Divided tank set up

[Elkhntr98]

I have a 30 gallon breeder critter cage that wasn't being used. I decided to split it up and put two young bps in it. Each side.of the enclosure will be 18lx18wx12h...I have blacked out all 3 sides of the tank and have plexiglass and foil waiting to be cut to size for the top. I did a quick experiment today and threw in some aspen a hide on the hot side and a water bowl. I cover most of the top and put a 100 watt bulb over the one side that had everything in it. The accurite said it's 84 on hot side and 78 on cold with humidity of 39%...could I use a larger uth (11x17) under the tank and split it right at the divider? I was thinking of that and then putting 2 lower watt heat lamps over the center/cool side to help raise ambient Temps and have water bowl under heat lamp to raise humidty. Does anyone think this will work or have any other suggestions on what's the best way to attack this. Thanks

[Neal]

I have a 30 gallon breeder critter cage that wasn't being used. I decided to split it up and put two young bps in it. Each side.of the enclosure will be 18lx18wx12h...I have blacked out all 3 sides of the tank and have plexiglass and foil waiting to be cut to size for the top. I did a quick experiment today and threw in some aspen a hide on the hot side and a water bowl. I cover most of the top and put a 100 watt bulb over the one side that had everything in it. The accurite said it's 84 on hot side and 78 on cold with humidity of 39%...could I use a larger uth (11x17) under the tank and split it right at the divider? I was thinking of that and then putting 2 lower watt heat lamps over the center/cool side to help raise ambient Temps and have water bowl under heat lamp to raise humidty. Does anyone think this will work or have any other suggestions on what's the best way to attack this. Thanks

I don't really fancy accurite things because I found them to be way off, but I've had in the past where one was accurate, so it's a hit or miss thing. Instead I found these digital temp and humidity things on amazon for around $5-7. They're accurate as far as the three that I've used.

A 100w bulb will easily give a hotspot of 95+ degrees. Ideally you would want a hot spot in the upper 80's, and with a 60w you should be able to do that unless you live up north and maybe the room gets pretty cold. Now with that you're going to run into major humidity issues, because bulbs kill humidity. You need to be careful of using an UTH & heat lamps because if you're not using a thermostat you'll easily kill your snake if something goes wrong, especially with two heating sources. A UTH would help with temperatures, but not so much ambient more than maybe a degree or two. Putting the water bowl over it would help with humidity yes, but then you're heating the drinking source for your snake.

The best way to give you advice is for you to snap a few photos of your setup. Also a PVC cage will work way better and not being open on all sides your snake will likely be much happier. The screen top along with the glass aren't that good for retaining humidity or heat for that matter. Snap a few photos for us though so we can give you better advice.

[CALM Pythons]

I have a 30G & 10G for my Quarantines.
Its set up just like you explained.
I control the CHE & Heat Mat with Dimmers from LOWES. ($14.99). I use a Probe thermometer over the glass where UTH is (under substrate) and have the thermometer it self on the other end for ambiant & Humidity of cool side. I use a 60 watt which has me at 78-82 and the UTH at 88-90. Humidty is 55% as i use Duraplex Plexy glass over the screens from lowes and Cardboard around 3 sides along with a Dish Towel over the top to help insulate the Plexy.
If you divide your enclosure (more like the size of 10G's ) you'll only be running those dimmers 3/4 throttle with a 60 watt depending on your room temps. Its a great way not to spend $195 on a Herpstat 2 for now which is what I run for my Display Enclosures with RHP & UTH.
PS- your idea about the Uth Split is what most do with a T8 with a divider. Works fine. Put it right in the middle for each side to share (use 1 Dimmer for it) then run 2 heat CHE's on the cool sides for ambient ove the water

[Neal]

I have a 30G & 10G for my Quarantines.
Its set up just like you explained.
I control the CHE & Heat Mat with Dimmers from LOWES. ($14.99). I use a Probe thermometer over the glass where UTH is (under substrate) and have the thermometer it self on the other end for ambiant & Humidity of cool side. I use a 60 watt which has me at 78-82 and the UTH at 88-90. Humidty is 55% as i use Duraplex Plexy glass over the screens from lowes and Cardboard around 3 sides along with a Dish Towel over the top to help insulate the Plexy.
If you divide your enclosure (more like the size of 10G's ) you'll only be running those dimmers 3/4 throttle with a 60 watt depending on your room temps. Its a great way not to spend $195 on a Herpstat 2 for now which is what I run for my Display Enclosures with RHP & UTH.

While I use dimmers myself, I would never ever recommend anybody run two heat sources with both being on dimmers. It's a recipe for disaster if one fails. Also with the snake only having a limited space to move, if one does fail, they won't be able to escape the heat.

