cant sum1 plz help ? is my bp to hot ?

my cool end is 80.6 and my hot end is 91.4 is this ok cause my bp is always down the cold end ? just a bit worried :snake:

How old is he?

I normally only see my new guy on his cold end, but he doesnt like to move when Im around him. Hes pretty shy.

What is your humidity at, and where are you temperature probe(s) located?

How are you measuring the temps?
You should use a digital probe thermometer under the substrate.

Do you have identical hides or is he choosing a favorite on the cool side?

my humidty is 50 i have a digital thermostat the probe is by the side of his hot hide . and is hot hide is a cave and he doesent have a hide on his cold side just a big log he hides behind . hes not a shy snake at all hes very social.:snake:

and i think hes bout 2 dont no tho as i rescued him .

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Originally Posted by kasmiraross

my humidty is 50 i have a digital thermostat the probe is by the side of his hot hide . and is hot hide is a cave and he doesent have a hide on his cold side just a big log he hides behind . hes not a shy snake at all hes very social.:snake:

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Alright a few things here.
A thermostat is used to control temperatures of a heating device like an under tank heater.
A thermometer measures temperatures.

If you have a thermostat probe inside the cage, you should immediately remove it and place it directly on the controlled heating source with tape. If the probe was moved or water/urine was spilled on the probe it could fry your snake.

Get rid of the log hide. Log hides are terrible hides for ball pythons and they do not provide security that they desire.
Get two of these:
http://www.reptilebasics.com/hide-boxes/
Or something similar and place one on the warm side and one on the cool.

If you don't have a thermometer reading the temps, get a digital one with a probe.

if the probe gets to hot a alarm goes of to tell me but it never goes above 91.4 as for the log hide its not a hide its a big peice of wood wat he climbs on but also hides behind .as for the thermostate it must be a thermometre aswell cuz it controls the temp and lets me no the temp. i use cermic heat bulb with guard of course .?

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Originally Posted by kasmiraross

if the probe gets to hot a alarm goes of to tell me but it never goes above 91.4 as for the log hide its not a hide its a big peice of wood wat he climbs on but also hides behind .as for the thermostate it must be a thermometre aswell cuz it controls the temp and lets me no the temp. i use cermic heat bulb with guard of course .?

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Ok, think about this. If the probe moves away from the heat source the probe will read 80-70F depending on where it is, it won't get too hot, but the thermostat will work 10x as hard to heat up something that it thinks the probe is reading which will make it hot enough to burn your animal. Same thing if it gets spilled on. It will make the probe cold and make the thermostat crank up the heat because it thinks it's not warm enough. How can an alarm go off if the probe isn't on the thing that gets too hot or isn't reading the temps right because it's wet and cold?

Put the probe right on the ceramic heat emitter (which will read 100-105 probably, which is fine) but use a separate thermometer probe to read what it is in the enclosure so it doesn't get compromised.

You really should get some hides then. A piece of wood is not a good hide for a ball python.

Crystal, dont you think thats some very opinionated information to be giving someone on this forum. What Ive seen from most people on this forum, is that they put their thermostat probe under the substrate, inside the tank because it then gives an accurate reading of the temperature of the substrate, which is the main focus is it not?

In our setups, we use a seperate thermometer with the thermostat, just because its always good to know what the exact temperature is, if you dont have a thermostat that says it. But if you do, follow this, do not tape it.

I dont see a thermostat getting wet and cold for any long periods of time, I mean... We use our heat sources for humidity to cause evaporation, would this same effect not apply to urine..? I mean, if you really want to be overly precautionary as crystal thinks, you could get a second thermometer. It actually blew my mind yesterday, when we went to get a tub for our snakes when we clean their cages, we found a thermometer w/ probe for 8 bucks at walmart.

I know people dislike the comparison between wild, and bred BPs but, in the wild BPs have lived in temperatures up to 110 F. NOT saying thats a good idea... Just monitor the temps. He might find more security on the cold side behind his log. Alot of people recommend having two identical hides so they arent choosing between security.

Just for reference. I have my probe directly on the heat tape. My thermostat is set about 5 degrees higher than I want the floor temp to be. There is some heat loss between plastic/glass, so you still need to measure the floor temps to ensure that is the temp you actually want.

As for why your snake is choosing the cool side. My guess would be for security. If you are using a set up with more than one hide, you need to have identical hides, like others have said. They will sacrifice their health for feeling secure. Half log hides are terrible hides for bps, especially young ones. Pet stores don't know how to care for their animals, that's why they use those half logs. The hide needs to be small enough that the bp has to ball up and squish himself a bit inside the hide. I use plastic flower pots turned upside down with a 'doorway' cut out.

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Originally Posted by Zayra

Crystal, dont you think thats some very opinionated information to be giving someone on this forum. What Ive seen from most people on this forum, is that they put their thermostat probe under the substrate, inside the tank because it then gives an accurate reading of the temperature of the substrate, which is the main focus is it not?

In our setups, we use a seperate thermometer with the thermostat, just because its always good to know what the exact temperature is, if you dont have a thermostat that says it. But if you do, follow this, do not tape it.

