New to reptile care. please help asap.

So, thanks to the misguided teachings of a Pet-notso-Smart employee, I bought a snake and only brought home a heat lamp for his tank. I did my own research and bought a heating pad for nighttime use, but I don't have another source of heat, and only the themometer that comes with the kit. Is he going to be okay with just the heating pad at night? I know I have to turn the lamp of to create a day/night cycle, so how do I keep him warm without using a moonlight lamp? Heating pads CAN'T be all you guys are using, its just not putting out enough heat. right now I've got a heater for the entire room so the lights can stay off, but that's expensive and it keeps the ENTIRE tank warm and sucks keeping it around 50% humidity.. I think its 80F right now at 50%H. Will he be okay with the heater running until I get a moonlight lamp? Should i just keep the lamp on at night? The lamp does fine to keep the temp where its supposed to be. About 83-85 cool side, 89-93 warm side, certain spots being warmer than others. Idk. Where should I go from here people? I was made to think I had everything I needed, but I don't, and can't afford to buy any more for a while.

EDIT: also, its a 20 gal tank instead of a 10. the 10 gal got too hot with the lamp, so we gave it more space to regulate the temp and that much seems to have worked. also he has plenty of hides and sticks and vines and seems to love me and his tank. gets inactive for hours or so but has been moving around, and has made poo once. so he seems fine so far... imo...

I have a uth hooked up to a thermostat set to 91 on hot side nothing one cold side and no light the window takes care of that. 92 in warm hide 85 above hide and that area of tank and 79 on cold side since I heat trailer to that most people here use racks with heat tape to keep their snakes ill be making one in a month

Hi,

You can insulate the outside of the tank with cork, polystyrene (sp? ), bubblewrap etc.

The bulb in the heatlamp can be changed to a red or blue one which will not disturb them and can be left on 24/7.

This will keep the ambient temps up and then your heat pad and thermostat can be used to provide the hot spot.

Check out some of the stickies and thy will show you how others have organised their setups. :gj:


dr del

You definitely should get a thermostat if you don't have one for that UTH. It doesn't seem like it, but it WILL get way too hot for your snake. You should never let your temps rise above 95. Heat mats can get well over 100, and have been recorded to hit 120.

Here's what I use, it's the cheapest one I've seen and works well for one snake: http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR...arm+thermostat

All you do is plug the thermostat in, set the temperature you want the heat mat to be, put the thermostat probe under the warm side hide, and then plug the heat mat into the thermostat. I can post a picture of what it looks like all hooked up if that's confusing. The probe from the thermostat will turn the heat mat on and off in order to keep it at the temp you set it to.

If you have a screen lid, blocking it off with tin foil, a plate of acrylic, or something else solid (other than around your light) will help with temps and humidity. Nice big water bowl under the lamp once you get a blue/red bulb can bump up your humidity significantly. The stickies Dr D mentioned have a ton of info as well, I'd check them out :gj:

I'm really glad you did your own research! Once you have the snake's set up stabilized the maintenance is easy and you're going to have a healthy happy snake :D Welcome to BP.net!

:welcome:

What kind of thermometers are you using? I'm guessing you have those round analog thermometers? If so, get rid of them. They aren't accurate enough for the purposes of monitoring your ball pythons temperatures. Get a couple digital thermometers with probes and put one under the substrate over the UTH, and one on your cool end, opposite of the UTH, on the surface of the substrate.

I'm sorry you didn't make it here sooner so you could figure out all the things you would actually need. I made the same mistakes with my first snake. Found out I bought a bunch of crap I didn't need. :/

I have a 36x12x18 glass tank that I insulated 3 sides with thick black poster board and covered half the screen top with a folded towl. During the day I heat it with a 75 watt reptile basking light and at night I switch to a high heat off putting red reptile light. Each bulb cost me 8$ and his tank stays 88-92 on the hot side and 77–83 on the cool side. I don't use uths at all. Also his humidity stays 50–55% on the towl covered side and 32–37% on the heated side.

Edit: a larger water bowl, or two water bowls, one near the heat and one on the cooler side will improve humidity.

1.0 ball pythons - Koba
0.1 pitbull/lab - Cinnamon
0.1 collie/elkhound - Fluffy
0.2 children
1.0 boyfriend

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Originally Posted by NormanSnake

You definitely should get a thermostat if you don't have one for that UTH. It doesn't seem like it, but it WILL get way too hot for your snake. You should never let your temps rise above 95. Heat mats can get well over 100, and have been recorded to hit 120.

