Is it Shedding time.

i just fed rex 2nd time today and i noticed his eyes were cloudy like white. and his skin looks dull.the top picture is form last firdayhttp://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...ex1stfeed1.jpg <br>http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...rexfeed2.2.jpg
the bottom picture is from today

Yep, looks like its time to shed. My ball just finished last night. Don't get worried if it tends to stay in the hide more often or gets kinda shy. That blueish white that you see is fluid inbetween the new skin and the old dead skin (someone correct me if I'm wrong) which reduces the snakes visibality and could cause it to become shy. Its nothing to worry about. Just make sure the snake has plenty of clean water to drink as some snakes tend to get dehydrated durring shed.


Hope that helps and good luck,
Austin

im used to not seeing him cuz he never coems out of his hide. hes got a cave that has a heat mat under it and 4 incehs of the cave doenst have a heat mat so he can thermoregulate all in one place. its sweet how the mat worked out i been misting the cool side to keep up the humidity. and its workin. cant wait home i can see it in gear

Hi,


On a side point it would be a really good idea to remove that tape from anywhere he could come into direct contact with it. It's easier to remove these things before they become a problem than try to seperate it from your snake without skinning him in the process after the accident has happened.:(


dr del

the tape is only on the side he feeds on thats it. thats his feeding side of the tank thast seperate from the living quaters.

since i have a wood bottom in the viv i have my uth insdie the tank connected to a thermostat that shuts off at 95 and kicks on at 89. whats a good material i can use to lay over the uth so if he urinates it odnt coem in contact with the mat. water bowl is 8-10 inches away form heat mat so and i beleive he cant get under to tip it i was leanign towards a velvet type and put it over the mat. i went to a wooden bottom cuz it disperses heat better unlike glass heatin up one spot to where its too hot to touch.

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Originally Posted by bigrich0086

the tape is only on the side he feeds on thats it. thats his feeding side of the tank thast seperate from the living quaters.

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Hi,

Yeah I figured that wasn't his normal tank - but that tape is lifting already and he's lying on it. All he has to do is roll over the top corner the wrong way while constricting and you will be in all sorts of trouble.

Just trying to anticipate problems before they become horrific accidents for ya.


Isn't the heat mat sealed in plastic? The ones we have over here are laminated basically.



dr del

i have the zoo med 50-60 gallon UTH heres a link to the picture of it http://z.about.com/d/exoticpets/1/0/...tiThermUTH.jpg. the manual on this says nothin about not mounting inside
just says do not mount in a way that the glass would get wet cause stress cracks may occour. sayign nothing about water damaging the mat. and it does seem to have a thin plastic over it. i figures a thin fabric over it will help if he decides to lay on the mat to stop direct contact and water jsut in case.

That sounds like a great way to get your snake electrocuted and cooked.


They are called UNDER tank heaters for a reason.

yes i kno but when it was under the tank it didnt go voer 83 dagrees
When it was o nthe glass it was too hot in one spot. thats y i was askin for a type of fabric to lay voer it that can repell liquids and stop direct contact. hes been on the mat 2 straight weeks and hes been fine. no pink coloring on his underside. and i check to make sure the thermostat is woring right and the uth is jsut warm to keep the surface at 92.

Wow, yeah, you have gotten some awesome advice in this thread. If I were you, I would get that tape out of the feeding tank, and the UNDER TANK heater out of the tank. :cool:

i was told by some ppl on forums as long as itso n a thermostat its fine. the surface of the uth dont go over 94 which is not hat enough to burn him. i have no other place to mount it outsid eth tank dont keep it warm enough in there
i can try again and crank it up to 100 and see if it allow it to get over 90 . jsut cant do it now cuz he jsut ate ill wait till liek tuesday to move it .

i have a spare 55 gallon tank with glass bottom but with the uth outside the glass gets too hot in one spot. i jsut done want him on direct heat and hes been on this one for 2 weeks now wiht now signs of burns at all. the thermostat works liek a dream. not trying ot say ur way is better but my buddy has a 6 ft cali king and i got my tank set up like his but hes got cocanut substrate and his uth is inside the tank and hes had the sanke for 8 years so im hearing so many diff stories that inside is bad and outside is bad and vis versa

A 6 foot cali king is not a baby ball python, comparing the two set-ups isn't practical.


It's been suggested to you many times to move that baby to a 10 gallon tank, and you've been very resistant to that.

