Trying to get my setup together..

Well, Tuesday I finally got some cash so I could finally get my necessities that I've been talking about getting for a while now. Sadly, it seems Canada sucks for trying to find the right necessities. Actually, the only problem I have is I couldn't find the Acurite digital thermometer/hygrometer. I went to walmart and found the exact same Dunlap heat pad that some here use, and I got my clay pot hides easily. Only thing I couldn't find was the digital thermometer. I asked around in walmart, and was brought to the same small section near the security alarms. They had a few digital thermometers, but none with humidity and temperature readings in one. So I went to Canadian Tire to check there. They seemed to have the same selection as Walmart. So I was starting to worry then. So I figured I'd head back into town(Walmart and Canadian Tire are in Leamington...a town over) and check out the hardware store. They had a small selection of digital thermometers also. I found one that looked(keyword- looked) like the Acurite thermometer, and it had the probe, humidity and temp combo, and everything. Problem is it only has one temperature reading, and a humidity reading. Acurite has the two temp readings and the humidity readings all in one. So I figured I'd buy a second cheaper and simpler digital thermometer. It just had the probe for temp. No humidity guage or anything. Both together they came up to 35 dollars(not good).
Anyway...rambling as usual. I get home and went to set up my tank with what I could. I didn't have my reptibark yet, so I put some newspaper down, then put my hides in, my greenery, and my climbing branch. Set it up all nice. Then put the heatpad underneath, on low. Added a water dish. Then set up the thermometers. I had the simpler one for the cool side, and the Acurite knockoff on the warm side. I put the cold probe under the cool side. And the warm probe right next to the warm hide. I wasn't sure if I should have the probe inside the hide or not. I figured I would want the humidity reading from the ambient area of the tank and not from inside the hide. Is this right? Only thing I was confused about was the placement of the probes.
So yeah, today I went and got a small bag of reptibark to try out. I put about an inch+ at the bottom. Is this too much or too little? I hope the temperatures get through there. Last night with just the newspaper, the temperatures were pretty good. I had 82-85 on cool side, and 90-95 on warm side, with humidity of 55-60.

Anyway, I guess this topic was mainly just me ranting on my frustration of the digital thermometer thing. Its sad...I'm starting to doubt whether I can handle the ball python I've already paid 100 bucks for, and am expecting anytime late this month. Hope I can get things straightened out. I think later next week I'll take a trip up to Radioshack. I heard they have Acurite thermometers there. I'm crossing my fingers.

Oh...better end this...uh..I dunno...just give me whatever feedback you have on my ramblings, lol. I mainly need confirmation on the probe placement, and the amount of reptibark to use for a 20 gal tank. If you've read all this, thanks. You're a trooper. ;)

im sure you can handle it. i had the same problem. i musta sepnt $150 at least on rex before i even got him. youll find out it really iant that hard. your temps/humidity sound perfect. today, i have at least $500 invested in both rex and adrian...probly more along $700. its not really a cheap pet...the coststs add up. but its worth it in the end. just have confidense in yourself. hope that helped

Darn...I just checked the cage 20 minutes ago. The temp on the cool side is currently 79 and temp on warm side is 89. That's with the heatpad on low. I think I have the reptibark too thick. Oh well, I put the heatpad on medium just to see what that'd do. It'll most likely be too hot, so I'll probably just wait till tommorrow, and thin out the reptibark a bit and then start it again on low heat. :(

On a sidenote, my humidity has been a constant 60 percent. Hasn't gone lower than that for the past 5 hours. Guess I'm lucky with the humidity. I thought I'd struggle with it. Then again, it's still summer...I'll probably have problems in fall/winter. :(

Yes on the hot side you want the reptibark fairly thin in order to get the heat you need. I have a 20 gal tank w/ the same heat pad and on the hot side I make the reptibark thinner I also put a few sheets of newspaper under the bark just in case my bp kicks up the bark so his belly won't be right on the glass and heat. As the reptibark dries your humidity will go down so keep an eye on it.
I put a probe inside the hot hide right on the floor surface and my cool side temp is right next to the hide as is the humidity reading. I have the Walmart accurite.
I found w/ my 20 gal tank I still need an overhead light on the cool side to keep the temps right w/ a 75 watt black night glow bulb.
But get yours set up for a few days and see how it goes. I do have everything on thermostats so they go off and on as needed.

