HELP! Just bought my first snake.. thought everything was good.. but

[littlebiatatime]

I have been doing a lot of research and contemplating this for a while but I finally decided to do it.

I went into my local pet store and got a baby ball python. I got the 10 gallon tank they recommended and the Exo Terra Heat Wave 8x8 8watt heat tape they also suggested would fit the tank. I also bought two thermometers (they pointed to some that had suction cups, probably for underwater) and told me to put them on the floor.

I hooked everything up and set up the water container and a hide spot.

The cool end reads like 60 F and the 'hot spot' reads 70????

What do you guys suggest I do.

It is night time and everything is closed ( I am wondering if this is normal temps for night?).


What should I get instead? I didn't want to get a heat lamp since I thought heat tape would be safer and more power efficient.

THANKS!

[I-KandyReptiles]

What are you using to determine temperature?

If its those circular ones, they're often inaccurate.

[The Serpent Merchant]

Heat tape (aka UTH's) do not increase the air temperature inside the cage. This means that you need thermometers with probes to measure the hot side temperature. This also means that if the room that the cage is in drops below 75 degrees you will need a heat lamp or CHE to increase the air temperatures.

Do you have a thermostat for the UTH? without one it will get hot enough to kill your snake.

Please read through this thread on cage heating. it should answer most of your questions: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-Thermometers

I would also read this thread on care (pet store employees almost never know anything about how to care for reptiles. Their recommendations on caging and heating show this to be true once again): http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ius)-Caresheet

A BP needs a hot side temperature of 90 degrees and a cool side temperature of 80 degrees 24/7. Night time temperature drops are not recommended. no part of the cage should EVER get below 75 or above 95 degrees.

[littlebiatatime]

The thermometer is a cylinder that tapers at the end.


Okay, so I am ordering a thermostat.


I was going to go with a RHP but decided to go with a heat tape =-/

So my worry should not be the snake is too cold.. rather that it is in danger of burning?

This is hard to measure with my crappy thermometer. I went to petco after to see if they had 'reptile thermometer' but they ran out =-/.

Whith the thermostat I won't need the crappy thermometers? Won't I still need one for the cool side? If so which do you guys recommend.

[littlebiatatime]

I read some of that thread and could not find anything on CHE?

So I am not sure how to know if the room is bellow 75. I assume it is though since the thermometer reads that low.

[The Serpent Merchant]

Honestly just stay away from anything sold in pet stores. All they sell is overpriced junk.

RHP cannot be used with glass tanks. They need to be used with PVC reptile cages like the ones sold by animal plastics



Even with a thermostat you will need good probed thermometers. I like this one that is sold at Walmart for $12. It has 2 temperature sensors and a humidity sensor. The probe goes on the hot side directly above the UTH on the cage floor and the unit sits on the cool side.



Once again this thread has everything you need to know about cage heating: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-Thermometers

What is the temperature of the room that the cage is in? As hard as it might be to understand your snake is at risk of being too cold and getting burned at the same time. The air temperature is probably far too low which can lead to respiratory infections among other things while the surface temperature of the cage floor will get too hot and potentially burn the belly of your snake.

[The Serpent Merchant]

I read some of that thread and could not find anything on CHE?

So I am not sure how to know if the room is bellow 75. I assume it is though since the thermometer reads that low.

There is an entire section on CHEs (Ceramic heat Emitters) it's just under the part about heat lamps and before Under tank heaters.

What is your houses Air Conditioner/Heater set to? That is probably the temperature of the room. Otherwise yes the thermometers should be reading the air temperature of the room.

[littlebiatatime]

Heat tape (aka UTH's) do not increase the air temperature inside the cage. This means that you need thermometers with probes to measure the hot side temperature. This also means that if the room that the cage is in drops below 75 degrees you will need a heat lamp or CHE to increase the air temperatures.

Do you have a thermostat for the UTH? without one it will get hot enough to kill your snake.