Lots of good suggestions have been given to you, but you throw objections to every one of them. If you truly want help, you need to be open to actually considering making the changes suggested. Otherwise, I'm not really sure why you keep asking for advice that you're not going to take? :confuzd:

see thats y im hesitant to ask for advice cuz my question still hastn been answered about the fabric. and i did put him in a tank thats 30 gallons 25 less thatn b4. i havent had problems wit it in the tank yet.

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Originally Posted by bigrich0086

see thats y im hesitant to ask for advice cuz my question still hastn been answered about the fabric. and i did put him in a tank thats 30 gallons 25 less thatn b4. i havent had problems wit it in the tank yet.

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It has been answered.

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whats a good material i can use to lay over the uth so if he urinates it odnt coem in contact with the mat.

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That sounds like a great way to get your snake electrocuted and cooked.

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Why? Fabric will not prevent water from coming in contact with the mat.

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If I were you, I would get that tape out of the feeding tank, and the UNDER TANK heater out of the tank.

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In other words, no one recommends any fabric on any UTH that is INSIDE the enclosure. Everyone recommends that at UTH should be under a tank, not in it. Since your enclosure won't accomodate it UNDER the tank, you need to get another enclosure.

i got another 55 gallon tank comin monday i beleive but dont the uths get the glass to hot and he can still burn him self. cuz inorder for the substrate to read 91 it have to thrun the thermostat up.

Hi,

Would it be possible to use a thinner layer of substrate?



dr del

yea i will thin it out im useing aspen chips. but if he touches the glass will it hurt him i kno glass gets hot when in direct contact with heat. if so should i lay a layer of fabric down across whole tank jsut so hes on the fabric and not the glass. itll help some which will put me at ease.

I know for the short time I was using a tank enclosure, I had the UTH heater under the tank just like everyone here has suggested it. I put the thermostat directly on the pad, and that was regulated fine. I also had a digital thermometer on the INSIDE of the tank as well to measure the temperature inside.

Just a suggestion.

From what I know, glass absorbs heat, but does not "build up" or amplify the heat like something such as metal would do. I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I'm right. The glass surface will only go as high as the thermostat allows it to. You should be more glad he is eatting for you with being in such a big tank, and all that moving... and that tape :eek: I wouldn't be suprised if he misses his next feeding from what I've experienced personally so far. BP's have such sensitive feelings :rolleyes:

im covering the tape up with a dish towel it has to be there its my tank divider. and hes only in a 30 gallon size tank. which i been told is fine and hes fine in it. i was makin sure he woudlt get burned cuz glass does get hot so my heat mat wil lreach 102 to hit 92 inside. thats wut im hiting at the surface of the mat right now 100 and the sufrace of the substrate is 93.i get the glass tank tomorrow jsut ogtta pick it up and clean it lay the new substrate out and so on

shouldnt i keep the thermostat probe inside with the thermometer probe so i can sync them im not caring wut it hits o nthe outside i want the inside temp

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Originally Posted by bigrich0086

i was makin sure he woudlt get burned cuz glass does get hot so my heat mat wil lreach 102 to hit 92 inside. thats wut im hiting at the surface of the mat right now 100 and the sufrace of the substrate is 93.

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How are you measuring these temperatures? Do you have a digi probe on your heat pad then if you know it goes to 102?

I'm sure if you crank it up to 102, your BP has a tendency to dig, and if he digs he's gonna get burned badly. What I learned is that you don't need to get it right on the dot dude. A simple range within + or - 3 degrees is fine. But if you get 102 on your mat, you're not getting 92 on the inside. You're getting something around the 97-102 on the inside especially when he digs himself in. You need to slow down and be cautious of the trade-offs that you are gonna make here.

Have your thermostat at 95 and "hope" that the surface will be around 90ish, and even if it goes down to 85, he's not going to go nuts. But if you have 102, and it is around 93, but on a hot day jump up to 100, you might be in for a suprise. Just my :2cent:

i have my thermostat probe on the surface of the substrate should i ha ve it o nthe surface of the mat so when the mat reached 95 it shuts off or when the surface of the substrate hits 95 to shut off cuz i have both probes on the surface fo the substrate thatys y it reads 93 there and 100 on the mat

O.K.


There are a few things it might be worth checking to get a grounding in what's actually happening in your tanks.

First of all the glass getting hot in one spot - that shouldn't really happen if everything is set up/ working fine. Is this by any chance an older heatmat? - basically I'm asking if there is a hotter spot on the mat itself.

