How do I get the coolside warmer?

Hi, I just got my snake yesterday, and was told not to worry too much about her husbandry at the moment and that it sounded fine, but the cool side is now down to 70.7*F....
I'm just about to glue down the probe so it will measure the temps accurately.
I know i'm not supposed to handdle her,, but when I wok up, her hotside was 98*F! :O I checked her over for burns quicklyy, because I've heard of the horror stories before. She seems fine, a little stressed right now, but I just got her, so yeah...
HUmidity is around 80% right now, but there's no condensation.
Her cool side is just too cool. How do I get the temps up without getting another heatpad for that side? (BTw, I'm using a light dimmer to regulate the heating pad, but I ordered a thermostat yesterday and should be here this week or next week. Until then I'm watching her temps like a hawk.)

Good job on getting the tstat! They are needed as you see. You have a couple options but a small lamp with a ceramic heat emitter put on a dimmer down to low on that side would work quite well. It wouldn't be on high so it wouldn't suck your humidity too quickly and really you only need around 5-10.f change. You could also try covering the cAge to make sure you're not losing heat through the top. How large of a tank is it? Sometimes bigger tanks are harder to heat.


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:O what are the ambient temperatures there so it can go to 70s?

Here, the usual temp is 80-95 every day

I'm actually using a 16q tub. I probably have too many holes in the lid.(Probably shouldn't have done that, but the humidity wouldn't go down. >< I can cover the holes in the lid though if I need to. Or just put a different lid with no holes. We have another 16q tub.

The house temp ATM is 72*F. I'd change it, but I don't want to touch the heater. I don't think Dad would like me messing with it.
Even I'm really cold! I'm bundled up in my giant blanket. I'll change the lid and see if that helps any.

Yes, I see the tstat is very important. XD I wish it'd come soon!

air conditioning or real temp?

Uh... not sure... The house is always cold in the morning. :( I don't think it's the AC...

BTW, does the dimmer ever stop going up/down? And stays between a good temp? It JUST hit 91*F on the hotside, and will I just have to keep adjusting it so it's around 88-92*F?
Coolside is at 72 now.

Humidity now reads: HI since I put the lid with no holes on it. No condensation I Can see from where I'm sitting.

My humidity is always high ... make sure you have some holes in the container so air can get through, I would put back on your old lid. Not going to make much a difference on cool side temps. That's just going to be an issue with your house being that cool ... Not really sure what to tell you :-/ The heating pad should be helping keep the cool side warmer than that though.
Also, snaky won't get burned from 98 degrees. 120 might be pushing it, but not 98.

There's 22 holes in one side, 25 in the other and three on each end, so I think there are enough holes.
Hotside is at 92.5
Coolside: 73.4
Humidity: 87%
That's with the new lid on.
right now she's curled up under her hot hide, so she doesn't seem stressed ATM.

Also is that temp using a probe actually stuck on the cool side of the tub? That is measuring the temp of the tub and not the temp of the actual cool side substrate that the snake is sitting on.

How are you measuring humidity? I'm in WA and I use rack systems and my room humidity is 30-40% solid. I have 7 holes on the front and back SIDES of the tub and that keeps me perfectly at 60%. I move the waterbowl over my heat tape when they are about to shed but that gives me about 70-75%. Something doesn't seem right because with that many holes I have trouble believing your humidity numbers are correct.

Dimmers are always going to go up and down the ambient room temp. That's why dimmers only work well in temp controlled rooms. Thermostats can take into account that variance and keep a solid temp. Your cool side isn't going to go up with your room temp at that level. A UTH or tape will only raise the temps a few degrees over ambient unless they are in a tight enclosed rack.

