Okay, this is what I got

I'm preparing for a baby Ball Python. I want to set up it's enclosure before getting it though so I went to a few stores today and this is what I have so far. I would like some feedback from you experts, seeing as how this will be my first snake and I want to do things right....

What I got so far:

10 gallon glass tank with secure screen lid (20x10x12)

round water dish (about the length and width of a dollar bill and about 1 inch deep) The reason I got one so small is because I heard a lot of people on here saying that Balls rarely soak, so a large water dish isn't needed. Is the one I got okay? Or too small? And is 1 inch deep alright or should I go out and try to find a deeper one?

Acu-Rite digital thermometer/humidity reader

Repti-Therm under tank heater pad

Zoo-Med Eco Earth Coconut fiber substrate (the ones that come packed like a brick and you need to soak in water before using)

Can you guys give me feedback on everything I got so far? And what else do I need? I'm thinking about getting some sort of branch so it can climb on it if it wants. I also need 2 hides (I know I need one in the cool section and one in the hot section of the tank but do they need to be identical hides?)

Also...since I have an under tank heater, will I need an overhead heating lamp as well?

Depending on your ambient room temps, you may or may not need another heating element. What you do NEED is something to regulate that heater. A thermostat is your best best. A lamp dimmer can be used, but be sure need to exceed the max wattage. A dimmer is a lot harder to use because you have to put in time to tweak it and no matter what, that heat element will always get the same amount of power. A thermostat, while more expensive, is the easiest and safest way to go.

What do you mean when you say I need a thermostat to regulate the heater pad I got? I thought you can just plug the heater pad in then just unplug it whenever you need to?

I know the warm side of the tank should be 90 - 94 degrees and the cool side should be 80 - 84 degrees...what about at night though? Should these temperatures stay the same or should they cool down a bit?

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Originally Posted by BigDan35

What do you mean when you say I need a thermostat to regulate the heater pad I got? I thought you can just plug the heater pad in then just unplug it whenever you need to?

I know the warm side of the tank should be 90 - 94 degrees and the cool side should be 80 - 84 degrees...what about at night though? Should these temperatures stay the same or should they cool down a bit?

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They should stay the same 24/7 unless you're breeding. As for unplugging it when it gets hot, you're gonna have to be sitting in front of the tank all day if you want to keep the temp steady. They get very hot very quickly and cool down quickly as well. I would rather invest in a heap rheostat like the one here. I use one and have had no problems. :) The hides also need to be identical(I use these ,they are tighter fitting than shown in the pic); just make sure they aren't the little half log hides, they aren't very secure. Branches are optional, but not necessary. And no, if your temps are fine with the UTH, a lamp is not necessary.

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Originally Posted by Sausage

They should stay the same 24/7 unless you're breeding. As for unplugging it when it gets hot, you're gonna have to be sitting in front of the tank all day if you want to keep the temp steady. They get very hot very quickly and cool down quickly as well. I would rather invest in a heap rheostat like the one here. I use one and have had no problems. :) The hides also need to be identical(I use these ,they are tighter fitting than shown in the pic); just make sure they aren't the little half log hides, they aren't very secure. Branches are optional, but not necessary. And no, if your temps are fine with the UTH, a lamp is not necessary.

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I saw one of those at the store I was at but didn't look at it much. So you're saying that the under tank heater will heat up the "hot" side of the tank to more than the recommended 90-94 degrees and that is why I need a thermostat so when it reaches that temperature it'll stay the same temperature instead of continuing to get hotter and hotter? Or can the thermostat completely replace the under tank heater? Sorry, I'm a little confused...this is my first reptile ever.

Also, how do I regulate the "cool" side of the tank? I understand I can use a heater to "heat up" the hot side but what do I use to ensure that the cool side really is between 80 and 84 degrees

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Originally Posted by BigDan35

I saw one of those at the store I was at but didn't look at it much. So you're saying that the under tank heater will heat up the "hot" side of the tank to more than the recommended 90-94 degrees and that is why I need a thermostat so when it reaches that temperature it'll stay the same temperature instead of continuing to get hotter and hotter? Or can the thermostat completely replace the under tank heater? Sorry, I'm a little confused...this is my first reptile ever.
Also, how do I regulate the "cool" side of the tank? I understand I can use a heater to "heat up" the hot side but what do I use to ensure that the cool side really is between 80 and 84 degrees

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The heating pad plugs into the rheostat, which plugs into the wall. It has something similar to a dimmer switch on it, which controls your temps. It takes a little bit to adjust the knob to get the correct temp, but once you get it right, you[hopefully] won't have to mess with it anymore.

