Plastic Tub setup questions!

[Stewy]

Hello everyone! I'm new here, and new to owning ball pythons in general, but I have been lurking here for the last week or so, learning a lot about my new pets.

I just bought two ball pythons, "Slithers" and "Slim" who came combined in a glass tank, with only one heater, a huge hide, and a whole lot of other stuff that you guys wouldn't approve of. I guess the snakes are brothers, and have been in the same twenty gallon tank since they were adopted by the previous owners.

After reading many, many hours worth of threads on this fourm, I know there are tons of things wrong with this setup. For one, the ambient air temperature is around 70 degrees, and the one hot spot in the tank is around 82 degrees. However, the snakes seem to feed just fine -- we fed them on Monday and they ate with no heistation at all.

That's just some background information. After reading this fourm, I figured out the two zoned heater requirement, and a bunch of other things. I have purchased two seperate Sterlite containers for the snakes, hides, some visually appealing toys, but I still haven't figured out the heater situation.

I really want to move them out of their current tank ASAP. I was thinking about buying two 8"x8" Exo-Therm heating pads, and regulating them by using a lamp dimmer switch, as has been suggested in many posts here. I can acquire the Exo-Therm heating pads at the local PetCo for $14.99 each, and I can get the dimmer switches at the local Home Depot. Is there a better way to heat the cage? What are other people with plastic tubs using to heat their tank?

Also, my house temperature does not have a very large range. At the hottest it gets 72, at the lowest it might be 67. I believe with this tight range I will not be needing a thermostat. Am I correct in this assumption?

Thanks for reading my post, and for the replies!

-Matthew

[xdeus]

Welcome to the forum!

I have to congratulate you on doing the research and making changes to accomodate your new pets.

You're right in assuming that the UTHs are the way to go. The exo-therm heating pads should be fine. If you want to upgrade, you can take a look at some of the UTHs on Beanfarm.

You can certainly get by with a dimmer especially if your home temps stay pretty steady, but it's always nice to have the security of a thermostat. I know a $100 thermostat might seem like a lot of money, but if you think about the number of years that you'll have your snakes it really isn't that much.

Good luck, and try to snap some pics if you get a chance!

[Stewy]

Welcome to the forum!

I have to congratulate you on doing the research and making changes to accomodate your new pets.

You're right in assuming that the UTHs are the way to go. The exo-therm heating pads should be fine. If you want to upgrade, you can take a look at some of the UTHs on Beanfarm.

You can certainly get by with a dimmer especially if your home temps stay pretty steady, but it's always nice to have the security of a thermostat. I know a $100 thermostat might seem like a lot of money, but if you think about the number of years that you'll have your snakes it really isn't that much.

Good luck, and try to snap some pics if you get a chance!

Thanks for the quick reply! I'll have to take some pictures of Slithers and Slim and post them up here soon. Based on the last few days I've spent lurking here, everyone is very friendly and open to novice-type questions.

The $100 thermostat does seem like a lot of money -- right now. However, my birthday is coming up in less than a month, so perhaps I'll use the dimmer switch for a month, then get the proper equipment for a b-day present. Which thermostat would you recommend? I'm assuming the thermostat has two thermometers which are somehow attached to two seperate outlets which switch on and off to regulate the heat. Does this not create wide temperature swings?

When I put the Exo Therm pads under my tank, I'm assuming I can not place the tank directly on the heating pads, but rather I need it to be elevated a quarter of an inch or so above the heating pad. Is this correct? Does anyone have a ballpark figure of how warm a plugged in Exo-Therm pad gets without regulation?

Thanks!

-Matthew

[Stewy]

Also, I bought two of these tubs, one for each snake:

http://www.sterilite.com/Category.ht...ctCategory=37#

I have the 1886 model. It seems that the ends with the latch are quite secure, however I'm concerned that one of my snakes might escape out of the long unsecured side of the tub. I remember reading another topic on this fourm about securing the top of the tub using some type of clips used for paper, (not paper clips, but those heavy-duty clips used for holding documents together.) However, when I looked at those clips, it seemed that they would just slip right off if Slithers ever got the motivation to poke his nose through the crack. I though about drilling some holes through the lid and the outer lip of the container and putting something like a small safety pin through both of the holes, effectively holding the lid together.

Has anyone else got a more elegant solution to this problem? Slithers and Slim are two years old, and 2 1/2 feet long, at most. Should I even be worried about them escaping though this hole?

Thanks again for reading these long-winded posts, I just want to be sure I'm doing the best I can for my new friends.

-Matthew

[xdeus]

I'd recommend the Herpstat or Helix proportional thermostats. Proportional means that it will regulate the amount of current to the UTHs so they normally won't be turned on completely, but rather slowly like a dimmer. The UTHs usually get around 110-120F, but they are known to malfunction if left unregulated and can potentially burn the tub. You can place the UTHs directly on the tub with a thermostat or dimmer so there's no need to leave a gap more than the 1/8" gap or so that is already underneath the tub.

The tub you selected looks fine, and you can either use clips to secure the sides or a removable zip-tie solution. The snakes should be okay without it, but the added security is nice.

Oh, the thermostats usually come with one probe (they make more expensive ones with two or four probes, but those aren't necessary in your situation). If the tubs and setups are identical, then just place the probe in one tub and plug both UTHs into a power strip that is plugged into the thermostat. The thermostat will regulate both of them equally.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

[Kizerk]

i've heard people get plug in lamp dimmers, you could try those, at least for now for regulating the temps