By the looks of it the tanks you have available aren't really doing you any favours as they are either too big or have problems like the tape. Before going to all the trouble of setting him up in another 55 gallon tank how does it work out for you to get either a 10 gallon glass tank or a tub setup? This would mean you can have time to fine tune and fix the larger tanks you already have for when he is older - so it isn't like they will be wasted. If, for example you removed the tape and siliconed in the divider in the 30g you could still easily cut it out later to enlarge it again.

But on the questions in your last couple of posts;

Ideally the thermostat probe should be outside the tank to prevent the snake moving it or otherwise affecting its reading. If your thermostat has a wide enough range then attatching it directly to the heatmat and then adjusting it till the inside temps are perfect would probably be best.


On using it inside the wooden based viv;
If the manufacturers stress the mat shouldn't come into contact with water I would be inclined to believe them. None of the fabric's you mentioned are waterproof so should probably be discounted.

There are possibilities like a ceramic tile siliconed over the mat and sealed round the edges - but then how do you place the probe or replace it if it becomes faulty, will placing something like that on top of it in fact cause it to become faulty? I honestly don't know - but I do know they designed it to sit under a glass tank.

The thermostat should be adjusted so that the temperature on the inside surface of the glass is no more than 95 if possible and to get the top of the substrate to be the correct temperature then just vary the depth or type of substrate. The idea being, as you state, if he burrows down he doesn't get hurt but doesn't have to burrow to get warm enough.

As Dotc0m asked what methods/equipment are you using to measure the temps?

Also I can't find what thermostat you are using at the moment so I don't know what temperature range it has etc ( not that I would know if you just named it mind :oops: ).


dr del

im useing the zoo med uth 50-60 gallon heat mat. with a alife 1000 wat thermostat. and where the probes are on the insdie of the tank the lil guy never goes over there thatys y i picked thsoe spots. but i will do that silicone it in and take it out when needed. right now i have the thermostat probe on the heatmat and its shutting off when the surface hots 93 o nthe mat. and the surface of the substrate is 87.5. sounds good. but ill be movinf the heat mat outsite the tank soon so shoudl i put the thermostat probe outside the tank or leave it in. and use the digital thermometer probe and put that on the glass so the glass dont reach over 95. hes not once burrowed in the substrate and i had himd for 3 weeks now

Wait a minute... you're using a zoomed 50-60 on a 30gal????? :eek:

Maybe I'm just missing something or reading wrong, but if that's true then yikes.

im useing that size cuz it was meant for the 55 gallon size but i compressed it down to a 30 gallon so he feels mroe secure when i put it underneath i can always shorten the amount of mat that touches the bottom not a big deal.

i figure ill adjust the mat so its the right side for a 30 gallon size and have it outside on bottom. ill set the thermostat probe on the mat outside and have the mat set to shut off at 95 and put the digi thermometer inside and get a reading there at the the surface. should be about 88-90

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Originally Posted by bigrich0086

i figure ill adjust the mat so its the right side for a 30 gallon size and have it outside on bottom. ill set the thermostat probe on the mat outside and have the mat set to shut off at 95 and put the digi thermometer inside and get a reading there at the the surface. should be about 88-90

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Then slowly increase the setting on the thermostat ( leaving time for it to properly adjust and settle between adjustments) so that the temp on the glass surface is around 94 ish and then adjust the depth of the substrate till the surface temperature of it is between 90-93 right?

dr del

sound about irhgt just waht i was thinkin but cant type good 15 hr day of work real tired

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Originally Posted by bigrich0086

sound about irhgt just waht i was thinkin but cant type good 15 hr day of work real tired

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And you take it out on the BP :eek:

what the hell i9s ur problem i dont take anything out on the bp i love that snake.

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Originally Posted by bigrich0086

what the hell i9s ur problem i dont take anything out on the bp i love that snake.

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Sorry if that came out insulting, but it's intention wasn't supposed to mean anything offensive.

i got the new tank set up just like the old one but the heat mat is outside under neath with the themostat probe on the heat mat under neath. i got the digi thermometer probe on the bottom inside..
I set the thermostat at 95. how long will it take to get the surface inside the tank above 88 cuz its rading 82 right now but thats cuz it just set it up bout 25 mins ago. figure ill give the cycles some time and see how they work.

