Critique my enclosure?

http://distilleryimage0.s3.amazonaws...0a9f15fd_7.jpg
Just got him a week ago. I'm a beginner so any comments is appreciated. Is there anything I should change/add/remove?
He's a male BP at about 30 inches named Knight!

I don't see a cool side hide. Are there therometers and a hygometer in there? Other than that's its a nice looking setup.

I agree with the fact that he needs a cold side hide. other than that great setup hope you take good care of him but I don't have to worry you seem exicted and determined.:)

I would switch out the log hide with two smaller, fully enclosed ones with a single entrance. Looks pretty good other than that.


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Log hides aren't really recommended around here since they aren't a tight enough and enclosed enough fit to make BP feel safe. Find something more enclosed and smaller and have one for the hot side and one for the cool side. I use reptile basic hides. http://www.reptilebasics.com/hide-boxes

As the Snake Guy said, do you have something to monitor the humidity and temperature? I think I might see a stick on dial one behind the water bowl but I can't see it enough. If it is indeed a dial one pick up a digital one since they are super inaccurate. I bought a snake tank kit when I first got started (and before I found the forum) and tried those. I was shocked at how inaccurate they were while I was running my two week unoccupied enclosure testing.

Pretty fancy looking setup though. Looks good.

For the therm/hygro, I got an indoor-outdoor one from WalMart for about $15. Probe on the hot side, unit on the cool side. It's digital with a large display that's easy to read. I highly recommend it. I believe it's an Accurite.

do you have an under tank heater that's regulated? lights are a big humidity killer.

x2 on the http://www.reptilebasics.com/hide-boxes

I would replace your hydrometer/thermometer combo you have. Do you have a UTH? If so, is it connected to a thermostat?

I like these to measure the ambient temp and humidity (amazon link), but if you do have a UTH, it won't measure the surface temp where the UTH is placed, I would then get an Acu-Rite from Walmart. You can also measure with a IR gun, but IR gun's are not he best reading temperatures on shinny/reflective surfaces like glass. If you don't have a thermostat, but do have a UTH, you need to get a thermostat, I also included a couple links for those.

Thermometers/Hydrometer

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Acu-Rite-I...00000027727770

Thermostats - I like the ones from Spyder Robotics, if you are unable to get one of these, pick up a Hydrofarm.

http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR...ords=hydrofarm

http://spyderrobotics.com/

Those heat lamps are useful to help with ambient temps but can wreak havoc on your humidity levels. If you do use one, I would put it on a dimmer and adjust it accordingly, this way it is not running at full power 24/7. Here are some things I did with my glass setup.

I live in Phoenix, AZ so humidity was a challenge at first with a glass set up. Here are a couple things you can do if you run into anything similar.

1) Switch to Eco-Earth as your substrate, does a wonderful job holding humidity.

2) Insulate your tank. I used the stuff below, I only put it on the bottom of the enclosure. With this same material, I also cut out a cardboard box that would fit perfectly on the cool side of the tank, then took two pieces of insulation on each side of the cut out, and tapped it with foil tape.

3) Make sure you have an accurate hydrometer and thermometer.

4) Make sure if your using a heat lamp, put it on a dimmer or a thermostat if you can. I ran a Herpstat 2, one probe for my UTH and another probe for my lamp. This will prevent your lamp from running full power 24/7 and totally zapping your humidity.

http://i1250.photobucket.com/albums/...pse2e1c55f.jpg

http://i1250.photobucket.com/albums/...ps61ad0047.jpg

http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/1000208...5#.UgxI8qa9LCQ

Yeah I got the UTH, hyg/therm gauge, water dish when I bought him at the reptile show. I had a feeling the gauge was a little inaccurate though so ill get a better one soon. As for the cool side hide I've been searching for one but he doesn't seem fit in anything besides the from the ones I've purchased and seen at the pet stores aside from the log one. I'm debating if I should up to a 30 gallon to fit a suitable hide for him.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by martin82531

2) Insulate your tank. I used the stuff below, I only put it on the bottom of the enclosure. With this same material, I also cut out a cardboard box that would fit perfectly on the cool side of the tank, then took two pieces of insulation on each side of the cut out, and tapped it with foil tape.

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Did you put the insulation inside or outside the tank??

Just the bottom or the bottom and 3 sides??

And does your heat pad go between the insulation and the tank, or outside the insulation??

I just put it on the bottom (outside of the enclosure). I was going to put it on the sides, but I started with just the bottom, after running with this setup for a coupe of days, I didn't see a need to do the sides as well.

If you look at the picture, I was running a ZooMed heat pad, this is the only place were I did not put the insulation. :)

Theoretically you could put the heat pad under the insulation to help more of the heat go into the tank??

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mephibosheth1

Theoretically you could put the heat pad under the insulation to help more of the heat go into the tank??

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I would think you would be ok do this, but keep in mind a UTH won't really do anything for the ambient temps. I went with the insulation from based on another members recommendation. In combination with putting the insulation on the bottom and the removable piece I made for the top, the temps seemed to be more stable. This particular setup at the time was for a boa that liked to burrow so I was trying to keep the surface temperatures throughout the bottom of the enclosure warmer, I didn't want the boa to get off the heat pad which was set to 90, the burrow on the cool side of the tank, and the surface temp drop to 70 for example. I'm currently not using my glass tank but if I were to get another ball I would use the same setup.