New, Need help with small tank setup

Hey everyone,

So I'm new to owning a Ball Python, I've got one thats staying with the breeder till I get my tank setup just right, for safety's sake. I really don't want to hurt her not being prepared.

This is what I've got going: I have a ten gal glass tank (and plan to upgrade to PVC once she gets bigger), three sides are covered as well as the screen top. I'm using an UTH on one side, water dish in middle and light at the top on the far side. I've got two different bulbs, a 50 watt blue bulb (that seems kinda bright to me) and a 75 watt dark blue night bulb and I haven't a clue which is better. The humidity in the tank has been perfect for the past week, but my temps seem kinda iffy. When the light is on it regulates around 80-85, but when I turn it off it drops instantly. And it doesn't seem the night bulb warms it up at all. I've been considering getting a heat cable, what do you guys think about those? Do you use them, recommend them?

I do plan on upgrading a lot of what I have (and don't) in the next few weeks, some of which I need is a new thermostat setup, temp gun and the acurite thermometer, because I've just got a cheap thermometer/humidity gage in the tank at present, but they "seem" to be reading about right.

Any advice would be wonderful. I just want to make sure she lives a wonderful happy life.

- Ash

Please just go buy a New thermometer now they are like $10 at walmart. and Honestly I would just use the UTH and not use any lights. If the tank is in a lit room already.

I can do that, I was actually thinking of going out in a bit and buying some stuff sooner rather than later...

When the light is off it doesn't seem to get hot enough... the temps drop down below 80. Will it heat up over time perhaps with just the UTH?

- Ash

An UTH is NOT for heating air temps. It is mainly for a warm spot and needs to be regulated by a thermostat.
You would be better off getting rid of the white bulb and getting a red heat one.

You sound like you are off to a good start. :)
Definitely do invest in some kind of digital thermometer. But... do you have a THERMOSTAT? To control the UTH temperature. You need one of those!!

I completely agree that you will most likely need some sort of heat bulb. I suggest a red bulb (50W should be more than enough, if your home's temperature is in the low to mid 70's). You will be able to see your snake at night with a red bulb as well, without bothering her/him. This should be left on 24/7, as night time drops in temperature are not a good idea for this species.
More often than not you can return unused bulbs - such as the two you've mentione din your post - to the pet store you got them from, within their return policy.

Make sure you've got at least one hide on each side; the cool and the warm side. You don't need to spend a lot of money to do this; in fact, it can be as simple as a half tissue box... especially for a young snake who will outgrow small hides quickly.
I suggest moving the lamp to the middle of the tank, or closer to the UTH, giving the entire tank more of a heat gradient so your snake can get away from the heat if s/he wants.

So glad to see you're setting up your tank before you get your ball python! Off to a great start.

Best of luck!

Check out this photo tutorial on how to set up a glass tank. It also has links to thermometer and thermostats.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=201740

Besides a UTH, I'd invest in a ceramic heat bulb. They're a little bit more expensive but they just produce heat without light. BPs do fine with natual day light (for which they usually hide anyways) and red/black light at night bothers them.



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

Ok, so I bought a probed thermometer and set it up. I'm waiting to see what the temps will reach on that. I will have to wait til I can go to town to get the UTH control, but I'm planning on getting one. With that, how does that work? Ive been wondering how I can control the temps of my UTH with the thermostat?
I will also look at the ceramic bulb when I go for the thermostat.

I checked out that glass tank setup and am gonna try and gear my setup towards that.

Thank you guys so much. :)

- Ash

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ashley2534

Ive been wondering how I can control the temps of my UTH with the thermostat?
I will also look at the ceramic bulb when I go for the thermostat.

---

It depends on what thermostat you buy. If you buy a digital one like a hydrofarm or a herpstat, instead of plugging in your UTH into the wall socket, you'd plug it in into your thermostat. You'd put the thermostat's heat probe between the UTH and the glass. Then just use the digital pad to adjust the temperature.

Hope that makes sense.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Misha

BPs do fine with natual day light (for which they usually hide anyways) and red/black light at night bothers them.