Regards,

B

I'm using an accurite digital thermometer. The probe is glued down to the hot side underneath the paper towels and the actual thermometer is on the cool side. I need to get some velcro so I can secure it onto the side of the cage. At the moment it's just sitting upright between her coolside hide and the tub.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...Sue/BPtank.png

Sorry for the bad quality pic, but you can kinda see where I have the thermometer at. The cool side hide is just barley touching the back of it.
The coolside temp is at 74.3, it went up from when I took the pic, the humidity is slowly going down.
Is it possible it's getting an inaccurate reading from where it's positioned?
Thanks for all the suggestions and stuff.

as far as warming up the cool side i dunno,i have the opposite problem cooling down the cool side.eeeek
for warming it up im sure you have to raise the ambient air temps somehow.with a tank you could use a dimmed heat lamp but ill let the peeps that use tubs answer that better.

your thermometer is gauging the air temp in the area its in,doubt its getting an inaccurate reading of the area its at.its not reading the temp inside her hide but outside where its placed.well thats if its a probe.if its stick on,get a probe

That's a big water bowl. Could be contributing to your humidity, but as you keep saying, there is no condensation so I wouldn't worry about it. I only get condensation when the snakes pee... yuck!

I have another of the small green bowls I can try with the water to see if that will work. :3 I didn't really think that the water bowl could be giving me troubles. XD
On the bright side, the coolside is up to 75*f!

Will the probe measure the snakes temperature if the snake is lying on top of it? (Because she is lying pretty much right on top of it. Well, it's under the paper towels, but she's right on top of that spot).

The humidity is already fluctuating after I took that water bowl out! It just went down 2%! Let's hope that works!

(It's so green in her tub now.... o.O)

You're doing pretty good, from what I see. Just get that cool side up.
Maybe since you live in a colder state, here's a few ideas:
- Insulate the top and sides somehow, maybe a make a 1 unit 'rack'.
- Get another UTH for the cool side on it's on thermostat.
- Space heater for the room that the snake is in.

Thanks. :3 I'll keep trying to do that.It's at 75.2*F. Hotside I seem to have under control.
Humidity is 76% now!

That is a good point, you can get some contact paper and cover three of the sides.

What are you using to control the hot side? It it a thermostat or rheostat?

Cool side temps are a bit of a issue and typically it they are cool the ambient air temp is as well which is a concern. It sounds like your cool side is a few degrees above the room temp as it typical with tubs they can be difficult to heat properly in unstable cool rooms. Typically adding insulation to them will help a bit a second heat source may also help but it some cases that means a second thermostat as well.

I'd try to add some thing that will keep some heat in first try a towel around the sides and back. Over the top too unless you have a rheostat then just the sides and back and keep a very close eye on it as it will spike up.

If that is not successful (as I would guess as you have a long way to go) you might try adding a fluorescent light just sitting on the lid. They are cheap to buy and cheap to run and do get warm (about 90-100ºF) you will lose lots of heat up and away but the little bit that hangs on my just add enough. There is no need to control it and it is not very specialized so it it doesn't work you can re-purpose it someplace else.

Thank you.
I'm using a rheostat.
Right now the coolside temp is 77.0-77.5*F(77.2 right now, was 77.4 a moment ago) right now, so it's getting better. Humidity at 68%, hotside fluctuating between 88-92*F it seems, it may get a little lower or higher, but I seem to be able to keep it around that.
Not too bad, huh?
MY only concern is night heat, the hotside getting too hot and the cold side getting too cold.

My advice would be to get a thermostat asap because that is the only way you will have piece of mind with the hot side. IMHO 98 degrees is too hot to have consistently. I am happy that you got it lower. The low 70's is a bit cold also. Until you get the temperatures a little more fixed, I honestly would hold off on feeding. Close your vents in your bedroom if the snake is in your bedroom. I have the vents closed to my snake room so the vents don't cool down my snakes. It works pretty well actually. I always try to keep my coolside between 78 and 81 degrees and my hot side around 90. If you have to wrap part of the tub with a blanket to help keep it warmer, that is an idea also. Good luck.

Star

Yeah, I ordered one yesterday, and Amazon is normally pretty fast about shipping things out, so hopefully I'll have it this week.
How should I put the thermometer so I can read the temps when I have a blanket wrapped up around? Since the thermometer is on the coolside? (Which is only at 75.9*F)

Put it so you can just lift the blanket up to see the temps.

Star

Oh, duh. DX Thanks, sorry, I don't know why I didn't think of just doing that!