Please read through this thread on cage heating. it should answer most of your questions: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-Thermometers

I would also read this thread on care (pet store employees almost never know anything about how to care for reptiles. Their recommendations on caging and heating show this to be true once again): http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ius)-Caresheet

A BP needs a hot side temperature of 90 degrees and a cool side temperature of 80 degrees 24/7. Night time temperature drops are not recommended. no part of the cage should EVER get below 75 or above 95 degrees.

I've must have seen countless videos of breeders using heat tape. What do they do? Spray the cage to mist it and solve it that way?

I need a solution for the next few days to prevent damage due to my ignorance and misinformation.

I will be getting this thermostat:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/prime/handl...t-bbf_1_glance

and this probed thermometer:

http://www.amazon.com/CDN-Digital-Pr...ed+thermometer

But now I need a way to heat the air?

[The Serpent Merchant]

The thermostat link doesn't work.

That probed thermometer won't work. It has the wrong type of probe. The thermometer I posted about above is cheaper and will work much better.

As i said before you will need to use a heat lamp or CHE to heat the air. People who use heat tape have to either heat the room that the cage is in to above 75 degrees, use a heat lamp/CHE to heat the air in the cage, or get a type of cage (like PVC cages) that hold heat in better. Everyone has slightly different systems that work for them you need to find what works for you.

The short term solution is to get a heat lamp/ infrared heat bulb like this one: http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...AvailInUS%2FNo to heat the air. You will also need to get a lamp dimmer like this one to regulate your UTH.

http://www.homedepot.com/buy/lutron-...l#.UN_5u6UkKRk

Once you get a good thermostat (below is a list of good ones) you will use the thermostat instead of the lamp dimmer. You can then use the lamp dimmer with the heat lamp to make sure that you have complete control over your cage temperatures.


Thermostats:

Thermostats are devices that use a temperature probe to measure the amount of heat that a heat source is outputting. They them vary the amount of power going to said heat source to keep the temperature in the desired range that you set it to. There are 2 major types of thermostats. On/off style thermostats, and Proportional thermostats.

On/Off Style Thermostats:

On/Off style thermostats such as true Hydrofarm, Ranco, and Johnsons thermostats are cheap but lack accuracy. they work the same way a home A/C thermostat works. They run the heat source at 100% power until the set temperature is achieved. The thermostat then turns the heat source completely off until the "swing" is reached. The swing refers to how many degrees below the set temperature the thermostat lets the temperature fall before turning the heat source back on again. This is why they are inaccurate.

Pros:

Cheap
Will do the job


Cons:

Inaccurate
Usually don't have some of the additional safety features that proportional thermostats have.


Here are some good on/off style thermostats:

Hydrofarm: http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR.../dp/B000NZZG3S

Ranco: http://www.reptilebasics.com/ranco-etc-111000-pre-wired

Proportional thermostats:

Proportional thermostats such as the Herpstat, Helix, and VE-200/300 are extremely accurate and much safer than on/off style thermostats do to more advanced design and high build quality. This does come at a price though. The cheapest I have seen a proportional thermostat sell for (new) is $99. The cost is worth it though. These thermostats especially the herpstat have far more capabilities than on/off thermostats and as I already said are more accurate and safer. Instead on simply running the heat source at 100% power or 0% power proportional thermostats adjust the amount of power in small increments. this allows them to maintain the correct temperature very accurately (usually to a fraction of a degree off of the set temperature)

Pros:

Safe
Accurate
More features (such as the ability to automatically drop temperatures at programed times/regulate humidity/turn lights on/off/etc.)


Cons:

Cost


Here are somme good proportional thermostats:

Herpstat: http://spyderrobotics.com/

VE line: http://www.reptilebasics.com/thermostats (note the VE-100 is not a proportional thermostat)

Helix: http://www.helixcontrols.com/DBS1000.htm

[The Serpent Merchant]

I've must have seen countless videos of breeders using heat tape. What do they do? Spray the cage to mist it and solve it that way?

I'm not sure what you mean by this are you talking about cage humidity levels?