TEMPS

[TONYDM41684]

I have a 20 long and have a hard time keeping up the cool side without getting the hot side too hot. I have an UTH an the warm side and a 100 watt light right in the middle to keep the overall temp at 80 and the cool side a 78 but this makes the warm side sometimes get up to 95. Is this ok? At night the temps even out ok. I also have trouble keeping my humidity up. I have been spraying the tanks down 4 times a day but unable to spray them from about 11pm till 8 am then unable to spray from about 8 am till 6 pm due to busy life style. What do I do about this? I have been useing towels on top of my screens thinking about using duct tape. Good idea?

[Smynx]

Covering a screen top with duct tape or contact paper helps a lot with maintaining temperatures and humidity. If you do that, I think you'll notice a difference. Of course, the easiest solution for people who don't have time to maintain tanks is the Rubbermaid/Sterlite solution.

[Tigergenesis]

Regarding temps - that may be fine, unless your bp seems to avoid the warm side like the plague, then it maybe be too warm for him. Why not just move the light over the the cool side and not in the middle? That should be fine. Question: what are you using to measure temps (analog stick on, digital w/ probes, etc) and where are you measuring? You need to definitely measure belly/surface temps (warm side: 90-95, cool side: 80-85) as belly heat is what is important for digestion. Get a good digital w/ probes - the stickon anaologs are generally crap. Stick the probes on top of the substrate (if newspaper, carpet, etc) or under if using a loose substrate.

Regarding humidity, browse through the husbandry forum as humidity is a topic you'll see often. Here's one in particular: http://www.ball-pythons.net/PNphpBB2...ic-t-5425.html

[Cody]

Lately I've been having problems with my temps. Everything was fine until weather started to get cool. My room isn't very well insulated, so the temp in my room dropped to 75. So now my cool side is only around 77. People say that isn't bad, but my snake never goes in the warm hide. Why, I don't know. I'm starting to think it's something to do with her being attached to the cool hide. It was the first one she went to when I first got her. So maybe she's attached to that part of the tank. I dunno...anyway, the temps have dropped, and I took her out for handling tonight, and she was pretty cold to the touch. Usually she's decently warm, with the cool side usually being 82 or so. So I don't know what to do. None of the heat from the heat pad goes to the cool side, and if I use the heat lamp, it warms up the cool side to a perfect 83, but then my humidity drops to the 40's. And that's with contact paper on it. I don't want to rely on misting all the time, because when I mist, it dampens the reptibark pretty good, and I don't want mold or anything like that. She's just glued to the cool side. I put her in the warm side, leave, come back and she's in the cool side. I dunno what to do.

Sorry for posting this here. I didn't want to create a whole new topic on the same subject though..

[Tigergenesis]

Maybe get her an identical hide to put on the warm side? I did that because my bp was staying in this one hide on the cool side and I was concerned he didn't feel as secure in the warm hide - she now rotates between them both. You could go ahead and throw in the light and just change your method of increasing humidity. I say damp towels (next to a humid hide) is the easiest/best way - less work, no more misting and you're not risking getting the substrate too wet.

[Cody]

Both hides are the same clay pot bottoms. They're identical. I have solved the problem for now though. I just slid the heat pad to the middle of the tank. Now both sides are at 84. I figured why have a temp gradient when she never utilizes it. I'm gonna have it like that, then when I feed her, I'll slide the heat pad to the side she's always on, so it'll up the belly heat to around 90 and help her digest it nicely. It's just for the winter I guess. Unless I find a heater and put it in my room. But then my room will be all warm and I can't sleep when I'm hot. I dunno. It'll have to do until weather warms up again. It's still better than the way some people I know keep their snakes, so I'm sure she'll be fine.

[steelsack]

I just slid the heat pad to the middle of the tank. Now both sides are at 84.

I had contemplated doing that once, but didn't. I figured if he got too cold, he must have the intelligence to move to a warmer location. Which he does. LOL, granted he's in the cold hide 99.9% of the time, even if it dips to 77 or 78 during winter cold nights. Once in a while I see him in the warm hide but usually only after a meal. For the most part if he's not cruisin he's chillin.
I was a little apprehensive of removing a good temp gradient so I still have the warm and cool sides instead of a solid temp throughout. Then again, if your bp can still get access to a good 90 to 95 degree warm spot then in fact you still have a warm and cool zone, your cool zone is just 84 which is only a tad warmer than ideal and probably won't cause harm to your buddy.

[kontron]

i had that same problem with the warm side getting too warm. i got a second timer. a uth on one timer and the light on the other timer. i figured out the hot points and set it around that. at night the light and uth are on, in the morning the uth turns off, and near mid morning the light turns off, and the uth goes on for an hour, then they both go off, and the light comes on again at around 700pm. then the uth comes on around 1100pm. very cheap, cost 10 bucks total, and works great. easy to set up, and to maintain. soon though i will be investing in a thermostat.

[Tigergenesis]

LOL, kontron I was reading your post and the whole time thinking..."why not just get a thermostat" - until I got to the last line.

[kontron]

hahaha...had to wait till rent and bills were paid.