Hey, can I use a human heating pad set on low to heat the cool side? I have a human heating pad with a three way switch(same thing as a dimmer), so do you think that'd work fine to warm up the coolside?

DAd doesn't think it will be possible to get it to 80-85 on that side. :rolleyes:

I would take some clear tape and cover about half of those holes(especially on the cool end) and your temps will improve.
You don't have too high of humidity unless there is water condensating on the sides of the tub.

That's just what dad did. He just covered up all the holes except for like, one on the coolside.

So hopefully that will work.
The humidity I've had it up on high and there's been no condensation. :3
I found a place to buy F/T locally, so that's cool. It's from craigslist which seems a little odd....but hopefully the conditions of the rats and mice will be well enough they shouldn't be sick or anything. (I'm feeding f.t, but those f/t used to be live at some point. XD)
And I'm thinking of the name Kirané for her. :3 (Pronounced Keer-uh-nay)

Glacier Rodents is local in WA. They are top notch. They supply most of the big reptile breeders in out area and all the local zoos. Might be worth a shot.

Regards,

B

The heat hasn't gone up at all, but the humidity has.... I do have the human heating pad I could put on low to put underneath the cage, remove the tape and see if I need the lid with holes or without holes. It's still 75*F it was nearly 77 a couple hours ago, but apparently not anymore..
Will the human heating pad be fine on low setting? And Humidity is not a problem unless there is condensation, correct? Just want to get that cleared up.

dad's saying something about sealing holesa t the top and put them at the bottom for air circulation or something like that. >.> I don't know what he's going at, or whether it'd work or not. I have holes sealed up and a towel over the back of the tub. The temps are lower and the humidity is higher. IDK What to do... I don't really want to go buy another heat pad and t-stat(let alone I don't have enough for that...) I'm about ready to head to bed and IDK what to do for her heat. I don't want it too hot or too cold tonight like it was last night.... I can shut the vent in my room to make it warmer in there.... I don't know if we have any contact paper(I don't think we do) Could I put plastic wrap over all but three sides? I don't think I'll be here to get any replies tonight. I need to try to destress because I'm getting stressed by all of dad's suggestions IDK will work because he's not the most knowledgeable on BP husbandry. He thinks beause snakes live outside that 75 in't bad for them. I told him 75 isn't awful for them, but it's best around 78-85. IDK if he gets it or not, but that's what she needs. The towel on the back of the cage isn't helping, it just made humidity higher I think(It's reading HI now, no condensation.
Anyway, he's kicking me out of the living room now.

Ok here is something you might try. Oh your Dad is thinking right hole low and high do promote air flow.

Place the tub in a cardboard box on its side remove the blanket and use the human heating pad on the back of the cardboard box (you might need to tape it. Heat pads are a lot hotter than you are thinking! To be warm feeling it has to be over our body temps so high 90s. You need a few inches between the human pad and tub! The idea is the box will generate an airspace (a 2 inch flap on the front top might help too.) and the heating pad will warm the air in the space. (the box can be 10 or more inches bigger than the tub) The warmer air will be 5-8ºF warmer than ambient then add a couple of degrees to the primary heat and you should be ok. REMEMBER you will have to monitor very closely with the rheostat as it will spike!

This is something of a bandaid fix. You will need to come up with a long term solution. Tubs do not hold heat well at all and do much better in heated (80º) rooms. You may want to think of a snake specific designed enclosure (vision or boaphile) that will hold temps a bit better but even that may need a secondary heat as well. You could double up of the heaters but that will still leave you needing to address the ambient air temps. if it looses heat too fast.

Alright, thanks. That's a good idea and I almost forgot that what's warm to us is hot for the snake! Perhaps I could get a low-wattage CHE after I get my thermostat and hook the dimmer to the CHE. I could just put it on the lid?(I also already have a hood I can put it in) I doubt humidity will be that much of a problem.

And I am monitering the temps very closely. (The tub's on my computer desk so I can jsut look over to the side a bit and see the temps. When she's in my room at night, she's right where I can wake up and check her temps, which luckily were not too hot, but unfortunately too cold. :/ ) So yeah...