I dont see a thermostat getting wet and cold for any long periods of time, I mean... We use our heat sources for humidity to cause evaporation, would this same effect not apply to urine..? I mean, if you really want to be overly precautionary as crystal thinks, you could get a second thermometer. It actually blew my mind yesterday, when we went to get a tub for our snakes when we clean their cages, we found a thermometer w/ probe for 8 bucks at walmart.

I know people dislike the comparison between wild, and bred BPs but, in the wild BPs have lived in temperatures up to 110 F. NOT saying thats a good idea... Just monitor the temps. He might find more security on the cold side behind his log. Alot of people recommend having two identical hides so they arent choosing between security.

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The 110 F is not directly on them, also ball pythons live in termite mounds in the wild so the degrees are usually never over 80-90F underground.

If you use flexwatt with a thermostat and the probe is moved or spilled on, that flexwatt takes less than 10 minutes to increase past 110 F and quickly burn your snake. Water evaporates, but not that fast.

Using any type of tape in the enclosure is extremely dangerous for any reptile, so how would it be best to secure the probe so the snake won't move it?

Thermometer probes are put under the substrate inside the tank. I don't often see an experienced keeper recommend doing that with a thermostat probe.

Opinionated? Sure it is, if you want to risk burning your reptile instead of buying a 10 dollar probe thermometer; then go for it. I've had a thermostat probe come loose during cleaning (luckily I noticed after a few minutes and none of the animals were in their cages) but I noticed only because the flexwatt actually burned me slightly.
I don't care what everyone else does on this forum, that doesn't make it safe.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SlitherinSisters

Just for reference. I have my probe directly on the heat tape. My thermostat is set about 5 degrees higher than I want the floor temp to be. There is some heat loss between plastic/glass, so you still need to measure the floor temps to ensure that is the temp you actually want.

As for why your snake is choosing the cool side. My guess would be for security. If you are using a set up with more than one hide, you need to have identical hides, like others have said. They will sacrifice their health for feeling secure. Half log hides are terrible hides for bps, especially young ones. Pet stores don't know how to care for their animals, that's why they use those half logs. The hide needs to be small enough that the bp has to ball up and squish himself a bit inside the hide. I use plastic flower pots turned upside down with a 'doorway' cut out.

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i understand what your saying about the hides an he i will get another the same as his hide but the bit i dont understand is at his hot end he has a cave hide and his cool end is a big hollow log its not a hide just something for him to climb on and he hides behind it .and thats where he will stay most of the time . the reson i dont understand is cuz his cave is more of a hide than this log .and dosent seem as tho hes hideing cuz rests his head up on the log and just watchs me all day.some times he sits at the glass waiting for me to get him out when i do get him out hes very calm an relaxed as tho he likes to be out ?:snake:
when my parner comes near he hisses at him ?

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Originally Posted by kasmiraross

my cool end is 80.6 and my hot end is 91.4 is this ok cause my bp is always down the cold end ? just a bit worried :snake:

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are my temps ok ?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kasmiraross

are my temps ok ?

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Hey Kas I'm probably as confused as you are right now lmao... From what I read your using a ceramic heat emitter with a thermostat with probe that has an alarm set at 91.4? Your temps are perfect.

She may be chilling on the cold side because you don't have two identical hides. If you are going to use hides in a tank it's better if they are both the same on each end. That way she'll feel secure no matter where she is.

Your humidity sounds good too. Just curious... Where abouts do you have your alarm probe located? Where do you get the 91.4*F reading?

Your temps are good. Just be sure the hot end doesn't get any hotter. That's about the top end of the range.

But, I also suggest moving the thermostat probe to the outside of the tank, on the heat source. Like was stated before, if your snake detaches the probe it will send your temps sky rocketing. Its not opinion, its proven fact and husbandry practice, not that you wrote that, I just didn't want you to think it wasn't standard procidure.



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Lots of opinions...lol

I never let my warm end get over 90, more like 86-87.
The UTH temperature directly on it I shoot for 90-92.
Thermostat probes go on the outside of the enclosure.
Thermometer goes in the cool end and the probe goes over to the hot spot to read that temp....:)

My T-Stat probe is attached directly to the flexwatt, while my temps are monitored by a digital thermometer with the probe attached to the tub floor.

right i have a 4 foot long 2 foot high and 2 fot deep wood viv with slideing glass doors. cool end temp is around 80.6 if it goes below this my alarm will go off . at the cool end there is water dish and big climbing log / hideing log . the hot end is around 91.4 and if it goes over this my alarm goes off . at the hot end there is a hide cave a big water dish and a rough peice of wood for shedding .i use beech chip wood bark . and for heating i use a 100watt ceramic heat bulb with a guard of course. and a digital thermostat the probe is placed at the hot end by the cave hide witch is reading at 91.4 where i live is cold so bare that in mind . i think iv got everything right im just bit worried cause im new to all this i only rescued my bp 9 months ago . if iv missed anything out let me no :snake:

If you have double checked your temps and they are what you say they are and it is feeding consistently then stop worrying about it the reason for a hot and cool side is so they can choose. It sounds like everything is fine

he feeds very good i just get very worried cuz wen i rescued him he had septicemia and he had a 3 week course of antibiotics but it came back now hes had a 5 week course and its gone . fingers crossed its gone for good we are geting bllod tests done to try find out why he is getting it ? the lady who had him before me had him in very bad set up . i just hope he will be ok cuz hes my little baby :snake: