help !

hi everybody, i have my ball in a 10 gallon tank and i have one reptile heat lamp and an undertank heater but since i turn the light off at night it gets a little colder than it probably should so i was thinking about gettin something to keep it warmer but im not sure what ?? like maybe one of the lamps that stays on during the night or heat tape....please help me out ! :? if you guys have any suggestions feel free to throw them my way

We have a human heating pad under our tank as well as a zoomed sticky pad. We don't use any over head heating.

We also use the human heating pad w/both our enclosures. We do have to use lights though b/c we can't seem to get them warm enough w/out. Therefore, we also use the DIY humidifiers b/c the lamps suck out all the humidity.

Brandon, Sophie, do you guys have a thermostat or rheostat hooked up to your heating pads? Those help with temps immensly *sp?*

An under tank heater works well in a 10 gallon tank. You can lose the overhead lamp if you wish. I suggest getting a night time bulb and leave it on 24/7. Mist the cage once a day to keep the humidity up because those lights kill humidity.

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Brandon, Sophie, do you guys have a thermostat or rheostat hooked up to your heating pads? Those help with temps immensly *sp?*

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I don't have them, but I know I need to invest in a couple. Thanks for reminding me. :wink:

I use an overhead red lamp that I have on 24/7 and just mist everyday. Plus to save humidity levels I use duct tape over the top of the cage, leaving a hole where the lamp goes with about a half inch or so around the lamp. Only the area directly under the lamp gets dry where as the rest of the cage stays pretty moist with humidity in the low to mid 60's.

BrandonO, just wondering how old your bp is...I think a young bp would outgrow a 10gal in a matter of months. You may want to consider going to a 20Long soon, or just go into a 40 breeder (or sterilite equivilent) for the rest of its adult life...

just giving you a heads up...its much harder to control temperature gradients in a small tank as it is in a larger one. People on this board will be quite upset if you keep a juvi ball python in a little 10 gal enclosure....

Actually, Brad, we've kept several of our juvies in 10 gallons when we first got them. The rule of thumb is that your tank should be at least 2/3 the length of your snake, so 10 gallons will do fine for a little while, but not for long. They grow at amazing rates.

If the undertank heater isn't providing sufficient heat, use an infrared bulb 24 hours a day. It'll give off heat, but the light won't stress out your BP.

Once your BP has outgrown the 10 gallon, consider switching to a Rubbermaid or Sterlite. I was reluctant to do this at first, so I tried one of mine out in plastic, and I was amazed at how much better it is at maintaining heat and humidity. I never have to mist my Sterlites, and the temperate is amazingly consistent.

im not exactly sure how old he is, but he is about a foot and a half long . he has room to stretch out and climb but im going to go buy i bigger tank anyways i think both me and the snake will be happier that way

Sophie is in a ten gallon aquarium and Smitty is in a sterilite....however, we have problems getting the temps up high enough in both. I have a screen top for Soph and it's covered w/duct tape (except where the lamp is-and I use the infrared bulb). So, we're not having great luck w/either type enclosure. Actually, it's easier to keep the temp/humidity right in the glass aquarium rather than the sterilite?? Any suggestions? Do you think a thermostat would really solve the problem?

sopihe42204, how high are the ambient temps in the room where you keep the cages? That might be part of the problem. I know when i first moved to where i'm living now, the temps in the room were far too low and were causing problems for me. I just had to shut the air conditioning vent.

Led, we also shut the a/c vent and it's across the room from the enclosures......it's about 70-75 in the room, pretty much the same in all the rooms of our house, well there are a couple rooms that get colder, but that's not the issue here.....it's very frustrating and I believe we are doing everything we know except for employing a thermostat.

i also closed the air conditioner in my room (where the snake is) its about 75 in there now.

Caren, I'm going to take a guess here that you have Smitty in a fairly tall/deep Sterilite. I had a fair amount of difficulty getting it warm enough in one of those, but the shorter ones (10" or so) I haven't had any trouble with at all.

Marla, you are correct. I tried to influence Mark to get one of the 'sweater' types, but he wanted the bigger kind....I'm thinking that now maybe we'll try the other. We'll be doing some shopping this weekend....we'll get it right eventually...I hope!

Good Luck!

Yep, if you will get one of the shallower ones (and why not? bp's aren't arboreal), I would be willing to bet that within 24-48 hours your problems with temps and humidity wave bye-bye. :)