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

---

Sorry, but I am going to have to respectfully disagree with this completely (about the red/black light bothering them). They can't see either of those colours on their own. Which is why they are used as "night time" bulbs. But I do agree that a heat emitting bulb is a good way to go to avoid light altogether.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NH93

Sorry, but I am going to have to respectfully disagree with this completely (about the red/black light bothering them). They can't see either of those colours on their own. Which is why they are used as "night time" bulbs. But I do agree that a heat emitting bulb is a good way to go to avoid light altogether.

---

This right here. The red and black bother us, not them.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Misha

It depends on what thermostat you buy. If you buy a digital one like a hydrofarm or a herpstat, instead of plugging in your UTH into the wall socket, you'd plug it in into your thermostat. You'd put the thermostat's heat probe between the UTH and the glass. Then just use the digital pad to adjust the temperature.

Hope that makes sense.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

---

Ok, so I understand it now... and now I know how to set it up when I get it. :) Thanks a ton.

So I moved the light area, which is a hole I have cut into the top insulation and hopefully I can pick up one of these ceramic bulbs when I get the other stuff. My new temp gage seems to be working wonderfully. The heat however is only still ranging around 78-80 now, and I can't tell whether it's slowely getting hotter or not. Do you guys think that dark night bulb I have will heat it efficiently if left on for awhile? I feel like it's not getting the it's area hot enough, but that could just be me... I don't really know much about all these new types of bulbs. But I'll def still try to snatch up one of the ceramic ones.

Is it all right for the "light", whichever bulb is used, to be over the water dish? I currently have that placed in the middle, inbetween two hides, one over the UTH and the other on the "cool" side.

- Ash

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Misha

Check out this photo tutorial on how to set up a glass tank. It also has links to thermometer and thermostats.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=201740

Besides a UTH, I'd invest in a ceramic heat bulb. They're a little bit more expensive but they just produce heat without light. BPs do fine with natual day light (for which they usually hide anyways) and red/black light at night bothers them.



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

---

I'm not sure where you got your information about the red/black bulbs bother them, but you're wrong. I'm assuming you mean the black bulbs as in like moon glow and stuff. Now as far as a black light black light that makes stuff glow, then yea, I'm not sure if that bothers them or not. I'd probably lean more towards yes, but that bulb doesn't put out heat anyways, or not much if I remember from when I was a kid and owned one.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Neal

I'm not sure where you got your information about the red/black bulbs bother them, but you're wrong. I'm assuming you mean the black bulbs as in like moon glow and stuff. Now as far as a black light black light that makes stuff glow, then yea, I'm not sure if that bothers them or not. I'd probably lean more towards yes, but that bulb doesn't put out heat anyways, or not much if I remember from when I was a kid and owned one.

---

Neal there is also a "black" heat light.............. looks purple to me though LoL

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

Neal there is also a "black" heat light.............. looks purple to me though LoL

---

Yeah, the night bulb I have definitely looks purple. :) I kept wondering when about it when everyone was saying blue and red... I suppose it would be considered blue. :):)

I thank all of you for helping me (and I'm sure I'll have plenty more questions to come lol). I'm going to be having shoulder surgery soon and I'd like to get it all perfect and have her home before it goes down. Then I'll have several months to stay home and get to know her. :) I'm very excited.

- Ash

Ash, you can have the light over the water dish if you like. It will increase the humidity level in the tank, however without some sort of cover over the mesh lid it won't actually increase, just because the humidity will be escaping.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Neal

I'm not sure where you got your information about the red/black bulbs bother them, but you're wrong.

---

Not to be mean but where exactly are you getting YOUR information? If you're going to jump on the bandwagon of telling me I'm wrong, at least do me a common courtesy and post something where I can learn about it. Thanks.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

There's no need for a debate or telling anyone is wrong or otherwise!
http://science.howstuffworks.com/zoo...ans/snake1.htm
http://www.anapsid.org/sight.html

There's a few sources, although it is still a debated topic. Snakes, like ball pythons with heat sensing pits, see in infrared. So, no matter what heat is being emitted, they will see it, by that logic.

