temps not high enough!

Hi there. I'm new here and just acquired my first ball yesterday and I'm trying to get his new home set up. My question is, I cannot seem to get the temps quite high enough on the cool end of the tank. I have a 20g long critter cage, and 3 under tank heaters designed for 20g tanks. Temp on the cool side is right above 70. Temp on warm side (and right under basking lamp) is just under 90. What am I doing wrong here? For bedding, I've got reptile carpet and then aspen on top of that. Also, I have covered the screen top with foil and taped it down. Humidity is around 70%.

We keep our house on the very cool side, so would I be better off with a ceramic heat emitter or something? These uth's just don't seem to be doing the job very well. And I've tried a rheostat and it made no difference.

I would love any input from you experienced keepers! I want my little serpent to be happy!

Space heater. The oil-filled electric space heaters available at any walmart or target work wonders.

You know, a few minutes after I posted this thread, it dawned on me to look at the thermostat and see what the temp was in that end of the house. It was 65. :eek: Yes I know, we don't like spending $$ on heat unless we really need it, lol! Anyway, I turned it up to 70 and we'll see how that goes.

Thanks for your quick reply.

it's cheaper to put a space heater or even a heating pad (on top of the enclosure) to increase your temps in one enclosure rather than increasing the heat in an entire house...

that said... increasing it to 70 isn't going to get your ambient temps high enough. :/

I'd just crank a space heater in the room next to the cage. I've got a boa downstairs in my living room in a display setup....it gets cold down there, so I run a space heater next to it through the winter.

Actually, it did work perfectly. The temp on the cool side is now 85 and on the warm side, in the basking light, it's over 100 now, so I'm having to move the lamp back - don't wanna cook my little guy! Temperature on that end of the house is now 72. (We have 3 different heating/ac zones in our home so increasing the temp in that area of the house does not affect the entire house.)

Can't believe I didn't think of that sooner, but thanks so much for the input, guys!

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Originally Posted by ChristyR

Actually, it did work perfectly. The temp on the cool side is now 85 and on the warm side, in the basking light, it's over 100 now, so I'm having to move the lamp back - don't wanna cook my little guy! Temperature on that end of the house is now 72. (We have 3 different heating/ac zones in our home so increasing the temp in that area of the house does not affect the entire house.)

Can't believe I didn't think of that sooner, but thanks so much for the input, guys!

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get that cool side down a tad more and definitely get the hot side down! remember you want it to be between 90-94 inside the hide, not on top or on the sides of it

Reptile carpet and aspen is too much. One or the other would be just fine. What happens is that your snake will dig under the aspen to the reptile carpet and the temps will be much higher there. I understand that it will be easier to clean, but the best way to do that is to put one layer of newspaper above the glass, put your temp sensor on top of the paper then cover the paper with aspen to less than 1 inch. just my :2cent:

Okay, it's perfect now, I think. 81 on the cool side and 90-95 warm/basking side.

Regarding carpet and aspen, I prefer the look of aspen as opposed to plain carpet...I like the 'natural' look. I've read on numerous different sites that if you use something like aspen, you must use something underneath it to prevent the snake from burrowing under it and laying against the glass, which could possibly result in burns to the snake. So that's why I did it that way.

Thanks again for the input guys! Turning my thermostat up just a bit worked just fine!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChristyR

Okay, it's perfect now, I think. 81 on the cool side and 90-95 warm/basking side.

Regarding carpet and aspen, I prefer the look of aspen as opposed to plain carpet...I like the 'natural' look. I've read on numerous different sites that if you use something like aspen, you must use something underneath it to prevent the snake from burrowing under it and laying against the glass, which could possibly result in burns to the snake. So that's why I did it that way.

Thanks again for the input guys! Turning my thermostat up just a bit worked just fine!!

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The burrowing is part of the reason AS told you to keep the aspen under an inch thick. Not much difference in heat. If the surface is 90* then the glass under a little more is no more than 95*

Ah, I see...okay thanks!

double post

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Originally Posted by ChristyR

I'm so frustrated because it seems like everyone has their own opinions as to how to house these little guys.

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I'm sorry for any frustration that I caused. Here is an explaination of what I meant:

You only need to measure two areas. ACTUALLY, you do not need to constantly measure the temps if your thermostats are correctly calibrated.

There are three areas of Temperature concern that are involved in a snake enclosure. (1) the high end or hot spot (2) the cool end (3) ambient temp.

