Questions about heating???

First I'd new to these forums and would like to say HI. Next I recently bought a ball python from petco. First I'm having a hard time regulating the temperature. I have the zilla starter kit. 10 gallon tank, heat pad, and 40 watt heat light. I need some advise on how to set up the cage. I have put the hide over the heat pad area but it gets up to 98 degrees in there and Im afraid that that is to hot, although the snake doesn't leave the hide. I figure that it would move if it was getting to hot. Another thing is I can't get the ambient temp to go above 80-84 during the day and at nigh it gets down to 69-73, but I still have the heating pad. I bought a zoomed rheostat to try and regulate the heat pad but that didn't work it never seemed to hold it close to 90. should I get a higher wattage bulb? Any advise u can give me would be great. Band of products and such. I plan on building a custom enclosure. Thanks sorry if this is a novel. LOL.

I have several of the zoomed rheostats and they SUCK!!! Even on the smallest pad they make it will not get the temp below 98 degrees. Go to homedepot and get a lamp dimmer, they are in the section with all the light switches and plugs.

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Originally Posted by jokerfwb

First I'd new to these forums and would like to say HI. Next I recently bought a ball python from petco. First I'm having a hard time regulating the temperature. I have the zilla starter kit. 10 gallon tank, heat pad, and 40 watt heat light. I need some advise on how to set up the cage. I have put the hide over the heat pad area but it gets up to 98 degrees in there and Im afraid that that is to hot, although the snake doesn't leave the hide. I figure that it would move if it was getting to hot. Another thing is I can't get the ambient temp to go above 80-84 during the day and at nigh it gets down to 69-73, but I still have the heating pad. I bought a zoomed rheostat to try and regulate the heat pad but that didn't work it never seemed to hold it close to 90. should I get a higher wattage bulb? Any advise u can give me would be great. Band of products and such. I plan on building a custom enclosure. Thanks sorry if this is a novel. LOL.

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Hi and welcome to BP
this is the link to the ball python caresheet
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ius)-Caresheet
i first would like to know with what instrument are u checking your temperature? and 69-73 at night is way to cold for a ball python :colbert:
and you should also have 2 hides for your ball python one on the cool end and one on the warmer side .and ball python spend 90% of there time in there hide and are more active at night specially when hungry and looking for food

First of all welcome to BP.net :welcome:

You really should have researched everything before buying the snake, because those not adjustable UTHs get FAR too hot. You can give your snake severe burns by leaving that thing on full blast. At the very least, you need to buy a dimmer and a temp gun. Home Depot carries both, and tempguns.com has a really nice model on sale for $35.00. The light you are using is going to kill your humidity, so just be aware of that.

Plug the heat mat into the dimmer ($10.00 at Home Depot) and adjust it using the temp gun (as low as $25.00 at Home Depot, or $35.00 at tempguns.com). Ambient temperature is not as important as belly heat. BUT you will burn your snake if you leave that mat on full blast. Check out in the "General Herp" section where I posted a thread called "Now repeat after me..."....you will see severe burns from a UTH exactly like yours. Also check out the caresheet in the caresheet sections, the ones from Petco are crap. Hope this helps, please get the dimmer and temp gun asap...

Welcome to the family, and get that dimmer and temp gun asap. you will burn that snake with 98 degrees.

Just adding that those glass critter cages with the screen on top is probably the most difficult way to house. I HAVE one and it takes a lot of work to keep your snake safe. MY personal set up is a 20 gallon long tank, which is ideal....yours won't be in that 10 gallon for too much longer...I use a 100 watt night black light bulb with the hood over his "hot" side. I have the UTH connected to a dimmer under his "hot" hide. I have a "cold" hide on the opposite side of the tank. Also a large peice of plastic covers about half the screen top, to help humidity. He has a large water dish and a smaller one. The large one near the "hot" side and the smaller one hear his "cold" side. My dimmer is set below halfway for the UTH...that's how hot they get. I leave the "night" light on 24 hours a day for ambient temps, and they dont kill humidity as much. With my temp gun I check the glass over the UTH, the substrate over the UTH, and the ambient temps above his hide using a paper towel (shoot the paper towel with the temp gun). I check his temps at least 4 times a day, and mist his tank about 2-3 times a day. This is the upkeep it will take to keep him in a tank like that. This is just my personal setup, and some people might think it's a little over the top, but it works, and I know he's safe and comfortable.
http://i53.tinypic.com/1zm11xw.jpg
http://i55.tinypic.com/2ikqkra.jpg
(Ignore the second lamp, I don't even use it, also the blue water dish is gone and a smaller one is in it's place...moved some stuff around but it's the general idea for a visual.)
And this is what I built for him (and others soon to come)
http://i51.tinypic.com/2dj4cw8.jpg

Cool thanks for the advise. I did do a lot of research on ball pythons before i bought one but thing i didn't do was get the cage set before bring it home i didn't realize how difficult the temperature control was going to be. But i'm on my way to home depot right now to pick up a dimmer and thermostat there. I didn't by the zoomed rheostat but it doesn't work for crap.

What is a good way to control temperature in the tank at night?? Just one of the night bulbs?

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Originally Posted by jokerfwb

Cool thanks for the advise. I did do a lot of research on ball pythons before i bought one but thing i didn't do was get the cage set before bring it home i didn't realize how difficult the temperature control was going to be. But i'm on my way to home depot right now to pick up a dimmer and thermostat there. I didn't by the zoomed rheostat but it doesn't work for crap.