I think the best way to tell if a snake is upset by a light, is if they hide from it. Snakes are nocturnal (or crepuscular - active at dusk and dawn) and avoid bright light. They do not avoid red or black light, as far as I can tell. Mine sure don't! Which is why I have colour-changing LEDs.

Cheers!

I am new to this world as well, and my BP is also in a 10 gallon tank. I have all of my temps pretty much perfect now, so I'll just list what I have done and you can take what pieces you like, and it might work for you.

I have two UTH pads. A small/medium one on the hot side, and a mini one on the cool side. I have thermostats on both to control temps. the cool side runs at 80-82, and the hot side runs 88-90

For the above light, I have a black night bulb (I think it's a 60watt, but could be 50) that i run 24/7. My day bulb was bothering him, and the 50 watt red light was getting everything too hot. I have my heat lamp sitting directly on the screen, near the hot side, but slightly more centered.

For humidity I have two water bowls. I had moss, but since adding the second water bowl, misting has been unnecessary so far.

To trap the humidity, I have covered nearly all the screentop in foil except for a circle cut out where the heat lamp sits (A little bit larger then the lamp to allow some air flow).

I have two digital thermometers with probes under each hide (one on the cool and one on the hot). I have a digital thermometer/hygrometer I leave probed in the middle. I also have a infrared temp gun to spot check temps.

I use a thin layer of aspen as my bedding.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Neal

I'm not sure where you got your information about the red/black bulbs bother them, but you're wrong. I'm assuming you mean the black bulbs as in like moon glow and stuff. Now as far as a black light black light that makes stuff glow, then yea, I'm not sure if that bothers them or not. I'd probably lean more towards yes, but that bulb doesn't put out heat anyways, or not much if I remember from when I was a kid and owned one.

---

I use the moonlight bulbs because they annoy the crap out of ME. You're right about black lights not putting out much heat, but it also depends on where their output falls in the UV spectrum. That's largely academic though, since you'd need a ridiculously precise thermometer to measure the difference. As for whether it bothers BP's, I suspect you might be right, but UV covers such a wide range of the spectrum, it's hard to say which frequencies would actually cause an issue.

Interestingly enough, moonlight bulbs (exo terra brand, at least) actually DO cause things to react, but the violet light they produce is on the visible end of the UV spectrum. What's cool is that the things that react under moonlight bulbs don't react under "black" light. Some things even react totally differently. Dark UV inks don't exactly glow, they change color. It makes for an interesting visual impact when they're on. I don't know if I can, but I'll try to get a picture of what it does to the UV printed silk plants in my cage.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NH93

There's no need for a debate or telling anyone is wrong or otherwise!
http://science.howstuffworks.com/zoo...ans/snake1.htm
http://www.anapsid.org/sight.html

There's a few sources, although it is still a debated topic. Snakes, like ball pythons with heat sensing pits, see in infrared. So, no matter what heat is being emitted, they will see it, by that logic.

---

I might have misunderstood your post, but UV and infrared are at totally opposite ends of the EM spectrum. To be honest, "see" might not even be the best way to explain how they perceive heat. It's entirely possible that they don't see into the IR spectrum very far, if at all. They way they perceive heat may be as far from "visual" as hearing is to taste. It may be a completely different sense entirely, processed in a different part of the brain from touch, taste, smell, taste, or vision.

Sent from my HTCEVOV4G using Tapatalk

You apparently didn't do much partying as a teen..black lights are purple:confusd:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

Neal there is also a "black" heat light.............. looks purple to me though LoL

---

I use black lights in both my set ups and they keep the tanks a little less hot than reg day bulbs do NAND there the same watts,a few degrees difference,maybe 2-3

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Grim8899

You apparently didn't do much partying as a teen..black lights are purple:confusd:

---

Black lights and the heat light are two different bulbs.
BTW welcome back ;) and good bye