First BP for son

[slseals1969]

We got our son his first snake for his 14th birthday. We got a super friendly mojave from petsmart. Not my first choice of where to get it from but he had been there several months, he is very docile and we got a great deal on him and a full setup during the zoo med sale Saturday. Unfortunately, we listened to the girl at petsmart that said everything we needed was in the kit and I started buying other things we needed before I found the forum. So, the biggest issue its too much heat from the uth. I made the mistake of getting a rheostat instead of a thermostat. Before we realized how hot it was getting, the uth had the bottom glass at 125. We kept adjusting the setting down a far as it will go and it's still about 110. Is there something wrong with the uth, or will a true thermostat correct the issue? Obviously, the therm probe won't be between the glass and uth. What's the best way to attach it to the outside, cover the probe with aluminum tape completely? And Before you ask, we have temporarily unplugged the heater completely and are using heat lamps for now.

Thanks for your help in advance, already learning a lot.


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[tttaylorrr]

Is there something wrong with the uth, or will a true thermostat correct the issue? Obviously, the therm probe won't be between the glass and uth. What's the best way to attach it to the outside, cover the probe with aluminum tape completely? And Before you ask, we have temporarily unplugged the heater completely and are using heat lamps for now.

a good thermostat with proper probe placement will correct the heat issue; i would get a cheap thermostat to use for a year or so until you can save up for your forever thermostat. the thermostat probe DOES go between the glass and the UTH, and you use a probed thermoMETER or IR temp gun to measure the temp of the floor within the enclosure. do NOT tape over the probe, you can tape over the insulated wire but not the probe itself.

please read over the stickied thread on How To Set Up a Glass Enclosure if you haven't already.

lastly, welcome!!! beautiful lil mojave.

[vikingr]

My personal preference is 100% direct contact of the UTH against the bottom of the cage. As such, I hot glued my Herpstat probe directly to the bottom of the UTH and it works like a charm. Use a temperature gun to measure the cage's floor surface temp and adjust the thermostat accordingly. My thermostat is set ~5F higher to achieve a 90-92 hotspot on the floor...

Don't tape the probe as mentioned above, Herpstat actually advises against foil tape, use hot glue or even duct tape to secure the wire if needed. Electrical tape will not hold...

Nice BP btw!

[Stewart_Reptiles]

A reliable thermostat will correct the issue, but it needs to be installed properly which means secured on the UTH itself.

If you are currently using a dimmer it does not adjust the temps and has ambient temp rise so does the temps from the UTH.

Dimmer are a temporary solution and need to be re-asjusted daily if the room is not stable.

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[slseals1969]

Please don't take this the wrong way, just curious. My uth doesn't have the channel for the thermostat probe, so if I had put it between the tank and uth it would basically be taped down. How is that different from tapping it to the outside?

Thanks again for your replies. I did read the tank setup sticky, unfortunately it was after I set up my tank😀

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[tttaylorrr]

Please don't take this the wrong way, just curious. My uth doesn't have the channel for the thermostat probe, so if I had put it between the tank and uth it would basically be taped down. How is that different from tapping it to the outside?

because the heat gets trapped and builds up between the UTH and the glass, then dissipates upwards. taping the wire (either to the glass or the UTH) and placing the probe between the UTH and bottom of the enclosure provides a stable placement of the probe with as few variables as possible that could cause an inaccurate reading. taping it to the bottom is not going to read the heat that's moving up through the bottom of the enclosure, but rather the UTH itself and the surrounding air. the most accurate reading will be between the UTH and the bottom of the enclosure.

TBH it might not be a huge difference in accuracy, but i try to be as accurate as possible.

[slseals1969]

Ok, got everything dialed in. Thermostat keeping temp in the right spot. Got an auto mister to keep humidity where it needs to be. He wouldn't eat first couple weeks. Waited until night to try this time and he finally took the mouse. Problem is he's been working on swallowing it for at least 20 minutes now. It's just a fuzzy so it should be no problem for him. Definitely much smaller than gods thickest part. Haven't weighed boom but according to Persmart they had him since last August so at least a year old. They said they were feeding him multiple fuzzies so that's what I went with but he's still only got it about halfway into his mouth.

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[Sunnieskys]

Looking at him he should be on hoppers or adult mice. They feed them to maintain not for growth. I'm sure once his feeding is completely established it will be quicker. He might have caught it at an odd angle too.

[Craiga 01453]

Are we talking fuzzy mice?
If so, they are waaay too small for your snake. So are hoppers. BPs eat hoppers as hatchlings, only for their first few (3-5)meals and quickly move to adult mice. As you can see on the chart below, even hoppers are fed only for the first few weeks of a BPs life.
If you're talking rats then you're probably ok, but not knowing his weight it's tough to say.
Please don't listen to the pet store employees. It's very rare to find one who has a clue.

I hope this chart helps....

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[Sunnieskys]

Please don't listen to the pet store employees. It's very rare to find one who has a clue.


Ooof, that hurt! Lol