Temp help

I have a 75 watt heat bulb on and I have tin foil covering the tops of the mesh cover, but the cool side temp is still at 75 degrees. How do I make it warmer?

What size terrarium do you have? Is that your only heat source? Have you insulated the sides of the terrarium?

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Originally Posted by SquirmyPug

What size terrarium do you have? Is that your only heat source? Have you insulated the sides of the terrarium?

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It's a 20gal. That is my only heat source, mainly because I'm unable to get another and that's my preference. I have the walls covered, but I don't know how I can cover the corners

What temp is the hot spot with the bulb you're using? Ambient temp on the hot side? Sounds like you might need an UTH for the hot side/ hot spot and use the bulb for the ambient temp.

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Originally Posted by Traceur

It's a 20gal. That is my only heat source, mainly because I'm unable to get another and that's my preference. I have the walls covered, but I don't know how I can cover the corners

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Why are you unable to get another?
If your pet requires an additional heat source it's your responsibility to provide another.

Bubble wrap wrapped and taped around the sides works well. Set the bottom of the tank on a piece of insulation foam, and tape (outside of cage - no tape inside of enclosure) foam cut for the light to the top. You will of course, need some air flow, and space around the light for fire safety, but not a lot. You can always keep adding insulating layers, or go to a 100w bulb (IMO, a CHE would be better, so the snake isn't under light 22/7). At some point, the tank will tank might get too hot (frankly, I don't trust bulbs, because of the fire hazard, but if you won't go with t-stats and heat mats, you have limited options.

(can't edit, now) 24/7.
Also, keep a close eye on temps, and the proper devices to measure that. I would include a humid hide with that light bulb.
If you are going to go this way, do at least read the stickies on care, so you know exactly what to watch out for.

I don’t know if you do have a regulator/controler on the bulb you are using right now, however if you don’t have one you definitely need one!! If your temps are too cold maybe making the room warmer helps but i would get another heat source &regulater/controller hope this helps :)

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Originally Posted by craigafrechette

Why are you unable to get another?
If your pet requires an additional heat source it's your responsibility to provide another.

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It's really easy to blow a circuit in the room he's in. I can't have him anywhere else because it's way too cold and open for the terrarium. But if I start plugging in things with all these watts, the power will literally go out in his room. So I have to work with what I have. Hence why I'm doing what I can to fulfill his needs with having a bulb

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Originally Posted by Traceur

It's really easy to blow a circuit in the room he's in. I can't have him anywhere else because it's way too cold and open for the terrarium. But if I start plugging in things with all these watts, the power will literally go out in his room. So I have to work with what I have. Hence why I'm doing what I can to fulfill his needs with having a bulb

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Can you unplug something else? It's not fair to keep a pet if you can't keep it properly.
Also a great reason to have equipment up and running and dialed in before bringing an animal home.

I own an old house with crappy electrical as well, so I get it... yet I make it work with 4 snakes in my snake room.

Could you compromise with your set up? For example, if you traded from what you have (not sure if he's in a tank or tub...) to a flatter tub, you could use 2 heat mats on a thermostat to maybe achieve more sustainable heat. Also, even the larger-sized under tank heaters seem to list a 24 watt use out of the box, and you would have to use a thermostat to regulate them which would mean less than 24 watt consumption. The tub would hold your ambient better even before insulating measures and if you had over-sized regulated heat pads covering the majority of the floor of the tub you can get pretty exact with the temps you want throughout your enclosure and still come up using less than the 75 watt bulb that's not quite cutting it.

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Originally Posted by craigafrechette

Can you unplug something else? It's not fair to keep a pet if you can't keep it properly.
Also a great reason to have equipment up and running and dialed in before bringing an animal home.

I own an old house with crappy electrical as well, so I get it... yet I make it work with 4 snakes in my snake room.

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Mate, I know, I'm trying. But I live in the city, so the electricity limit is pretty limited- and if ball pythons do fine with just heat lamps, as I've seen many times before, that's what I'm working with. I already fixed the cool side temperature. And the only things I do have plugged in is his lamp and Christmas lights for probably around 7-10 hours.
Ive spent over 4 pay checks on him already for everything I needed to fix and I hardly had even enough money to spend on my own self. I know I seem like a bad owner, but jesus, I'm doing what I bloody can. But everything seems fixed now, ever since I got his moss for his humidity.

And listen, I'm sorry it seems like I went off. I'm just dealing with a lot right now and I'm recovering from a recent loss. I know you're trying to help and explain, but I apologize if I sound like a jerk right now

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Originally Posted by Traceur

Mate, I know, I'm trying. But I live in the city, so the electricity limit is pretty limited- and if ball pythons do fine with just heat lamps, as I've seen many times before, that's what I'm working with. I already fixed the cool side temperature. And the only things I do have plugged in is his lamp and Christmas lights for probably around 7-10 hours.
Ive spent over 4 pay checks on him already for everything I needed to fix and I hardly had even enough money to spend on my own self. I know I seem like a bad owner, but jesus, I'm doing what I bloody can. But everything seems fixed now, ever since I got his moss for his humidity.