[CALM Pythons]

While I use dimmers myself, I would never ever recommend anybody run two heat sources with both being on dimmers. It's a recipe for disaster if one fails. Also with the snake only having a limited space to move, if one does fail, they won't be able to escape the heat.

I understand you talking about not being able to escape the small space if one fails in a smaller enclosure but whats the thinking behind not running 2 dimmers?
Whether i run 1 or 2 if they fail they max out anyway thats why i stick to a low watt CHE for smaller tanks. Without regulating a 60watt CHE on a 10 gal you can only get 84 degrees with it covered. Now the UTH is another story, if running Wide open its 113 on the glass. ...but the snake can leave the UTH and go to the CHE side and survive 84 unregulated. I think thats why its best to use the bulb size you need and never overkill.

[Neal]

I understand you talking about not being able to escape the small space if one fails in a smaller enclosure but whats the thinking behind not running 2 dimmers?
Whether i run 1 or 2 if they fail they max out anyway thats why i stick to a low watt CHE for smaller tanks. Without regulating a 60watt CHE on a 10 gal you can only get 84 degrees with it covered. Now the UTH is another story, if running Wide open its 113 on the glass. ...but the snake can leave the UTH and go to the CHE side and survive 84 unregulated. I think thats why its best to use the bulb size you need and never overkill.

Even a low wattage is enough to kill a snake. That 113, and your snake has nowhere to go, will kill it. I've seen it happen to people in the hobby. If you had a 40 gallon tank and it blasted wide open, the snake could go to the other side to get away from the heat.

Also just because a snake can leave, doesn't mean it will. A snake can eat and not starve, but some will starve to death. Also have you seen how snakes have burn marks from heat rocks? They can not go on them, but they do. I'm speaking in actual facts, not just because the snake can.

[CALM Pythons]

Well maybe I should refrain from using the 10G as one of the Quaretine enclosures ( I havent had to use both at one time anyway) and just use the 30 long as thats 4'x12"x12" and they have lots of travel room. I guess the 10 gal is another enclosure to put them into as I clean their enclosures...
Thank you for the info.. Sometimes common sense isn't so common until you've stopped to think about it
PS- your right about the Heat Rock example. In 1989 all us newbies Snake owners used were Heat Rocks and a lot of snakes back then had Brown marks on their belly. Terrible.

[Neal]

Well maybe I should refrain from using the 10G as one of the Quaretine enclosures ( I havent had to use both at one time anyway) and just use the 30 long as thats 4'x12"x12" and they have lots of travel room. I guess the 10 gal is another enclosure to put them into as I clean their enclosures...
Thank you for the info.. Sometimes common sense isn't so common until you've stopped to think about it
PS- your right about the Heat Rock example. In 1989 all us newbies Snake owners used were Heat Rocks and a lot of snakes back then had Brown marks on their belly. Terrible.

Yea. I mean in a bigger enclosure it's not so bad, but I always recommend the better choice first. I don't think I've ever had a dimmer malfunction on me, but I have used them in the past for lights, to give a night/day cycle, which came with heat, but it wouldn't of played a factor in death. I just use a dimmer switch to merely adjust the brightness of the light, but all my newer PVC enclosures have lighting in them for this purpose.

I also know that losing a snake due to something you could of prevented is hard, I lost my first snake last month due to an error on my part that combined with a lack of information about the rarely seen species anyways. It really bothered me and still bothers me because it was on my part. It's the first snake I've lost in 20+ years of keeping.

EDIT:
In keeping on my part, not from old age or anything.

[Elkhntr98]

Ok I will try out the 60 watt che...I'll try to get some pictures up whenever I can. I'm new to the forum so I am not allowed to add attachments yet...if not running on dimmers what's my next best option? Could I run a dimmer for one and thermostat for the next? Or should I run tstats on everything? Will something like the hydrofarm tstat work or do I need to bite the bullet and start picking up herpstats or ve's? Thanks for all the help already. I try to do my best to search as much as I can so I don't beat a question to death but I just haven't seen a lot on this exact subject. I do eventually plan on getting t8s...

[Elkhntr98]

Ok I will try out the 60 watt che...I'll try to get some pictures up whenever I can. I'm new to the forum so I am not allowed to add attachments yet...if not running on dimmers what's my next best option? Could I run a dimmer for one and thermostat for the next? Or should I run tstats on everything? Will something like the hydrofarm tstat work or do I need to bite the bullet and start picking up herpstats or ve's? Thanks for all the help already. I try to do my best to search as much as I can so I don't beat a question to death but I just haven't seen a lot on this exact subject. I do eventually plan on getting t8s...