the forum says stresses the snake but from everything I have been reading for the past four months says it is need and that the colored bulbs are not needed. I thought I had done enough research and now I'm freaking out.

Can someone please tell me do I need the over the tank light or do i need to just buy another UTH. This is the only thing i'm really having a question about and I guess it's because everyone has a different opinion on it.

Well you can answer that urself.

Do i need the light? Well do you need more heat in the enclosure?

If you ambient temps are like 78*+ then no you do not all you need is the uth to give the hotspot

If your ambient temp is like 65* then yes you would need the light to raise the ambient temp

Now i would use a infrared bulb since it does not bother them and doesnt stress em out. The bright light from a white bulb would stress em out. And say ur ambient temps is 65* when u turn ur white light off at night then ur temps in cage are 65* so that defeats the purpose of the light for 12 hrs a day.

BPs dont need artificial light at all. They are nocturnal. The daylight that shows through your windows is plenty of a cycle.

Lights wick out humidity. If you only have one UTH cover the top of the tank to hold heat in and look into a night heat bulb which does not put out a bright light. If you cant keep the temp high enough you will need it on all the time but this will definately stress the BP. If you get a second UTH you run into a problem of having to get another thermostat to control it. You want one to be a little cooler than the other. There are tricks to make a tank work for a BP but its a little more costly than a rack or tub.

So what are your ambient temps?

Thank You I didn't know to cover the top of the tank to hold in the heat. I will switch to a less stressful bulb. I think I am understanding this right though. Let me see. First I need to see what the temp is without the lamp on to see if it is around 75 if it is then the light is actually not needed. If the temp falls below what it is suppose to be then I can turn the light back on.

As of tonight I will be turning the light off to see if there is a change.

One question?

If I cover the top to keep the heat in then how does my BP breathe if the vented lid is covered?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by f4n70m

So what are your ambient temps?

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The side with my heating pad is 78

The side with my lamp is 94

My humidity is 59%

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eblck999

The side with my heating pad is 78

The side with my lamp is 94

My humidity is 59%

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See heres whats im not understanding :confused::confused:

You have no cool spot??

Because the heat pad itself is sitting at around 90-95* correct? And your side with the lamp is at 94? How is he supposed to cool off?

Not trying to be mean but both side are hot :/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by f4n70m

See heres whats im not understanding :confused::confused:

You have no cool spot??

Because the heat pad itself is sitting at around 90-95* correct? And your side with the lamp is at 94? How is he supposed to cool off?

Not trying to be mean but both side are hot :/

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No I take all comments and everything. I thought and was under the impression that the pad was the cool side. Which is why I have a pad on one side and the lamp on the other.

What do I need to do to fix this. I have only had my BP for a day so I want to fix it A.S.A.P.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eblck999

No I take all comments and everything. I thought and was under the impression that the pad was the cool side. Which is why I have a pad on one side and the lamp on the other.

What do I need to do to fix this. I have only had my BP for a day so I want to fix it A.S.A.P.

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Whats the temp of your pad? If i had to take a guess its around 93*?

What brad also? Are you using a tstat?

See if your pad is 93* then he has a hotspot of 93*

Say he gets to hot he will move to the other side.. But then he has this hot lamp baking down on him at 94*

So he has no way to thermo-regulate if he gets to hot seeing as both sides are hot just one is above heat one is below

Quote:

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Originally Posted by f4n70m

Whats the temp of your pad? If i had to take a guess its around 93*?

What brad also? Are you using a tstat?

See if your pad is 93* then he has a hotspot of 93*

Say he gets to hot he will move to the other side.. But then he has this hot lamp baking down on him at 94*

So he has no way to thermo-regulate if he gets to hot seeing as both sides are hot just one is above heat one is below

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The temp is 94 on that side I was using a Repti Therm. It wasn't suppose to be that hot so what do I need to do to fix this?

You say one side is 78. That is a perfect ambient temp but are you measuring temp at the bottom where the snake is at? You should try to get the ambient air temp in the entire tank up to 78/80 and one side as a hot spot around 90/92.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eblck999

The temp is 94 on that side I was using a Repti Therm. It wasn't suppose to be that hot so what do I need to do to fix this?

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here let me explain your temps here

You need a hot spot of like 90-94

This can be either a lamp (i dont recommend since you have a uth and tstat) or a uth/stat

You need you cool side like 78-80

The way you have it set up now is yes you have a ambient temp of 78 but the ground temp is 94.

The other side you have cool ground temp but ambient temp of 94

You see how both sides are hot?

I would remove the lamp seeing as he has his hotspot on the ground of 94 and the other side will serve as his cool spot of around 80

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Foschi Exotic Serpents

You say one side is 78. That is a perfect ambient temp but are you measuring temp at the bottom where the snake is at? You should try to get the ambient air temp in the entire tank up to 78/80 and one side as a hot spot around 90/92.