And listen, I'm sorry it seems like I went off. I'm just dealing with a lot right now and I'm recovering from a recent loss. I know you're trying to help and explain, but I apologize if I sound like a jerk right now

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No worries. I get it. I live on a tight budget too.

And I'm just trying to help, like you said. But if it were me, my snake would come before Xmas lights. A sick snake will put a serious dent in your budget.

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Originally Posted by craigafrechette

No worries. I get it. I live on a tight budget too.

And I'm just trying to help, like you said. But if it were me, my snake would come before Xmas lights. A sick snake will put a serious dent in your budget.

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The lights aren't for me, they are for him. I know they rely on day/night schedules and since I don't have the option to get him those day/night cycle lamps, I'm using outer sources for his light. Those Christmas lights are his day time light and I have battery controlled dim lights that barely give off any light as his night lights. It seems stupid I know, but he seems to somewhat go along with it.

Hes not really active as much as he used to be. He was always active and trying to escape, but I covered up his walls and got him another identical hide and now I don't really see him often.

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Originally Posted by Traceur

It's really easy to blow a circuit in the room he's in. I can't have him anywhere else because it's way too cold and open for the terrarium. But if I start plugging in things with all these watts, the power will literally go out in his room. So I have to work with what I have. Hence why I'm doing what I can to fulfill his needs with having a bulb

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Not related to helping with the BP but... you shouldn't be able to trip a breaker that easy. Minimum should be 10 amp breakers but usually there's 15 amp breakers. If there's something causing the breaker to trip it could be dangerous and start a fire. Might be worth testing things or having an electrician check things out.

Just trying to make sure you're safe so don't take this the wrong way. Hope you get the temps set up correctly. Be careful/ safe with the electrical side of things.

Just curious here, not throwing stones, but how dark is the room during the day? I don’t see the need for the Christmas lights if your getting daylight anyways. Other than an indication of day and night they don’t need much else. I just think having a light during the day gets played on a little to heavily. My snakes have led lights but I only use them when their tank is dark usually in the evening. I may need to see in the tank at those times hence the lights. Otherwise the daylight in the room is sufficient.
My thought is the heat would be my primary concern and then the light if that indeed is an issue. I realize your giving your all and I don’t want to squash your spirits but maybe the lights are not as important here as the temperatures. My snakes generally hide all day when it’s light out so just a thought.
BP’s get the vitamins they need from prey other than sunlight like other snakes that do require specific lights. Breeders keep them in tubs that most likely only get a glimpse of light through a crack on top of their bin.

I keep mine in my room which is downstairs and it gets pretty chilly as I'm in Utah. I had to use a CHE, and a UTH. I had a heat lamp that I got from the previous owner but it didn't put out quite enough heat. I've also started to run a small space heater at night to bump it up the last few needed degrees now that night temps are so cold. For light I just open the blinds while I'm at work for the day. Ambient light from a window should be plenty. Your breaker shouldn't be tripping that easily though. You may have to move the tank or run an extension cord from a plug on a different circuit. Not ideal but will work. I agree with Jake though about getting the temps straightened out first. As said by the others you'll definitely want to make sure all heat sources are regulated. I left my UTH plugged in straight to the wall to see how hot it would get out of curiosity. It was at 107 degrees and rising when I shut it off.

An easy way to calculate how many amps your using is 1 amp for every 100 Watts. You most likely have a 15 amp circuit so you could literally plug 15 100 watt lightbulbs in and still be good. Its really .833333 amps for every 100 watts but if you use the 1 to 100 you can't go wrong.

I agree with Jakethesnake. My snakes don't have lights, only natural light from a window. Now, if you have them in a dark room with no window then that's another story. Good luck, dialing in this things are a pain but you'll get the hang of it. :gj:

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Originally Posted by Jakethesnake69

Just curious here, not throwing stones, but how dark is the room during the day? I don’t see the need for the Christmas lights if your getting daylight anyways. Other than an indication of day and night they don’t need much else. I just think having a light during the day gets played on a little to heavily. My snakes have led lights but I only use them when their tank is dark usually in the evening. I may need to see in the tank at those times hence the lights. Otherwise the daylight in the room is sufficient.
My thought is the heat would be my primary concern and then the light if that indeed is an issue. I realize your giving your all and I don’t want to squash your spirits but maybe the lights are not as important here as the temperatures. My snakes generally hide all day when it’s light out so just a thought.
BP’s get the vitamins they need from prey other than sunlight like other snakes that do require specific lights. Breeders keep them in tubs that most likely only get a glimpse of light through a crack on top of their bin.

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Its basically my room. So it's always dark. If you woke up, you probably wouldn't know if it was night or evening unless you checked the time. Sunlight never really reaches my room- before I got him, I had my room decorated with a lantern and Christmas lights (it looked like a tumblr room), but I rearranged it so it didn't require a lot of electricity- so it was best on my bill and the wattage limit in my room. So he has a strand setup near his terrarium, and of course he has his battery controlled lights. The lighting in my room basically relies on his cycle if anything