Problem with heating...

I am having a bit of a problem keeping my tank at a consistant temp. since we have off peak heating in our house. It comes on at certain times and goes off at others. The warm side of the tank stays around 82 and the cool side about 72. I have an UTH and a heat lamp, but it isn't keeping it very warm I don't think. I am worried that this may be hard on Mouse. Any suggestions, or is that warm enough?

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Originally Posted by Mouse

I am having a bit of a problem keeping my tank at a consistant temp. since we have off peak heating in our house. It comes on at certain times and goes off at others. The warm side of the tank stays around 82 and the cool side about 72. I have an UTH and a heat lamp, but it isn't keeping it very warm I don't think. I am worried that this may be hard on Mouse. Any suggestions, or is that warm enough?

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Not warm enough ... 82-84 on one side, 92-94 on the other ... temps below 80 and you run the risk of your snake developing upper respiratory system infections.

More/Bigger UTHs, More/Bigger heat lamps, and if you don't have stable room temps, a thermostat will definitely help.

-adam

Aim for warm side 92-94, cool side 82-84 with humidity around 50-60% non-shedding and about 60-70% shedding. If the room is a bit cool perhaps a supplimentary heat source. I know a lot of folks here use a oil filled electric heater that WalMart sells for around $35.00 (good lawd I want a kick back from Wall World LOL). We use something similar to boost up the room our snakes are in during the winter months so we don't have to push the whole house up (saves on our propane bill).

A cool side that is dropping below 75 like that is going to cause you problems and may result in your snake developing a respitory infection or the inability to thermoregulate properly.

~~Jo~~

Edit: geesh didn't see Adam's post so please excuse me seeming to parrot him LOL....I need a nap!

Thanks guys, I will pick up another UTH tomorrow and slap that on, hopefully that helps!

youre probally right about the tempurature, but i had this problem about my tank also. are you reading the tempuratures from the air? I thought my tank was 85F on the warm side, but that was the tempurature of the air, and then I found out it was suppose to be 92F of belly heat, so I got an Acu-Rite thermometer and found out his tempurature was too hot because the UTH was over heating the substrate, and my BP was hanging from the branches

You need a thermostat. 99% of the UTH's on the market will be way to hot if plugged directly into the wall...

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Originally Posted by justcage

You need a thermostat. 99% of the UTH's on the market will be way to hot if plugged directly into the wall...

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Gosh, I wonder if anyone has any sales on t-stats anywhere....hmmmm....:D /tease Matt!

Whats a thermostat:)

Our house stays pretty cool in the winter, so I put all my snakes into one small room and heat that room to 80 degrees with an electric space heater with a built-in thermostat. The warm room combined with heat from the UTHs keep the snakes nice and cozy. On especially cold days, I like to hang out in there myself.

hi guys, thanks for the info. I got a digital thermometer with a probe today and the warm side of my tank with the UTH on it is going from 89-90 degrees (F). I guess I don't need that heat lamp! It was way to hot in there with that on. It was like 101 degrees! Poor guy! Is there anything I can do to get the warm side up just a little without making it go up that much?? Thanks

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Originally Posted by Smynx

Our house stays pretty cool in the winter, so I put all my snakes into one small room and heat that room to 80 degrees with an electric space heater with a built-in thermostat. The warm room combined with heat from the UTHs keep the snakes nice and cozy. On especially cold days, I like to hang out in there myself.

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We wanna do this when we get a bigger place..."snake-ize" a room with snake proof furniture, etc. so they can have a wander about without getting lost, etc., do the room with the right ambient temps...someday, someday. =)

You can use a smaller wattage bulb or use the bulb you already have on a dimmer

do you have a dimmer plugged into your UTH? I checked my UTH and it was 111F, so now I have one of these http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...87/dimmer2.jpg and im messin with it right now to get the temp good

I don't need to dim it any, i need it to be about 3-4 degrees warmer. Don't know how to do that....?

What kind of substrate are you using?

What Matt was saying is that put your lamp on a dimmer so that it doesnt get as hott or like he sugeested a lower wattage bulb :)

I am using aspen.

If you are using aspen you can always decrease the thickness of it. You can also 'fluff' it, to allow better heat exchange. I had some difficutly with aspen myself when I first started out because I had like two inches of the stuff. It's always worth a try. :D

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Originally Posted by cassandra

We wanna do this when we get a bigger place..."snake-ize" a room with snake proof furniture, etc. so they can have a wander about without getting lost, etc., do the room with the right ambient temps...someday, someday. =)

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Good luck with that! My big boa decided the other day when she was out roaming to curl up under a bookshelf on legs that holds my Mali Uro. Well, when curled up she actually lifted up the bookshelf off the floor. She is a beast and goes where she wants.

got it! I added a 1-5 gallon UTH instead of another big one, and now the temp has been at 93.6 since last night! Score! Thanks for all the ideas guys! I appreciate the help! :)