Is a 100 watt bulb too much for a 10 gallon tank?

So I just went out yesterday and bought my first snake (I BP). I love him already and want to make sure I do everything right. The guy at the store said he was less than a year old, and set me up w/ a 10 gallon tank, water bowl, a hide, some aspen, as well as a digital thermostat, a lamp, and a 40 watt bulb.

I set it all up yesterday, but the temp never even got to 75 degrees. I went to a different store today and bought a 100watt day bulb (the same exact kind that I had just stronger/a daylight blue) and a red 75watt bulb for the night. When I came home I read online that a 100watt bulb would cook anything in a ten gallon tank and got nervous so I raised the bulb a few inches off of the top of the screen. The temp got to about 79. I just switched to the night bulb (75) and the temp is now a 80.4 degrees. Since I switched to the stronger bulbs he's been sitting on top of the hide (about six inches under the bulb). I would think he'd move if it was too hot but I'm not sure. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long post... I'm obviously new to this.

p.s.
I think he's starting to shed, his skin looks very wrinkly and his eyes look cloudly from certain angles.

i use the same wat for one of my females its get about 86-90 in her hotspot and if its to hot she gose by her water dish

Thanks for the quick reply, is that in a 10 gallon tank?
I was told that 80-90degrees is ideal, and that's just not going to happen with with a 40 watt. I def. don't want to burn it or dry it out, by using 100watt all day and 75 at night.

Hi,


I don't see an under tank heater or thermostat on your list but they would probably solve a lot of your problems - oh and you should really get a second hide the same as the first for the other side.

We recomend small ,dark, tight hides for them to help them feel really secure.:)

Here is a link to a sticky we have on setting up a glass tank.

Oh and make sure the lid is secure - these things are amazing escape artists.:D

**edit**
Whoops forgot to give you a link to our caresheet - it should help with some of your questions too hopefully.

And I also forgot to say :welcome: to the site!:D :rockon:

**end edit**



dr del

Thanks dr del,

I do have a thermostat, If you have any reccomendations on what type of under tank heater I should buy please share. The tank is only 10 gallons, so the hide I do have and the water bowl take up almost the entire tank, but I'm going to try to squeeze a smaller hide in onthe opposite side of the water.


lol...The care sheet is actually how I found this site, and what made me decide to join, sounds like you guys know your stuff.

I understand the whole "hard to setup" thing with a 10gal... I have my yearling corn in one and barely have enough room for the stuff.

My suggestion on UTH would be ZooMed 10-20 gal heat mat. Also a suggestion on hides: get two identical ones, just small so they both fit. My corn has two "Den and Dine" stump hides and he just loves them. And they both fit quite well in the tank with room to spare for his water dish and climbing "tree".

Also remember that the water bowl doesn't have to be really big...especially in a small tank.

Good luck :)

Thanks Argentra,

Is the UTH typically left on 24/7, just during the day, or just to make sure temp stays up as neccesary?

i use a 100 watt + the foil on the tank with the black ducktape but i gotta 2 y/o female with a 39 gallon tank

Alright, so I bought a UTH for a 10-20 gallon tank.

My next question is if anyone here has used these on the side of the tank. My original purpose for buying it was to generate some heat from the bottom up, but I have nothing to put my tank on except my wooden dresser next to my bed. The instructions say that you can place it on the side, but I want your opinions. I'd really prefer to put it underneath, I just can't find anything to put between the tank and my wooden dresser to prop it up.

Most UTH's you buy come with little rubber feet that you put on the corners of the tank to hold it up. If not, you can find them in a variety of different sizes at any hardware store, and probably in the hardware section of most stores that have hardware sections.


Even with the little nubs under the tank, when I had a glass tank/UTH combo on top of a nice piece of wooden furniture, I just placed a sheet over the top of the furniture to protect the wood from any potential scratches or heat damage. Worked perfectly and easily.

My current setup is a tub with flexwatt strips under it. The clamped ends of the flexwatt are kinda bulky, so I need to raise the tub up a little higher than those rubber feet might do.....I just got some of my kids' giant lego blocks and taped one in each corner of the tub to create feet. It's ok to be creative sometimes. ;)

Just to be sure that we're all on the same page....

A digital THERMOSTAT is an electronic device that you plug into the wall, and then plug your heater (UTH) into the thermostat. You place the probe for the thermostat on the heater, and then set a temperature on the thermostat. The thermostat then controls the power output to the heater to keep the temperature at the setting that you selected.

A digital THERMOMETER is an electronic device that displays the current temperature. Around here, it is usually a thermometer that is designed to display an indoor and outdoor temperature. The sensor for the indoor temp is inside the unit, and it includes an external probe for sensing the outdoor temp. The probe is placed at the ground level of the tank/enclosure near the hotside hide.

A digital thermostat would likely cost you over $100, and likely be sold along with a heat source other than a light bulb (UTH, CHE, etc).

Please let us know exactly what it is that you have and how are you using it? If you have a stick on thermometer, where is it in the tank? Does it have an external probe? If so, where is the probe placed?

Steve

Alright so I have a nice collection of about 5-6 different bulbs now with more coming, lol, (not by choice, I just keep geting different reccomendations). So here's my 10 gallon tank...

