Starting Fresh

[Tihsho]

Hey all,

Four years back in College I kept a two ball's which I sadly had to re home upon graduation since I was unable to house them at the place I was renting post grad. I had both of them in their own 20 long's and kept them for three years and they were great! Since I've got a little more time and space I've decided to get back into the hobby, but this round I've decided to go tubbed to offer a better enclosure for the little guys and gals. Just spent tonight setting up a temporary surface, as I'm planning to go rack later, with two strips of 3" Flexwatt on a sheet of melamine and three 15 (17" x 11.5" x 6.5") quart tubs. As a show's coming up in a week I just am preparing to pick up 2-3 juvies and go from there. The 15 quarts, from what I read, were large enough for juvies and should house them for a bit. I guess my first question is when should I bump them to a 30/50 quart? I expect this should suffice for 3-6 months.

Currently the tubs are setup with the rear receiving belly heat via two 3" FW strips attached to a Big Apple Supply thermostat set to 85. I was planning on placing a hide on the hot end and a water dish in the cool. Substrates planned will be newspaper or paper towels for simple weekly cleaning/replacement. I'm currently dialing in the heat params from the thermostat and measuring heat in each enclosure via ExoTerra digital probe thermometers. One setup has a hygrometer/thermometer digital (sort of probe?) that I'm using to monitor average humidity levels of the enclosure to make sure I don't need to add more holes. I've mounted the temp probe to the interior surface of the tub and with the thermostat set to 85, the tubs surface temps are reaching 98.6 on average. I understand this is high for Regius, so I'm fiddling with the thermostat to see if I have a faulty unit or if the probe is actually incorrect. Regarding the Flexwatt, should I space the tubs from the surface of the Flexwatt? I currently have them sitting directly on the Flexwatt and am concerned with the direct heat being a bit too much for not only the tub but the individual animal. Also, I've since added some substrate (newspaper) and the temps have jumped to the 98.6 due to it insulating the probe. Should I be concerned with the 98 degree temp? If I remove the newspaper the temps are at 90 give or take a degree.

Any input on this would be greatly handy. Thanks for being such a great forum. I had a lot of great reading to get up to this point.

[Creepy Alien]

The probe should be between the heat tape and the tub. I use a little bit of electrical tape to secure it. You may need to adjust the thermostat to get the right hot spot temp (as the tub will be cooler than the heat tape).

[Creepy Alien]

Sitting directly on the heat tape isn't too big of a deal as long as your temps are correct. You may find it puts wear on the heat tape over time if the tub is constantly sliding over it. Many do this without problems but just to be sure, I have a strips of a 1/8" spacer before and behind my heat tape. This prevents rubbing and keeps the tub just off of the heat tape. You may need your thermostat a degree or so higher this way, but I think it works better for my setup.

Again, have the thermostat probe on the heat tape and not in the tub. If your BP moved it, the temps could get really hot. I try to have a thermometer probe under the substrate (in the tub, on top of where the hot spot is).

[Tihsho]

The probe should be between the heat tape and the tub. I use a little bit of electrical tape to secure it. You may need to adjust the thermostat to get the right hot spot temp (as the tub will be cooler than the heat tape).

The probe for the thermostat is on the heat tape. The probe that measures belly heat in the tub is on the inside of the tub to keep it accurate on the inside face of the tub.

Sitting directly on the heat tape isn't too big of a deal as long as your temps are correct. You may find it puts wear on the heat tape over time if the tub is constantly sliding over it. Many do this without problems but just to be sure, I have a strips of a 1/8" spacer before and behind my heat tape. This prevents rubbing and keeps the tub just off of the heat tape. You may need your thermostat a degree or so higher this way, but I think it works better for my setup.

Again, have the thermostat probe on the heat tape and not in the tub. If your BP moved it, the temps could get really hot. I try to have a thermometer probe under the substrate (in the tub, on top of where the hot spot is.) I understand about the friction causing wear, but I'm not concerned right now as it's a pseudo rack at this point.

[Creepy Alien]

Sorry, I misunderstood about where your thermostat probe was. Having a temp gun can be really helpful as well. On the heat tape, I find the hottest spot and place the thermostat probe there. Inside the enclosure, you can quickly double check your temps throughout.

