Massive temperature spike in enclosure

Just came home and noticed my boa drooping her head out the side of her half log like she was dead so I immediately opened the cage to see if she would react and as soon as I reached in I could feel the heat inside the cage. As of right now she is alive.

A few days ago I moved my RHP probe to the middle of the cool side, closer to the warm, partially touching the ground and set the temp for 73* as suggested on here. All was good for the first few days, I checked multiple times everyday and it was holding ambient as well as floor temp on both cool and hot side just fine.

Then today when I came home she was like I mentioned above and her ambient temp was reading 84.3, floor temps between 99* and 114* directly under the RHP.

She was about 1/3 to 1/2 way under the RHP and was curled up inside a half log which kept her out of direct heat but I have never seen her drooping her head like that before and Im extremely worried I might have hurt her.

The RHP is unplugged right now and I'm moving the probe back to the hot side but what should I do for her? I don't know how long it has been that hot but how damaging can that high of heat be to a boa? I love my little boa, she's the sweetest little angel and I'm absolutely devastated I hurt her

Edit: the inside of her hide where she is is at 88.9* and she lifts her head and flicks her tongue but has yet to move

Sounds like brain damage. I hope not though! Do you have the RHP on a thermostat? How else did it spike? I don't understand how anyone can run a heater without a very carefully setup thermostat.

Im running a herpstat 2, hence why I have a probe and was able to set the temp. The only thing I can think of is that the cage is near a window and temps outside have dropped to -43 celsius. The temp in the cage was holding perfectly fine up until tonight

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Godzilla78

Sounds like brain damage. I hope not though! Do you have the RHP on a thermostat? How else did it spike? I don't understand how anyone can run a heater without a very carefully setup thermostat.

---

A few years ago, I got my first uth and didn't know that thermostats were necessary. Heck, I didn't even know they existed and figured the mat wouldn't get hot enough to do damage. Luckily it just cracked the bottom of the tank and didn't hurt my snake

Ran through my settings again as i reconnected the RHP and discovered it was a complete screw up on my part. I set up a second enclosure today and blindly assumed that the left plug in would be output #1 ( we read from left to right, I should have checked) and set the temperature to 85* on the wrong one so my RHP was trying to bring the ambient temperature on the other side of the cage all the way up to 85*

Is there anything to do for her? I assume nothing can fix neurological damage but can she still survive as a happy, healthy snake as long as its not too severe, and how can I tell how bad it is?

I suggest a visit to a veterinarian

I will look around for a good reptile vet tomorrow

You shouldn't let the probe touch the ground. If you're going to dangle it having it at least a few inches off the ground is best.

I have mine glued into a cable strap and the strap glued to the rim of the rhp. It has worked great for years. The probe doesn't touch the rhp hearing element but it's in the direct path of the outer edge. Setting it up like this eliminates the snakes ability to move it, lay on it, soak it, etc.

I see you figured out what you did. As stated above dont let your probe touch anything and make sure it cant fall down more into the enclose. One good size piss that RHP will be running wide open again trying to heat a wet probe laying in soaked substrate.
Idk if a Vet will do anything for you at this point. Tomorrow take him out and see how he is. It won't be hard to tell if he's ok or not i wouldn't think

Thanks for the info guys, I will pull her out and see tomorrow morning when I get home.

I usually have the probe dangling so it just barely touches the ground, as thats where the snake usually is but I will move it up a little ways and properly secure it so that it can't move :gj:

What seems to work best for you guys using RHPs, probe on the hot side or probe on the cool side?

Hope all is well for your little boa, fingers crossed 🤞


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

I tried many things but found my method of securing the probe to the rhp rim to work best. It's clean, simple, and effective.

http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/...ps52fe2e62.jpg

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by KMG

I tried many things but found my method of securing the probe to the rhp rim to work best. It's clean, simple, and effective.

---

What are you setting the t-stat to and what temperatures are you achieving?

I will have to play around to get it to work for my setup of course but I'm curious how accurate or high / low it makes the temps having the probe against the panel.

