Temps sky high! Please help me control this!

Holy crap! I took the infrared temp gun out this morning to check everybody. Under Cleo's heat lamp, her favorite hot spot is 87°. Lady's is 85°, as is Boots'. Eden's is 98°?! She is in a 24 L x 18 W x 12 H. I use a 75w Incandescent from petsmart and they said it was perfect for her cage but now I'm worried. She has been moving her hide out from under the lamp and NOW I know why. What can I do to help her? Is this too hot for her? Cool side read 84° for her cage.

Side note, Cleo's cool side is coming to low seventies. Lowest I saw was 73°(water) and the ground was 76°...is this an okay cool side? Boots' was 83° and Lady's was 82°.

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As your ambients in your room fluctuate so will your temps with a lamp. You either control the ambients better, get a lower wattage bulb, or get a lamp dimmer switch and adjust as needed.

You could also ditch the heat lamps and use mats.

That's a pretty shallow tank and a strong light, I would get a heat emitter instead of a lamp and run it on a rheostat (dimmer). You will need to keep an eye on temps and adjust as needed. What about moving them into tubs or a more suitable reptile cage and using heat mats? You'll need thermostats to control them but will keep temps much more stable and safe. 98 is much too warm. 76 is probably ok for the cool side but if your temps are fluctuating that much could cause issues. I wouldn't take petcos advice on reptile keeping at all.

Just as a reference I use a 50W flood light for my tegus cage and I am going for basking spots of above 100F. Can you post some pictures of your setups? What is the ambient high-low in the room that they are staying in and how much does it fluctuate?

Incandescent lamps are no good for snakes, at all. I would never get advice again from petsmart or petco, its a joke. You can use infrared heat lamps effectively, or just grab a heat pad, and put it on a lamp dimmer from home depot.

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Originally Posted by GoingPostal

That's a pretty shallow tank and a strong light, I would get a heat emitter instead of a lamp and run it on a rheostat (dimmer). You will need to keep an eye on temps and adjust as needed. What about moving them into tubs or a more suitable reptile cage and using heat mats? You'll need thermostats to control them but will keep temps much more stable and safe. 98 is much too warm. 76 is probably ok for the cool side but if your temps are fluctuating that much could cause issues. I wouldn't take petcos advice on reptile keeping at all.

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

Incandescent lamps are no good for snakes, at all. I would never get advice again from petsmart or petco, its a joke. You can use infrared heat lamps effectively, or just grab a heat pad, and put it on a lamp dimmer from home depot.

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Using a CHE vs an incandescent lamp vs halogen vs IR you run into the same issues, overheating and reducing humidity, a lot of people use lamps for snakes you just have to dial in the correct wattage. Saying an incandescent bulb is "no good" isn't necessarily true, which is why I asked about ambients in the room, sometimes heat mats aren't enough to keep up ambients. You can't speak in absolutes like that.

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

Incandescent lamps are no good for snakes, at all. I would never get advice again from petsmart or petco, its a joke. You can use infrared heat lamps effectively, or just grab a heat pad, and put it on a lamp dimmer from home depot.

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This. I don't even shop at my local stores, I've seen mites on their snakes and I don't want to risk bringing home a hitchhiker.

You can use a lamp dimmer to dial it back until you find a more permanent solution. This link is for Lowes, Home Depot or even a small hardware store will have a similar product. http://www.lowes.com/pd_70717-539-TT...ductId=3189447

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Originally Posted by GoingPostal

That's a pretty shallow tank and a strong light, I would get a heat emitter instead of a lamp and run it on a rheostat (dimmer). You will need to keep an eye on temps and adjust as needed. What about moving them into tubs or a more suitable reptile cage and using heat mats? You'll need thermostats to control them but will keep temps much more stable and safe. 98 is much too warm. 76 is probably ok for the cool side but if your temps are fluctuating that much could cause issues. I wouldn't take petcos advice on reptile keeping at all.

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

Incandescent lamps are no good for snakes, at all. I would never get advice again from petsmart or petco, its a joke. You can use infrared heat lamps effectively, or just grab a heat pad, and put it on a lamp dimmer from home depot.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

This. I don't even shop at my local stores, I've seen mites on their snakes and I don't want to risk bringing home a hitchhiker.

You can use a lamp dimmer to dial it back until you find a more permanent solution. This link is for Lowes, Home Depot or even a small hardware store will have a similar product. http://www.lowes.com/pd_70717-539-TT...ductId=3189447

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Keep in mind I work for Petco. The woman who runs reptiles has bred BPs for a long time and is extremely knowledgeable. I went to PETSMART because I was in a hurry and out of town. X.x

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Originally Posted by jclaiborne

As your ambients in your room fluctuate so will your temps with a lamp. You either control the ambients better, get a lower wattage bulb, or get a lamp dimmer switch and adjust as needed.