As for the cool side/hot side measuring it works like this: You put in/stick on(whichever you want) the digital thermometer over the cool side of the cage's substrate. You then run the little wire probe across the tank onto the warm side(I put it under the substrate directly onto the heating pad.) You read it like this.

I hope that clears some things up. :)

Those heaters can/will get over 100 degrees unregulated. Definitely not a good idea to leave it running full blast 24/7. If you decide to go with some sort of dimmer, go with a normal lamp dimmer from Home Depot. They are only like $10 as compared to the zoo-med dimmer which is $25

What are the ambient temps in the room? When I had my tanks in my room, it was around 75 degrees and the heat pad on the hot side was far enough over to get my cool side to 80. If your room is too cold, a second heat source with another thermostat or dimmer may be needed.

Alright, then I will get a thermostat as well.

Do you guys think the water dish I got is big enough? It's the length and width of a dollar bill and 1 inch deep?

Also...I bought the Acu-Rite digital thermostat/humidity reader. It only has one probe though. So how exactly do I set it up in the tank to read both the warm and cool side? Where am I supposed to put the probe to read both these temps?

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Originally Posted by BigDan35

Alright, then I will get a thermostat as well.

Do you guys think the water dish I got is big enough? It's the length and width of a dollar bill and 1 inch deep?

Also...I bought the Acu-Rite digital thermostat/humidity reader. It only has one probe though. So how exactly do I set it up in the tank to read both the warm and cool side? Where am I supposed to put the probe to read both these temps?

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Yep, that water bowl sounds fine. Let me get my camera and I'll do a quick photo walkthru for placing the probe and therm.

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Originally Posted by Sausage

Yep, that water bowl sounds fine. Let me get my camera and I'll do a quick photo walkthru for placing the probe and therm.

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Thank you.

Ok! Here's a quick photo walkthrough.

Step 1: Take anything out of the cage except the substrate. I pushed the aspen back a little to make placing the probe easier.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...tzen/step1.jpg

Step 2: I put a suction cup in the back of the thermometer so it would stick. Place it over the cool side of the tank. It reads the ambient room temp. w/o a probe. This temp will say "in" on the thermometer. It should be between 80-85.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...tzen/step2.jpg


Step 3:Stretch the probe over to the warm side. I put mine directly onto the floor of the cage where the heater is. You can cover the wire with substrate now.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...tzen/step3.jpg

Step 4: Put all the stuff back in the tank. You then will have a very happy BP!

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...tzen/step4.jpg

Thank you for the help...that's what I will do. Instead of sticking the thermometer to the inside of the tank with a suction cup (I don't have one) would it still be alright to just use the little stand on the back of the thermometer and put it on the table right next to the cool side of the tank? Or would that not be a true reading of the "cool" side because it's not actually IN the tank?

And is it a good idea to get a fake plant or two for the tank?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BigDan35

Thank you for the help...that's what I will do. Instead of sticking the thermometer to the inside of the tank with a suction cup (I don't have one) would it still be alright to just use the little stand on the back of the thermometer and put it on the table right next to the cool side of the tank? Or would that not be a true reading of the "cool" side because it's not actually IN the tank?

And is it a good idea to get a fake plant or two for the tank?

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I use little pieces of sticky- backed velcro to stick thermometers and whatnot in my tank. As for the plant? It really depends on whether you want to clean it. I have a plastic bush in my tank, and my BP uses it as a toilet 95% of the time.

Okay, I hope I'm not annoying anyone here, but I've got some questions. I just want everything to be just right for when I get the snake so here it goes:

As far as placing the probe under the substrate right up against the glass on the hot side...wouldn't that be an inaccurate reading? Because when you think about it, the real temperature is what you feel on top of all that substrate, not underneath right up against the glass, so wouldn't it be more accurate to place the probe on top of the substrate? But then I'm sure that becomes an issure because it doesn't seem like a good idea to just have the probe sitting there in the open for the snake to crawl all over.