That does look much better than random hanging wires though

How was your little boa this morning Forgotten? Hope all was well with him


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Forgotten

Thanks for the info guys, I will pull her out and see tomorrow morning when I get home.

I usually have the probe dangling so it just barely touches the ground, as thats where the snake usually is but I will move it up a little ways and properly secure it so that it can't move :gj:

What seems to work best for you guys using RHPs, probe on the hot side or probe on the cool side?

---

Probe on Hotside for me 1/2 way between the RHP & floor..
You mentioned having it low as possible because thats where the snake is, well dont forget thats not how Radiant heat works so having it directly under the RHP or having it 1/2 way between panel and floor will give you the same results. The probe is going to draw in the temp that other objects do in your enclosure (including the snake) and that is what gives off heat to get you your air temps.. So keep that RHP probe away from wetness or from being hindered in anyway so that it cant get a correct reading and you'll be good.
If you have the correct size RHP for the size enclosure & a good Tstat then your enclosure Hot Spot will eventually match what you have your Tstat set to (within a couple degrees as no thermometer is the same)
My Tstat is on 91.. My thermometer probe says 87.6 at night when house is 60 and 90.7 during the day when house is 68-70. Laser spot checks are from 88-91 ontop of Hot Hide and substrate.

All appears to be well at the moment, still doesn't want to come out and then never wants to go back in her enclosure.

I did however notice some stargazing? stretching way up and then leaning back slightly, I've never seen her do it before and it didn't seem too serious but I've also never held her up like that to take a photo and she may have just been staring at the light :oops: and of course she wouldn't hold still ( except when she stopped to stare and it was usually less than 10 seconds)
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ps6yu50cio.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...psfwkejzho.jpg

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CALM Pythons

Probe on Hotside for me 1/2 way between the RHP & floor..
You mentioned having it low as possible because thats where the snake is, well dont forget thats not how Radiant heat works so having it directly under the RHP or having it 1/2 way between panel and floor will give you the same results. The probe is going to draw in the temp that other objects do in your enclosure (including the snake) and that is what gives off heat to get you your air temps.. So keep that RHP probe away from wetness or from being hindered in anyway so that it cant get a correct reading and you'll be good.
If you have the correct size RHP for the size enclosure & a good Tstat then your enclosure Hot Spot will eventually match what you have your Tstat set to (within a couple degrees as no thermometer is the same)
My Tstat is on 91.. My thermometer probe says 87.6 at night when house is 60 and 90.7 during the day when house is 68-70. Laser spot checks are from 88-91 ontop of Hot Hide and substrate.

---

I didn't know that about RHPs actually, I will look into them a bit more. right now my probe is sitting underneath the panel about 2" away

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Forgotten

I didn't know that about RHPs actually, I will look into them a bit more. right now my probe is sitting underneath the panel about 2" away

---

Thats perfect.. The only difference now is how long it will take the further objects under your RHP to get as warm as your RHP tstat probe..the probes obviously closer to the RHP but eventually everything under it will regulate and as a result give the cool side temps. [emoji1360]

So glad she is ok, they sometimes move around when you hold them weird to catch there balance , mine never want to go back
In either and never look at you when you want to take a good picture,lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Like CALM, we put the probe about halfway between the panel and the floor; for our 3 ft. tall AP cages with basking shelves we treat the shelf as the floor for probe placement.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Forgotten

What are you setting the t-stat to and what temperatures are you achieving?

I will have to play around to get it to work for my setup of course but I'm curious how accurate or high / low it makes the temps having the probe against the panel.

That does look much better than random hanging wires though

---

Two are for my GTP and ETB in 24 inch tall cases. I start with the top perch at 85 and don't worry about below as that's my hotspot. My cage floor is around 78 to 81 under the rhp.

My others are in 4ft x 2ft x 15 inch cages. I only use them on really cold days as they were just not working well for me in such a big cage, not to provide hotspot and ambient temps.

IMHO a rhp is best in a arboreal setup. Using it any other setup the cage should be no more than 15 inch tall.