I'm not sure why your interior temps are running so much higher. Maybe try and put your thermometer probe next to your thermostat probe and see what it reads?

[Tihsho]

No problem.

I'd have to agree on verifying the temps on the tape. I'm an engineer, so I have an understanding of thermal gradients as well as insulated/ non-insulated heat. The temps via the tape to the tub should be lower than the tubs surface temps as it's a thicker material that will hold heat longer. The tape is attached to melamine with aluminum tape so the surface acts as a large heat sink when the thermostat turns the power off once the surface temps of the tape hit the designated temps. I can understand the 90 degree point (non-insulated) and the 98.6 insulated (as the tub probe is between the plastic tub and the substrate.) I'll need to get a IR thermometer to verify the temps on the substrate.

I'll post up any updates. I hope I can get this figured out this week as I plan to have a yellow belly (possible cross) and a lesser in them by Saturday.

[Tihsho]

Saturday is getting ever so closer! I went out and picked up an IR thermometer and am comparing it to my current probes. Right now either the IR has a +/- 3 degrees F or my probes do. Either way, I'm noticing an issue with the thermostat. I have it now set, for the past few hours at 85 and I'm reading surface temps of 104. This is definitely an issue. That said I'm going to contact Big Apple about this so we can have a solution ASAP.

[Tihsho]

Big Apple Supply and I are going through a back and fourth on the thermostat. It seems that no units have 'ever' had this issue. The remedy at this point is to kick the setting down to a lower level (~82) to get a 90 degree temp... Welp, that's what I get for getting a 'simple' thermostat. Once I get the rack rolling a Herpstat II will be ordered.

Now that I'm monitoring the tapes surface temp with yet another probe, I feel confident I can use this setup. I don't know if I'd say it's the best choice, but it gets the job done for two Steralites. I plan to keep this setup for a quarantine once the rack is complete.

Now into the exciting news, I picked up a pair! Thanks to Anthony at Conley Herps I was able to get a beautiful striped Lesser female(just a lesser that happened to have a stripe that was non genetic.) He had been of great help when I contacted him about his inventory prior to the show. She is about to be 3 months and was eating well in his care. She actually defecated prior to me getting her home, so I hope she digested more so then purged due to stress. Yes, she defecated for those about to ask. I saw urates on the bag once I got to my girlfriends, pulled her out and as I was cleaning the bag she passed the rest of her meal. Now she's exploring her new setup, though she only puts her head into the hide. Seems I have an ostritch of a ball. Onto the male. After poking around all of the other stalls at the show, I kept my eyes out mainly for exceptional Yellow Bellies. After talking to one breeder, he walked to the other end of the setup and pointed at a Yellow Belly x Enchi male that was from another breeder. The male at 6 months was hefty and had great coloration. His eyes are almost pewter, and his pattern is great along with his colors. He seems a little timid, but I plan on working with him to get him more less skittish. After talking to David at his booth (Ball and Chain Reptiles) he offered to reduce the price to something I couldn't say no to. Out of the pair the male took about 10 minutes to explore his Steralite and decided the hide was where he wanted to be. I can see him poke his head out every so often, but he's content in the PVC cap that I cute a notch in to use as a hide.

I'm going to do my best and keep out of the enclosures to allow the balls to settle in. Planning to attempt the first feeding (by me) in a week, so either next Saturday or Sunday, with frozen/thawed rat pups.

Anyone know of any rack builders/retailers that sell racks with that fall between these dimensions: 28" x 20" X 28" ?

[Creepy Alien]

That's great, congratulations . My wife and I just got back into BP's this year after a long hiatus. We kept a few ball pythons (all normals) and several other snakes about 16 or 17 years ago.

It started with an albino last March or April and somehow got up to 22 BP's o_O . Three of them belong to our kids though, so I think that's better?

Good luck with everything .

[Tihsho]

Thanks! Once they settle in I'll go through and get photo's of each of them. The YB Enchi has me a little confused. From the tail size, minus the guy popped him in front of me, it looks like it's a female. I'm not sure its 100% a YB either. At the end of the day I'm still happy with what I found. The only part I was torn on was going with a Bee over the YB, but in the long run I'm happy with what I got.