I attached my under tank heater to the bottom of the 10 gallon glass tank. And I wanted to do a test so I put the digital thermometer inside the tank on the cool side and placed the probe on the hot side (this was done in an empty tank...no substrate, water dishes or anything, just the under tank heater on the bottom)....I got a reading on the cool side of 76 - 77 degrees and humidity was about 46%. On the hot side I just wanted to see exactly how hot the UTH could get so I let it heat up for awhile and it leveled out at around 104 degrees.

First question....I know the cool side should be no lower than 80 degrees...mine was 76-77 degrees (room temperature) how do you suggest I get another 4 or 5 degrees to the cool side to make it right at the temp it should be? Also...I know the hot side should be about 92 degrees...I heated it up to 104 just to test out the heater, but when I held my hand even 1/2 inch right over the bottom of the empty tank right above the heater pad, I could barely feel any heat at all. So I find it hard to believe that with 1 or 2 inches of substrate filling the bottom of the tank...over the heater pad that the actual temperature would be anything close to 90 degrees. Am I missing something here or what?

How many inches of bedding should fill the bottom of the 10 gallon glass tank? I'm using coconut husk substrate

And I'm thinking about getting those light brown ceramic garden plates/pots as my hides because in a 10 gallon tank I don't have a whole lot of room to get real big hides. My question is...how big should the pots be? I'm going to just turn them over and cut a hole in the side but how wide and tall should the pots be for a ball python that is within the 2-6 month old range?

Sorry for all the questions...but I think I'm just a little paranoid trying to get everything perfect because this is my first snake.

You want things perfect? Get a thermostat. You WILL NOT be happy the first time you find your baby buried himself in the substrate and is sitting on top of the 104* glass.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BigDan35

Thank you for the help...that's what I will do. Instead of sticking the thermometer to the inside of the tank with a suction cup (I don't have one) would it still be alright to just use the little stand on the back of the thermometer and put it on the table right next to the cool side of the tank? Or would that not be a true reading of the "cool" side because it's not actually IN the tank?

And is it a good idea to get a fake plant or two for the tank?

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Yes to both...and it would be better to use the stand, b/c then the temp sensed is closer to what your little guy is going to actually be experiencing. It's more accurate for your temp adjusting that way.

No, the therm. needs to be IN the tank

Your snake will burrow down in the substrate which means that 104 is way to hot even if the top of the substrate is a few degrees cooler. If you want piece of mind invest in a thermostat which will keep your enclosure at a consistent desired temp. Remember, you could have your new snake for over 20 years and after the initial investment you have everything you need.

Good luck!

As for using the little stand that comes w/ the accurite back when I first joined bp.net in 2003 not long after I became a member one of the members on here at the time had a terrible incident w/ the little stand on the accurite.
Their bp ( a young one ) got caught in the stand around his neck and couldn't get free and started freaking out and slashing around etc and the owner had to break the plastic stand to free it. Not a good thing, lucky they were home at the time and heard the noise.
Since then I never use the stand and recommend others don't.
I use the velcro trick also.

I personally lay the probe on top of the substrate inside the warm side hide, because I want to measure temps where the snake actually lays. None of mine found it necessary to burrow, because their hides were small and tight. I also used thin, not thick layers of aspen.

I do the velcro to the side of the tank on the cool side as well (well, now all tubs for me - no more glass for moi, but they're velcroed in there as well). ;)

Rabernet,

I was doing that same thing for a while but I noticed that when the snake went into the hide he would come in contact with the probe and seeing that a snakes body is very cool it would give faulty readings. Now I lay both the stat and thermometer probes side by side outside of the hot side hide and do spot checks in the hide with my temp gun. I set my RHP on 92 which gets the hot hide to about 91.

I have two identical tight hides but if the snake is in the hide with the probe the temp reading is going to be way off.

In my tubs, I've melted larger of the soldering iron shaft sized holes and using tie-wraps, have strapped the Acurite to the side of the tub. Since Precious looooved to hang, he tore the velcro off the tank wall, so now the Acurite for him and Crystal just sit / are buried in the aspen.