What is a good way to control temperature in the tank at night?? Just one of the night bulbs?

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Unless your breeding there is no need for a temperature drop at night. I keep the black "night" bulb on 24 hours a day. I use the 100 watt but the 50 or 75 would be fine too. Good luck :)

I'm at home depot what kind of dimmer do I need. Just a normal light dimmer and then do some wiring or is there one that can be plugged into

There is a black on or white one that just plugs in, they are kind of hard to find but its called a "Lamp Dimmer"

Nope, it should be one that you can just plug a lamp into, it's only 10 bucks...not one that attches to the wall..they DO have it...check where the lamps are displayed. Thats where my store had them.

I found the dimmer but now I'm looking for and thermostat for the tank any suggestions. Home depot says they don't have anything that will work for me. Am I stuck buying the ones from the pet store???

Joker, they should have temperature guns, but they will not have a thermostat you are looking for....Tell them your looking for a gun that measures heat with a laser lol....literally..

What I would suggest is this. Get a digital thermostat for the heat mat. It has a probe that you attach to the heat mat, set the temperature you want the heat mat to run at, and the thermostat will do the rest. There are a few brands and styles to choose from depending on what kind of features that you want. You can get a good basic thermostat for around $25-$30.

http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR...1529683&sr=1-7

Another option to the temp gun is to get a digital thermometer with a probe. The probe goes under the bedding, on the glass, above the heat pad. Most pet shops have some type of these or I can provide links to online suppliers if you want them. Another thermometer that alot of us use is called the Acu-Rite Indoor/Outdoor Thermometer with Hygrometer. Depending on whether or not the stores have them in stock, you can find them at Wal-Mart in the Home Hardware section or at Lowes or Home Depot in the Outdoors section. It has a probe for measuring the warm side temp, plus it will tell you the ambient temp and humidity. They cost about $12-$15 and look like this:

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...8/hpim0473.jpg


If you decide to go with a thermostat, while you are waiting for it to arrive, I would suggest unplugging the heat mat, use the lamp for heat and adjust the lamp with the rheostat/dimmer.

Get a second hide, if possible, identical to the one that came with the kit. I don't think that the log hides are ideal, but they can work. There are all kinds of hides available commercially, or for about $5 you can get a soldering iron and a couple of $2 plastic bowls and make your own. Just make sure the hides are snug fitting.

There are a few other modifications that you can make to your tank to help with the snakes sense of security, humidity, etc. Here are a couple of links to threads which may give you some ideas:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...p-w-pics-*DUW*

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...tment-Tutorial

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-Instructions

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...0-Hides-my-way

For the record digital thermometers are not as accurate as the temp guns...that they sell at Home depot...and they only measure one spot..

What are your thoughts on this thermostat Zoo Med ReptiTemp 500R Remote Sensor Thermostat?
And a weird thing happened with the dimmer i bought. I have been playing with it and thought i had it almost at the sweet spot (a little less then half way up) and i bumped it up just a tiny bit and came back after a half and hour of so and the prob that i put on the glass above the heat mat said 107. Now after playing with it I'm back to almost at the right spot.

With greatly variating room temps a dimmer is not likely to work well you will still get wildly variable temps. All a dimmer does is cut the power to the unit so if you set it to 50% power and everything is correct with a room temp of 78º but then drops ten degrees over night the hot spot will also drop ten degrees. In that situation you need a thermostat there are many on the market but I'd say a ranco or johnson is the cheapest I'd call acceptable (avoid zoo med 500r) and personally if you can buy a proportional one like a Helix or Herpstat they are most $$ (around 110$) but are rock solid and will serve you if you have one snake or 21 snakes you will keep using it.

Welcome and yes heating can be a challenge, and everybody has different problems and situations you need to find a solution for your flavour. The P-T-stats are the most flex-able.

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Originally Posted by LGray23

For the record digital thermometers are not as accurate as the temp guns...that they sell at Home depot...and they only measure one spot..

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Actually, they are about the same a cheap digital ones, 2º up or down, check your specs. They also change depending on what they are pointed towards. A good, useful tool, but just different, not more accurate, that is a myth. Like all tools they have pros and cons and quirks IR guns more than most. The most accurate IR guns are still 1ºF up or down and impossibly expensive.

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Originally Posted by jokerfwb

And a weird thing happened with the dimmer i bought. I have been playing with it and thought i had it almost at the sweet spot (a little less then half way up) and i bumped it up just a tiny bit and came back after a half and hour of so and the prob that i put on the glass above the heat mat said 107. Now after playing with it I'm back to almost at the right spot.

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The dimmers do require frequent checking, I am using them on my QT snakes but I have a Helix on my collection and when you get to that point, a good t-stat is the way to go:gj:

The 500r is junk, save the 30$ and buy something better and use the rheostat for now.

I agree I bought the zoo med 500R and I returned it, it's rediculous waste of money. I don't mind adjusting my temps up and down as needed as I check on my snake like 4 times a day, and The temp gun from tempguns.com is amazing, and only $35.00. I live by that thing.

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Originally Posted by LGray23

http://i53.tinypic.com/1zm11xw.jpg
http://i55.tinypic.com/2ikqkra.jpg
http://i51.tinypic.com/2dj4cw8.jpg

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Nice setup by the way! I was wondering what that black cover is that you have on the top of the tank? Looks to be fitting nicely!