I thought at first it was gonna be a lot to handle to w/ my bp but after you get the first setup going it will all seem so easy. I did spend some $$ tho on that first set up but as you go along you will pick up tricks etc to make it easier and more affordable.
Good Luck

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Originally Posted by Cody

Darn...I just checked the cage 20 minutes ago. The temp on the cool side is currently 79 and temp on warm side is 89. That's with the heatpad on low.

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Great temps! One degree off from your goal temps is not something to be disappointed about. Put it back on low, leave it alone for a few hours, and see if that's where the temps stays. If so, you're good to go.

One other thing: I'd really suggest putting the reptibark back in the bag until you've had a few weeks to observe your snake, and use newspaper or paper towels for the first few weeks.

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Originally Posted by Marla

One other thing: I'd really suggest putting the reptibark back in the bag until you've had a few weeks to observe your snake, and use newspaper or paper towels for the first few weeks.

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Easier to spot mites/other parasites. It also lets you check out poo for runniness and IMO makes it easier to get a fecal sample for the vet.

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Originally Posted by Marla

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Originally Posted by Cody

Darn...I just checked the cage 20 minutes ago. The temp on the cool side is currently 79 and temp on warm side is 89. That's with the heatpad on low.

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Great temps! One degree off from your goal temps is not something to be disappointed about. Put it back on low, leave it alone for a few hours, and see if that's where the temps stays. If so, you're good to go.

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Haha, I feel stupid now. Now I know what people mean about being paranoid with their first snake. I wasn't thinking clearly. Now I realise I was pretty close to the 90-95 and 80-85 temps. Oh well, I still have weeks until I get the baby bp from the breeder near Toronto. Plenty of time to tweak.

Oh, and I checked my humidity earlier today, and I guess the light finally started to suck up the humidity. It was around the 40's. You're supposed to soak the reptibark, then dry it out a bit and leave a bit of moisture aren't you? I totally forgot to do that. I was all excited and in a hurry, and threw it in their right from the bag dry. I should've washed it out in a diluted bleach solution and stuff in case of any mites in the bark too. :ashamed

You'll be fine. :) You have plenty of time to work out the kinks. 40% humidity is pretty much the minimum acceptable for non-shed times, so if you want to leave your setup as is and mist during shed or use a different method to up the humidity during shed, that should be fine.

Cody, it sounds like you've definitely done your homework. I agree with Marla, you'll be just great.

I'm doing great now. Thanks guys and gals! :) I have 2 sheets of newspaper, then about an inch of reptibark. I put the temp probes inside the hide as I figured that would most likely be where the snake will be hanging out, lol. I have the cover off my heat pad and the setting on medium(I know...I thought low would be good enough) and I checked the temps around 5pm yesterday and they were at 82 and 93. I was super pleased. Now just a few minutes ago I ran upstairs to check the temps and they were at 82 and 93 still. And it was a good day to test the set up because today it was real cold and rainy, so the temps in my room dropped a bit. But the cage temps stayed fine. Looks like I'm almost set for that snakey. :twisted:

Sounds like your getting everything worked out great.
Congrats on the homework and hard work :)

Sounds great! :)

Awesome!

Sounds like you'll be a great ball python owner! good luck.
Hope you find the Acurite. We've got them even here in sodding Finland! I get mine from a pet store, though. Haven't seen them in marts.

what is the name of the heat pad you use, right now i am using a reptile one but seeing how everyone says the human ones are so much better i was thinkin about pickin one up soon and one of the digital thermometers (acu rite) is the heat pad fuzzy or is it like a rubber ??

Cant wait to see some pics man :)

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Originally Posted by Brandon.O

what is the name of the heat pad you use, right now i am using a reptile one but seeing how everyone says the human ones are so much better i was thinkin about pickin one up soon and one of the digital thermometers (acu rite) is the heat pad fuzzy or is it like a rubber ??

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I, and others, use a heat pad by the company "Dunlap". It's covered in a plastic/pvc material and comes with a soft cover(cotton?) that you can slip over if needed. I got mine for 20 dollars canadian. There was a pic of the box it comes in on here, but the sticky thread it was in seems to have been moved and I can't find it for the life of me. I'll look for it a bit more and see if I can find it.

*Edit* w00t found the heat pad pic

Oh, and don't get too excited about pics just yet. I'll have to get a digital camera first. :( I seen an uber-cheap one at Walmart when I went there the other day for my necessities. It was 30 bucks. Only 1.5 megapixel, but it'd be fine for what I'll be using it for. I'm probably gonna get it because there's no way I'm getting my baby and not taking a bunch of pics of her. :twisted:

I got my digital thermometer off of ebay; think I paid around $15 US for it. Not bad.