Left side
Water bowl large enough so that he could bathe if he wanted to
Small and "ghetto" hide I made from an old emty box of busines cards

Right side
Back corner has the lamp w/ a 60watt blue bulb during the day & a 40watt back bulb at night) This was reccomended by a friend who has 2 BPs
Heat pad for 10-20 gallon tanks located under the tank (slightly closer to the front but mostly in the center of the right side)
Larger hide that was bought in the store on a little bit of angle to allow entrances from both sides (it's an upsidown half pipe made from a tree). This takes up almost my entire left side but he can lay in front or behind if he desires.

My Thermometer which only measures the in tank temp has a probe which I have moved a few times, but is now 1-2 inches off of the ground all the way on the right side of the tank between the hide and the glass.

A also have a stick that I was told to soak in bleach and hot water. So I did that then soaked it again in hot water and ran it under scolding hot water until it didn't smell like bleach anymore. This stick is above the tank an runs from the ground by the water dish to the top of the large hide.


He has been chilling under the large hide where my heat pad is since I bought it. The temp on the thermometer is 86-87, but I'm assuming it is warmer where he is laying due to the pad being there and my probe not being all the way on the ground. O, and I placed the small mounts under my tank, but it only elevates it high enough so that I could fit the cord under there.

I've got another thermometer and humidity gauge coming soon (with no probes)


I think that explains everything. Thanks for your help any more feedbak is greatly apperciated.

Hi,


Well my basic advice is;

Use a smaller waterbowl - they don't need to soak if you get the humidity right in the tank. Some might like to - but they shouldn't need to.:P

With the extra space this gives you get 2 small tight,dark identical hides one on either side. They dont mind if it is 2 small cardboard boxes or the plastic saucers that go under plant pots ( only 99c each and a total bargain).

I would move the probe to get a reading inside his hot end hide - that and the temp inside his cool hides are the main ones you want to be sure of as that is where he will spend most of his time. I would also measure the temperatures right on the very bottom of the tank on the glass itself on top of your heatpad as the snake can burrow down to that so you need to know it is not dangerously hot.

I would also find a red or dark bulb and use that 24/7 if it is needed to get the temperatures right. - the ambient light in your room should be enough for him really to get a day/night cycle. There is no need to lower the temps at night unless you are breeding them in case that is why you change them.

As for the different recomendations I hear ya - only you can measure and see which one is right for your tank in the end though. I tend to use larger wattage bulbs then control them somehow - either with a thermostat( proportional) or a simple dimmer switch.

Im curious on the thermometers and humidity gauges your getting that don't have probes? What are they and is the accurite with indoor/outdoor and humidity not available locally? At only $12 I would have thought it would have been a better bet. :confuzd:

I appologise if most of this has been covered earlier in the thread - I just got up and am posting without the benefit of coffee.:D


dr del

You're definitely going to need a rheostat or thermostat to control that UTH, as right now if it;s going full blast WITH the lamps on top of it, it's probably a bit too hot in your tank.

You can get an inexpensive ZooMed 500R thermostatr at reptilesupply.com or reptiledirect.com for about $23 plus shipping. Or you can go to walmart and get a pre-made corded lamp dimmer (looks like an extension cord with a control at one end) for about $9. Or you can spend a lot more for a higher end thermostat like a herpstat or ranco.

The lamp dimmer or rheostat will have to be monitored and adjusted as ambient room temps change, but a thermostat, once set up properly, requires no adjusting.

The thermometer/ humidity gauge didn't appear to have probes (I ordered it online yesterday). My BP has spent most of his time on the hot side either in his hide or ontop of his hide under the lamp. He very rarely moves from these spots, and any time I do notice him moving he always ends up right back where he started. I'm assuming he wouldn't let himself overheat, by staying in an area that's too hot, but as I've mentioned I'm new to this. He's supposed to be shedding soon, his eyes have been blue and his skin slightly wrinkled the past 2 days. I hope he has a good shed, the temp has been changing so much since I put him in there, and with the stress of him being taken out of the store I'm a little nervous.

Hi, :)

Is it possible to give us links to the ones you ordered? It's tough dialing in setups at first but once it's done they really are almost trouble free.

dr del

For some reason this computer won't let me go to that part of the site right now, when I go home I will post a link.

Here's the link...

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/group/430/product.web

I bought the one with no probes, but I could have sworn I read that it's good to have a thermometer w/ a probe to measure a spot/ground temp and one without to measure ambient air temp.

As crazy as this has been trying to get things right I don't mind it, I'm just extremely anxious for his first shed and feeding so I can finally start to handle him. I literally sit and stare at the tank waiting for him to move, but he rarely does (if I'm not mistaken that common when they're about to shed).

Yup they can be little hide potatos when shedding.


If you can I would phone the company and ask if they have shipped those - if they say no ask if you can cancel the order as they really aren't all that good compared to the accurite - and it does everything for only $14 tops.:(

This is one kind of thing we are talking about though the accurite shows all 3 readings at once so is slightly ahead in my book.

I think this is what it looks like - check out local hardware stores and if you can't find it ask on here if anyone has a web link to buy it.

Getting a good accurate reading of your temperatures is vital to getting your set up right - and those round things can be very innacurate.


dr del