Here's what I use, it's the cheapest one I've seen and works well for one snake: http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR...arm+thermostat

All you do is plug the thermostat in, set the temperature you want the heat mat to be, put the thermostat probe under the warm side hide, and then plug the heat mat into the thermostat. I can post a picture of what it looks like all hooked up if that's confusing. The probe from the thermostat will turn the heat mat on and off in order to keep it at the temp you set it to.

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X2! A thermostat is probably the most important thing that you need for your snake!

Here is some good info about temps and such:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...04#post1845904

Well, to those who say i need a better themometer, this themometer doesn't use a probe, but its digital and cost nearly 300 dollars. Its an advanced tool for weather conditions a friend of mine has, and its very accurate. My temps right now with the themometer are 79.7 and 89.7 WITH the UTH on,no thermostat. the heating pad itself isn't giving off very much heat. I don't have the tank insulated, but i do have the top covered with a towel with a cut-out for the light. The snake seems fine right now, will these temps do okay?

How are you measuring the hot spot directly above your UTH? This needs to be done either either a probed thermometer or a IR gun.


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I know I will get yelled at for this but "So, thanks to the misguided teachings of a Pet-notso-Smart employee, I bought a snake and only brought home a heat lamp for his tank." Since when is it a chain pet stores responsibility to ensure you did the proper research that you should have done before buying a pet?

Also just because its a 300$ thermometer doesnt mean its calculating correctly. You may have proper air temps but without a probe you won't be able to Accurately measure the surface temp of the glass. You have to be able to measure that temp. Uths have to be hooked up to a thermostat. No exceptions! Just because your air temp is correct. Your surface temp could be way way to hot.

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Originally Posted by PorcelainxDoll

Also just because its a 300$ thermometer doesnt mean its calculating correctly. You may have proper air temps but without a probe you won't be able to Accurately measure the surface temp of the glass. You have to be able to measure that temp. Uths have to be hooked up to a thermostat. No exceptions! Just because your air temp is correct. Your surface temp could be way way to hot.

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

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x2!!!!

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Originally Posted by dizzmcd

Well, to those who say i need a better themometer, this themometer doesn't use a probe, but its digital and cost nearly 300 dollars. Its an advanced tool for weather conditions a friend of mine has, and its very accurate. My temps right now with the themometer are 79.7 and 89.7 WITH the UTH on,no thermostat. the heating pad itself isn't giving off very much heat. I don't have the tank insulated, but i do have the top covered with a towel with a cut-out for the light. The snake seems fine right now, will these temps do okay?

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What you have is probably measuring the air temps. You need something to measure the bottom surface, since the UTH will only affect the air temp by a couple degrees. Nothing substantial.

A thermostat really is a must. A lot of people come here with burned snakes due to unregulated UTHs that didn't seem that hot to the touch. When your snake lays on top of a +100º for an extended period of time, they will start to burn. A thermostat ensures that your heat source only heats up to the temp you want, ensuring the safety of your animal. If you want to live life on the edge, so be it. But I would never put any of my animals in with an unregulated heat source.

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Originally Posted by KING JAMES

I know I will get yelled at for this but "So, thanks to the misguided teachings of a Pet-notso-Smart employee, I bought a snake and only brought home a heat lamp for his tank." Since when is it a chain pet stores responsibility to ensure you did the proper research that you should have done before buying a pet?

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Not yelling ;) But just pointing out that it doesn't occur to a lot of people that they should do research. Our "unregulated" community seems more shady to the general public than the brick and mortar stores. Being the big companies that they are that have great ads about happy animals, (most) people assume that the store employees know what they're talking about. No, it's not the chain store's responsibility, but they put on a facade that they have any information you need on that animal's care.

I just don't think it does a lot to help to condemn people who have no other herp exposure other than Petco/Petsmart. It doesn't make it ok to neglect or improperly care for the reptiles, but (especially when they're reaching out for information and help) I think it does more to try and educate and reach out than go "How could you be so stupid? Didn't you know they give you incorrect information? Why didn't you question what they told you about caring for the pet they sold you?"

People who actively ignore good advice are a whole 'nother breed, and I have my own difficulties dealing with them in a civil manner. However I think it's a great thing when people are introduced to good husbandry techniques and actively start searching for more. I think starting to research snakes is what started my obsessive researching habits on everything (I research house plants now before I buy them :P)