You could also ditch the heat lamps and use mats.

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I have mats but they aren't plugged in due to the absence of a t-stat. I need time to get the money.

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Originally Posted by jclaiborne

Using a CHE vs an incandescent lamp vs halogen vs IR you run into the same issues, overheating and reducing humidity, a lot of people use lamps for snakes you just have to dial in the correct wattage. Saying an incandescent bulb is "no good" isn't necessarily true, which is why I asked about ambients in the room, sometimes heat mats aren't enough to keep up ambients. You can't speak in absolutes like that.

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Thanks! A lot of people said a dimmer will work as a good temporary so I may try that. I also live in Fla. so I could always turn it off for a little while.

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Would it help to switch her bulb with Lady's? She doesn't get enough heat with hers anyway so I think it's too low of a wattage

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Originally Posted by SCWood

Would it help to switch her bulb with Lady's? She doesn't get enough heat with hers anyway so I think it's too low of a wattage

Honestly it is hard to say what to do without seeing your setups and what type of lamps you are using, are the bulbs the round with no reflector, are you using the "basking" bulbs that have the reflector built in, as well as the different wattages. Using "reptile specific" bulbs for heat is kind of a joke, as the markup is incredibly high and the quality of the bulb is lacking, the range on what the actual wattage output on say a 75W bulb fluctuates quite a bit. A quick fix is a dimmer but you have to tweak with it to get the temps right, and if the ambient fluctuates in the room you will have to adjust it again.

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Update: No lamps or mats are in use currently. The Florida room is 90° ambient! I opened all windows and doors to encourage a breeze. Jen won't let me bring them in so I turned on a high power fan too. Any other suggestions?

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Setups
Cleo
Cage: 36" x 18" x 18" (Exo-Terra Large Wide)
Bulb: up to 100w (installed 07-2014, 50w Red Bulb) Dome is Zoo Med double. Day bulb unknown.
Heat: Small heat pad (All Living Things; NOT IN USE)
Substrate: Coco Husk (soon to be carpet)
Hide: Large Half-Log
Hot: 87° Cool: 77°
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05...753ffd2aba.jpg
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05...9399e45457.jpg

Eden
Cage: 24" x 18" x 12" (Exo-Terra Medium Low)
Bulb: up to 75w (installed 04-23-2015, All Living Things Incandescent 75w)
Heat: Small heat pad(ZooMed) NOT IN USE
Substrate: Repti-Bark
Hide: Exo-Terra Large
Hot: 98° Cool: 84°
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05...a0280a07a7.jpg
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05...dd9505ed03.jpg

Boots
Cage: 48" x 12.5" x 20" (55 gallon)
Bulb: up to 250w (installed 04-18-2015, ZooMed Black Light 100w)
Heat: No heat pad
Substrate: Repti-Bark
Hide: Petco Cave, 10x9x6
Hot: 86° Cool: 83°
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05...f1e606543a.jpg
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05...94f61d1fc7.jpg

Lady (Iguana)
Cage: 22" x 36" x 16"
Bulb: Unknown wattage red bulb
Substrate: Repti-Bark
Hide: Large Half-Log
Hot: 85° Cool: 82°
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05...81be16dd93.jpg
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05...00a6a7f5f4.jpg

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Best bet for now would be to get dimmers (especially if you are saving for a tstat)...the wattage on your bulbs seems pretty high IMO.

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Originally Posted by SCWood

Update: No lamps or mats are in use currently. The Florida room is 90° ambient! I opened all windows and doors to encourage a breeze. Jen won't let me bring them in so I turned on a high power fan too. Any other suggestions?

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If you're seeing ambient temps that high now in that room they'll be dangerously high in a few weeks as the weather warms up more. You either need to cool the room or block sunlight from coming in to limit heat generated by solar gain. You can apply window treatment film to the windows and skylights to block most of the sunlight, put up shades, etc.

Another method to provide relief in a small area is to use a small personal-size fan to blow air across a frozen 1-2 liter bottle of water. Aim the fan at the front of the rack or so the breeze goes across the tops of your tanks.

Also, the temperature in your snake room room swings way too much for dimmers to be effective. You need thermostats, dimmers only work where the room ambient temps are stable.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Also, the temperature in your snake room room swings way too much for dimmers to be effective. You need thermostats, dimmers only work where the room ambient temps are stable.