Hi,


It's a slow process - which is why we normally recomend setting the tank up and playing with it for a couple of weeks before getting the snake.:)

It will take at least a couple of hours between adjustments and settling most of the time - I recommend letting the thermostat go through a couple of on/ off cycles to make sure its stabilized.


dr del

i have the thermostat probe outside and it went through 3 cycles but inside its only hit 82.7 at the glass surface

should i move the thermostat probe inside so it can stay on longer and heat up the glass. if t syat outside itll nevr heat it up cuz its 83 in my room

Yeah,


But it's still a good idea to give it a couple of hours between each adjustment as a minimum - remember you have to heat up all the substrate,glass of the tank etc and that takes more than 25 minutes.:)

Well the thermostat probe is supposed to be attatched to the surface of the heatmat on the outside of your tank - that should be heating up as evidenced by the thermostat switching on and off.

Remember human body temp is a factor in whether something feels hot or cold to your touch.:)

dr del

No, just turn the temperature up on the thermostat slowly until it reaches 92-94 in the enclosure(preferably 95 on the glass and then you can lay down a THIN layer of substrate.

i think i got it now i put the digi probe in bad spot for some reason the heat mat dont get as hot and one end as it does the other end. i moved it over right under his hidei n corner and it jumped to 92

cept now its reading 102 which is not good so i turned down the thermostat to 90 and then ill check the reading in 2 cycles. i got the probe now on the heat mat outside. its workin nwo i got the digi probe in a good spot.

alright it got so hot cuz the thermostat probe was on inside once i put it outside it shut off and its at 96.5 and droping.

Boo ya got her. digi thermometer reads 93.2 at surface of glass on inside and the thermostat turned off when it hit that gass isnt hot its lil warm but not let get go in its cycle and itll be all good like gravy

Hi,


Remember when I asked you if the mat got hotter in some spots more than others? You should have answered.

Older heat mats tend to develop hot spots as they begin to fail - its quite rare to get them on new mats (though it can happen).

I hate to tell you dude but you would be far better off throwing all the stuff your using into a corner and buying a tub and a new heatmat ( flexwatt is good) that can reliably hold the desired temps and is the right size for the enclosure.

It helps if you think of keeping reptiles like keeping fish in certain ways - you don't keep fish you keep water and the fish just happen to live in it.

The good news is this doesn't have to be expensive as tubs and flexwatt are relatively inexpensive and you already have the expensive component which is the thermostat.

You can keep plugging away with what you have but, to be honest, it's never going to be ideal or even trustworthy with that mat and you will probably spend months trying to get it right.

Wait, just read your last post.

How does the thermostat probe get from outside to inside?? have you got a poltergeist?


dr del

no it was inside to help raise the temp but it got too hot at the surface og the galss so i moved it out onto the mat and it is now turning off at 95.4 and turning on at 92.1. it was my fault rason if felt hotter in one spot cuz that spot was where the main power was comin in from which heats up faster than the other end. the mat in like 2 weeks old. its heating up evenly now when its one. plus my fan was going too. but thansk for the help. its doing great not jsut liek u descirbed in earlier posts. anything else stirs up ill let ya guys kno

heres the new tank. the white stuff you see around the divider is a clay i found . heres 2 pics of the new setup and a pic of the clay im useing on the divier. a herp todl me this stuff is good .

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...6/100_1942.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...6/100_1941.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...h0086/clay.jpg

Hi,


Well I asked someone better informed than myself for prices on a baby tub setup;

A baby tub - $3 at Dollar General
Soldering Wand - $10
Flexwatt - $4-6 wired
Thermostat - $75 ( I think you said you had a zoomed one?)
AcuRite - $12 (I think you said you had one of these as well?)
Hides using cereal bowls from Dollar Tree $.25
Water Crock at Walmart - $3

So basically you could have an absolutely perfect setup for him for $22.50 or $12.50 if you already have a soldering wand or drill ( be carefull if you use a drill though to avoid cracking).

Now given that time is also valuable and how long you have spent doing this already doesn't the tub sound like a better alternative?


dr del

O.K.



Can't find detailed information on their site about exactly how safe that clay is but I'm willing to beleive them, slightly, on the non-toxic thing. On the site they say it sticks easily to wood,canvas and other materials so you might want to keep an eye on it to see how well it actually holds to glass.

At some point your snake is going to go right over the top of that divider.:)

Depending on whether or not he needed the vines etc on the other side to do it might mean he can't get back. I realise he looks waaay to small to do that just now but you won't beleive what these little wrigglers can do.:P

How is the lid held on? These things are hellacious little escape artists so your going to want to have that fixed down fairly well.

How is the humidity holding up as that's traditionally one of the problem areas with glass tanks?


dr del

yea it would of been easier but i love the sceniery i get form the tank and tubs are not for me really but im lookin to get more BP's and a boa constrictor down the line when Rex is bigger. then ill be useing tubs.