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okay so how do I get the tank temperature up?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eblck999

okay so how do I get the tank temperature up?

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Yea the UTH is at 94 and the temp for the tank is at 78 and my humidity is 59%. So I can just get rid of the lamp and go with what I have? See I listened to a associate a Pet Smart so i'm all jumbled.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eblck999

Yea the UTH is at 94 and the temp for the tank is at 78 and my humidity is 59%. So I can just get rid of the lamp and go with what I have? See I listened to a associate a Pet Smart so i'm all jumbled.

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Well people at petsmart are not so smart. Not saying all of em are dumb just most :gj:

Anyways as long as your temps are staying at around 78 ambient temp your good.

Thats your air temp like the temp in your room. If it gets any lower you will need the lamp but you will need to dim the lamp down so it dont put out so much power and get to hot seeing as you will only need to raise it like 10*

Me i used a lamp in the winter to raise ambient temps around 15* and used it at half power (with a dimmer)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by f4n70m

Well people at petsmart are not so smart. Not saying all of em are dumb just most :gj:

Anyways as long as your temps are staying at around 78 ambient temp your good.

Thats your air temp like the temp in your room. If it gets any lower you will need the lamp but you will need to dim the lamp down so it dont put out so much power and get to hot seeing as you will only need to raise it like 10*

Me i used a lamp in the winter to raise ambient temps around 15* and used it at half power (with a dimmer)

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Thank you again I changed that one mistake and now she is out and roaming. I have pictures now :gj: will post them soon if you would like to see. Thank you I am so grateful!!! :banana: :cool:

When do I need to cover the top of the tank and how much do I need to cover so that I don't suffocate her?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eblck999

Thank you again I changed that one mistake and now she is out and roaming. I have pictures now :gj: will post them soon if you would like to see. Thank you I am so grateful!!! :banana: :cool:

When do I need to cover the top of the tank and how much do I need to cover so that I don't suffocate her?

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never really

You said ur humidity was 59%... No need to cover the top i dont think.

People only cover the top to keep humidity and stuff up and to "insulate" it.

But if your humidity is staying within the 50's and ur temps stay 78+ i dont see a need to really

Quote:

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Originally Posted by f4n70m

never really

You said ur humidity was 59%... No need to cover the top i dont think.

People only cover the top to keep humidity and stuff up and to "insulate" it.

But if your humidity is staying within the 50's and ur temps stay 78+ i dont see a need to really

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Okay Thanks!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eblck999

Okay Thanks!!!

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np hope the snakes happy :gj:

Your snake will not suffocate if you cover the top. Generally, when people cover the screen lid, they cover about 3/4ths.

What kind of thermometers are you using? All I saw was the round dial thermometers in the pictures you posted. These are extremely inaccurate and chances are your temps are very off if you are only using these to tell temp.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

Your snake will not suffocate if you cover the top. Generally, when people cover the screen lid, they cover about 3/4ths.

What kind of thermometers are you using? All I saw was the round dial thermometers in the pictures you posted. These are extremely inaccurate and chances are your temps are very off if you are only using these to tell temp.

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yea that's what I have.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eblck999

yea that's what I have.

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Alright well then I would suggest getting the accurite weather station from the home depot, lowes, or walmart. It is only $12 and measures temp from the probe, ambient temp, and ambient humidity.

Disregard all the readings you are getting from those round dials. They are useless.

Chances are your temps are MUCH hotter then what you think.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

Alright well then I would suggest getting the accurite weather station from the home depot, lowes, or walmart. It is only $12 and measures temp from the probe, ambient temp, and ambient humidity.

Disregard all the readings you are getting from those round dials. They are useless.

Chances are your temps are MUCH hotter then what you think.

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okay I will be sure to look into that. Do you have any pictures of ur enclosures i may look at for guidance>

Here is a picture of my brazilian rainbow boa cage. It is very similair to how you would setup a ball python tank. Heat mat on the right, probe right over the heatmat under the substrate, accurite unit on the cool side. One tight fitting hide on each side.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2796/...2f93b0a7_o.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

Here is a picture of my brazilian rainbow boa cage. It is very similair to how you would setup a ball python tank. Heat mat on the right, probe right over the heatmat under the substrate, accurite unit on the cool side. One tight fitting hide on each side.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2796/...2f93b0a7_o.jpg

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okay thank you and that one device reads ur entire tank?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eblck999

okay thank you and that one device reads ur entire tank?

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Yep! All you need is one accurite weather station to read all the temps and humidity you need in a single setup.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

Yep! All you need is one accurite weather station to read all the temps and humidity you need in a single setup.

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SWEET Thanks!