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Gah okay ^^

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Okay so this is what my temps look like as of yesterday

Cleo: Warm-86 Hot Spot-91 Cool-82 Humid-55
Lady: Warm-87 Hot-90 Cool-85
Eden: Warm-85 Hot-90 Cool-86 Humid-60-80
Boots: Warm-86 Hot-87 Cool-83 Humid-45

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Those window treatment films work wonders. I'm in NC, so not dealing with anything as extreme as you are, but it still gets dangerously hot during the summer and dangerously cold in the winter. They keep my reptile room at whatever temp my apartment is and I use a small oil-filled space heater to keep ambient temps around 80.

That seems dangerous, given that we have not hit high temps for the season yet. I second window treatments, or heck, foil those windows. But I still stick with the idea that living somewhere else entirely is the best idea in the ridiculous situation.

Go to you local hardware store and get some rigid insulation, cut it to the size of the window opening and tack it up in there, once you get the room temps stable you can start to stabilize your enclosures. For your bulbs look at halogen outdoor floods PAR30 or 38 at your hardware store as well. I have found that using those round "reptile bulbs" you end up having to buy a higher wattage, at a higher prices and they aren't as effecient, they don't spread a beam well. For example for my skinks I was using 100W "reptile bulbs" I am now using 39W floods and getting better temps. That has been the same across the board. I can get a 100+ degree hot spot for my beardie with a 50W flood.

For what it's worth I use 40 watt zoo med red night bulbs on my 20g long tanks (30 x 12x 12). And it keeps my tempatures right where I like them. I also have custom inserts covering almost two thirds of the tank. What I don't understand, and if I've been following your posts correctly. Is you are living in an environment which you have little to no control over, and lack the financial resources to provide for your animals properly. Sorry, I'm not trying to be rude. And I know this has been pointed out before. The only reason I posted, was to acknowledge that bulbs work just as well as any other source when used properly. Good luck.

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Originally Posted by Sonny1318

For what it's worth I use 40 watt zoo med red night bulbs on my 20g long tanks (30 x 12x 12). And it keeps my tempatures right where I like them. I also have custom inserts covering almost two thirds of the tank. What I don't understand, and if I've been following your posts correctly. Is you are living in an environment which you have little to no control over, and lack the financial resources to provide for your animals properly. Sorry, I'm not trying to be rude. And I know this has been pointed out before. The only reason I posted, was to acknowledge that bulbs work just as well as any other source when used properly. Good luck.

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No its not rude. I have no control of environment. I AM financially capable, however :)

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Originally Posted by SCWood

I have mats but they aren't plugged in due to the absence of a t-stat. I need time to get the money.

Thanks! A lot of people said a dimmer will work as a good temporary so I may try that. I also live in Fla. so I could always turn it off for a little while.

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I sorry if I offended you. But "I need time to get the money" does not scream financial independence any more then living in someone else's home. ;)

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Originally Posted by Sonny1318

I sorry if I offended you. But "I need time to get the money" does not scream financial independence any more then living in someone else's home. ;)

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I pay rent, put gas in my car, everybody is fed and temps are in range. We have bills to pay too ;) honestly, I didn't get one yet because I didn't know which to get and it's too hot to run their mats anyway!

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Back to the topic at hand have you been able to get your ambients under control yet?

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Originally Posted by jclaiborne

Back to the topic at hand have you been able to get your ambients under control yet?

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So far fans do the trick ^^

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We're also considering the window treatments but for now we will have to cover them

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At what temp would you say it's too hot/too cold?

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Originally Posted by SCWood

At what temp would you say it's too hot/too cold?

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For ambient temperature, I'd say anything over 86F is too hot and below 76 is too cold. These aren't absolutes, but that's what I'd be comfortable with my BPs.

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Originally Posted by Mr. Misha

For ambient temperature, I'd say anything over 86F is too hot and below 76 is too cold. These aren't absolutes, but that's what I'd be comfortable with my BPs.

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The only reason I ask is because I'm getting screamed at for moving the babies inside because the hottest tank was at 98 with NO heating elements on and the lowest was 93. Now inside in totes with cool paper towels and misted to cool off

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Originally Posted by SCWood

The only reason I ask is because I'm getting screamed at for moving the babies inside because the hottest tank was at 98 with NO heating elements on and the lowest was 93. Now inside in totes with cool paper towels and misted to cool off

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Go re-read my post #15. I predicted this a month ago and it's only June, July will be worse.

Honestly if you can't keep the ambient temps for these critters under 86*F - and by your own admission you have no control over their environment - then you either need to rehome them, or rehome yourselves and take them with you.

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Originally Posted by SCWood

The only reason I ask is because I'm getting screamed at for moving the babies inside because the hottest tank was at 98 with NO heating elements on and the lowest was 93. Now inside in totes with cool paper towels and misted to cool off

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I am getting confused. You said you had them in a room with windows, now you are saying you brought them inside. Were they on a screened in patio or something? When I think of a room I tend to think inside the house, insulated walls etc. You need to get it under control soon, now if that means better insulated enclosures, with smaller heat sources and fans, or moving them "inside" then it has to get done pretty soon.