With a Ball (royal) Python [BP], only two temps are necessary as the ambient temp and the cool end should be the same ~ 80F. The hot end should be ~90F.

The hot end is "usually" created by an Under Tank Heating element (UTH). When this is the case the temperature should be taken on the glass under the hide that is in this area. WHY? Because a BP will usually move any substrate to make the most of the available heat. UNFORTUNATELY, snakes do not have an internal temperature gauge like mammals. Therefore, they can and do often "burn" themselves on a hot element. That is why you should never put a HOT ROCK in a snake's cage. The HIGHEST temperature that the glass above the hot area should be is 94F -- allowing for a moderate amount of substrate this would drop the temp to ~90F at the top of the substrate.

The cool end can be measured as ambient temperature UNLESS there is another UTH controlling the cool side. Usually this is not the case, only in places where the outside temperature is very cold do owners put a second UTH. Most environments use a ceramic heating element from above to heat the entire enclosure thus creating the ambient temp to around ~80F. If a UTH is used then you need to monitor the temp from the substrate above that UTH. If an above CHE is employed then you can measure the temp from a wall about 1 inch above the substrate.

I hope that this clears up what we mean when we ask for your temps: Hot value and cold(ambient) value.

HUMIDITY is a totally different issue. Probably the most difficult to control -- and the reason why most people switch to tubs... (discussed widely on BP.net) I am not an expert on humidity, but I have been successful with a bunch of exotic ways to increase it in glass enclosures. PM me if you are having trouble with your RH [relative humidity].

Oh no, YOU didn't cause me any frustration!! I'm just frustrated in 'general' because I want to be sure and house this guy properly and it seems I've read so many different things!!

Thanks very much for the info and I've got it fixed now!

So here is what I've got;

My cages are home made. Two are 48"Lx24"Wx18"H split in half and one is the same only 12"H, split in three. In the 12"H cage I have 3" Flex watt that runs the lenght of the cage on a dimmer (which will be a thermostat this weekend) with an Accurite probe taped to the bottom on top of the plexiglass over the Flexwatt that stays between 90 and 94 deg depending on the room temp. I have had to sacrifice some ambient temp due to bad sheds related to low humidity. So, my question is, if they have a warm spot and the humidity is right, won't they just stay there? I'm not talking 40 deg on the ambient temp, but mid 70's. I have had to make a choice, and since there is a appropriate warm spot, I feel I need to go with the humidity. The lamps are just too drying, especially in the smaller cage. Its much more manageable in the larger ones, since the lamp is 6 inches higher from the bottom of the cage. I went with the lower hight for the babies so they don't feel like they are in a cavern, and they have good hides at both ends. The lights actually made the humidity gage hit "Lo". I can't keep the room that they are in at 80 deg. I guess this makes me a bad person, but its not like it's 80 on one end and 60 on the other.

Quote:

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There are three areas of Temperature concern that are involved in a snake enclosure. (1) the high end or hot spot (2) the cool end (3) ambient temp.

With a Ball (royal) Python [BP], only two temps are necessary as the ambient temp and the cool end should be the same ~ 80F. The hot end should be ~90F.

The hot end is "usually" created by an Under Tank Heating element (UTH). When this is the case the temperature should be taken on the glass under the hide that is in this area. WHY? Because a BP will usually move any substrate to make the most of the available heat. UNFORTUNATELY, snakes do not have an internal temperature gauge like mammals. Therefore, they can and do often "burn" themselves on a hot element. That is why you should never put a HOT ROCK in a snake's cage. The HIGHEST temperature that the glass above the hot area should be is 94F -- allowing for a moderate amount of substrate this would drop the temp to ~90F at the top of the substrate.

The cool end can be measured as ambient temperature UNLESS there is another UTH controlling the cool side. Usually this is not the case, only in places where the outside temperature is very cold do owners put a second UTH. Most environments use a ceramic heating element from above to heat the entire enclosure thus creating the ambient temp to around ~80F. If a UTH is used then you need to monitor the temp from the substrate above that UTH. If an above CHE is employed then you can measure the temp from a wall about 1 inch above the substrate.

I hope that this clears up what we mean when we ask for your temps: Hot value and cold(ambient) value.

HUMIDITY is a totally different issue. Probably the most difficult to control -- and the reason why most people switch to tubs... (discussed widely on BP.net) I am not an expert on humidity, but I have been successful with a bunch of exotic ways to increase it in glass enclosures. PM me if you are having trouble with your RH [relative humidity].

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