**I just went back and looked at the pictures, is sun beating down directly on those glass tanks?

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Originally Posted by jclaiborne

I am getting confused. You said you had them in a room with windows, now you are saying you brought them inside. Were they on a screened in patio or something? When I think of a room I tend to think inside the house, insulated walls etc. You need to get it under control soon, now if that means better insulated enclosures, with smaller heat sources and fans, or moving them "inside" then it has to get done pretty soon.

**I just went back and looked at the pictures, is sun beating down directly on those glass tanks?

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Sun is not direct. It's a Florida room. I'm working on the relocating thing but it's a process 😧

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Originally Posted by SCWood

Sun is not direct. It's a Florida room. I'm working on the relocating thing but it's a process ��

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Well being that I don't live in Florida saying its a "Florida Room" means nothing to me, which is why I asked. So how about you give a legitimate answer. To be completly honest with you at this point you have 3 pages of advice, none of which you have actually taken other than fans. I don't know what else you want people to say at this point, because you are just coming up with a justification for everything. People will only take the time to respond to and try to help you for so long when what they say falls on deaf ears.

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Originally Posted by jclaiborne

Well being that I don't live in Florida saying its a "Florida Room" means nothing to me, which is why I asked. So how about you give a legitimate answer. To be completly honest with you at this point you have 3 pages of advice, none of which you have actually taken other than fans. I don't know what else you want people to say at this point, because you are just coming up with a justification for everything. People will only take the time to respond to and try to help you for so long when what they say falls on deaf ears.

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I would love to move my animals...even better I'd like to move out.. unfortunately it's not an option right now. We have a room freeing up soon and I'm going to insist to Jen we move them in. She will hate it bit perhaps she'll listen

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Originally Posted by SCWood

I would love to move my animals...even better I'd like to move out.. unfortunately it's not an option right now. We have a room freeing up soon and I'm going to insist to Jen we move them in. She will hate it bit perhaps she'll listen

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You still really haven't answered anything that I have asked which again is why I will point to my last statement of advice falling on deaf ears. What happens if "demanding" doesn't work, there have been plenty of work arounds given to you in order to make said "Florida Room" work for you, yes it involves spending money, yes it involves time, but you have pointed out that you do in fact have money. Bottom line is at this point if you are not willing to spend the money required to care for the animals and devote the time to them and their well being, then you should not have purchased them to begin with.

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Originally Posted by jclaiborne

You still really haven't answered anything that I have asked which again is why I will point to my last statement of advice falling on deaf ears. What happens if "demanding" doesn't work, there have been plenty of work arounds given to you in order to make said "Florida Room" work for you, yes it involves spending money, yes it involves time, but you have pointed out that you do in fact have money. Bottom line is at this point if you are not willing to spend the money required to care for the animals and devote the time to them and their well being, then you should not have purchased them to begin with.

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I kind of didn't. When I moved in, they were pushed on me. Only one is legitamitely mine. We are keeping shades down until we can get treatment and if it exceeds 90 they come in

So I take it u are home all day to monitor your temps then right?

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Originally Posted by frostysBP

So I take it u are home all day to monitor your temps then right?

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Well, usually when I'm not here, Paul is and he will watch it for me. Plus my fiancee usually gets home right when I leave for work and she's a bit better at it. Is $200 enough for window treatment? I have extra from my tax return since my car didn't cost as much as I thought.

This Florida room I take it is a non insulated room? If it is not insulated. It going to have to do that or you will never be able to hold consitant temp. What are u going to do when it gets below 60 or colder come the cooler months

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Originally Posted by frostysBP

This Florida room I take it is a non insulated room? If it is not insulated. It going to have to do that or you will never be able to hold consitant temp. What are u going to do when it gets below 60 or colder come the cooler months

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Cooler months are easier. We have heat mats and lamps. We will have a thermostat by then (no heat elements are currently running) and we also have a space heater if that isn't enough. Someone mentioned insulation earlier and that's where I get confused. I'm going to sound stupid, but isn't that to hold heat in and not the cold?

Hold heat and cold. Ur refrigerator and freezer are full of insulation hence why they stay cold!!!!!! Insulate the room and run a a/c to keepyour temps in the right range. Pretty self explanatory I would think. (Hand in face)

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Originally Posted by frostysBP

Hold heat and cold. Ur refrigerator and freezer are full of insulation hence why they stay cold!!!!!! Insulate the room and run a a/c to keepyour temps in the right range. Pretty self explanatory I would think. (Hand in face)

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Sorry I don't know much about it but that makes total sense. I'm gonna get a 'window shaker' :D that will help a lot