newbie help...with set up

[Kingspade]

i got my first ball about a month and a half ago... hes already shed and eats 1 mouse a week. i have a question about my setup... i ahve a 20 long tank with a undertank heater and a heat lamp... theres a screen top that i blocked off 2/3 of it to try and keep the temps and humidity up.. i' m still struggling to keep the temps and humidity steady. like during the day with the heat lamp on it can get as low as 20 to 30%. At night the temp has gotten to 70 on the cold side...(i live in wisconsin it gets really cold now). i also have a large water bowl and two same sized hides made of plastic bowls...i can get pics if i would help. i'm just looking for any suggestions or how other peoples are set up.

[kavmon]

check this out. it was a sticky at the top of this forum.



http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=32800


cass, does a really good job with glass tank setups.


vaughn

[snakemum]

re: the sticky.....it looks like there is very little space for ventilation in the picture of the covered screen...once the light sits in the opening...is this OK?

[Wholuvsyah]

Hiyah!

Thanks for posting the set up pictures. My setup is similar. 29 gallon tank with the 3/4 of the lid closed in by a plastic insert. I have the undertank heater on one side which is actually the "cool side" I have Cyrus's cave over that. The other side I have a ceramic heater (100 w) and his log. His water dish is in the middle. I was caught off guard by the changes in winter ambient temp and he suffered a respitory infection. I switched from a red infared light source and I am trying to see which product produces enough heat. He is on antibiotics now and is doing well. I also changed substrates to increase humidity from indoor/outdoor carpeting to lizard litter (humidity went from 55 to 65). He has always eaten well (a mouse a week) however my Vet feels he is skinny but I am not so sure. He is about 1lb 3 onces and is around 32 inches long. He is around 1year and 3 months old. I have had him 8 months and this is the first health scare we have had. I am very concerned about the temps in his tank and would welcome additional suggestions. Cool end is 80 degrees with his cave temp around 85. The Hot end is now at 90 top of log and around 82 lower level. Do you think I should fully cover the tank bottom with under tank heaters? This heat is constant and I only have digital thermometers to check temp and humidity. I will check out the termostats.
Sorry for the long post but it is really difficult to find people with accurate
info.

Thanks
Tina

[hoo-t]

re: the sticky.....it looks like there is very little space for ventilation in the picture of the covered screen...once the light sits in the opening...is this OK?

Yes, there is open space in the corners of the cutout, and also the light itself is ventilated. The screen lid doesn't fit so tight to prevent airflow, and the heat from the light will create airflow. Heat rises, drawing air through and around the light, and fresh air will come into the tank in the cooler areas.

Steve

[hoo-t]

Hiyah!

Thanks for posting the set up pictures. My setup is similar. 29 gallon tank with the 3/4 of the lid closed in by a plastic insert. I have the undertank heater on one side which is actually the "cool side" I have Cyrus's cave over that. The other side I have a ceramic heater (100 w) and his log. His water dish is in the middle. I was caught off guard by the changes in winter ambient temp and he suffered a respitory infection. I switched from a red infared light source and I am trying to see which product produces enough heat. He is on antibiotics now and is doing well. I also changed substrates to increase humidity from indoor/outdoor carpeting to lizard litter (humidity went from 55 to 65). He has always eaten well (a mouse a week) however my Vet feels he is skinny but I am not so sure. He is about 1lb 3 onces and is around 32 inches long. He is around 1year and 3 months old. I have had him 8 months and this is the first health scare we have had. I am very concerned about the temps in his tank and would welcome additional suggestions. Cool end is 80 degrees with his cave temp around 85. The Hot end is now at 90 top of log and around 82 lower level. Do you think I should fully cover the tank bottom with under tank heaters? This heat is constant and I only have digital thermometers to check temp and humidity. I will check out the termostats.
Sorry for the long post but it is really difficult to find people with accurate
info.

Thanks
Tina

1 lb 3 oz converts to about 538 grams (how most of us snake people weigh our snakes ) . Doesn't sound too bad. At that size though, your snake could easily be eating more than one mouse a week. You could try offering an additional mouse as soon as he finishes the first, or you could try a small rat.

As far as your tank heat goes, the ground level on the warm side needs to be around 90 to 92 degrees (while fighting an RI, maybe a few degrees higher). With what you described, your cool side and warm side are actually reversed! 85 cool side, 82 warm side. You really need to have an under tank heater (UTH) on the warm side to get that ground level temp up. You'll have a hard time getting rid of the RI otherwise. Is your current UTH on a rheostat (dimmer switch)? If so, just bump it up til you get the ground level at 90 - 92 (92 - 95 during RI) degrees, and start calling that the warm side. Otherwise, you should probably get a larger UTH for the warm side and dimmer switches (lamp dimmers) or thermostat to control the output. With proper under tank heat, you really don't need heat from above, just light. So you could use a low wattage incandescant bulb for light.

You did good bumping up the humidity. Its critical that you get the warm side heat raised, keeping the humidity up there. Otherwise, your snake will probably not beat the RI.

Steve

[Wholuvsyah]

Ok,

I originally had my tank set up with the warming light and the uth on
the same side. My darn snake would never go over to that side. I would
always find him under his log freezing to the touch. I switched things up to
try to get a minimum tank temp of 82 degrees. If the cool side falls below 80 degrees I will get an UTH for that side and call it good. My house is usually a little chilly even though I try to keep the temp at 70. I am upping his feeding
schedule to every four days. I know he will eat a small rat so will try to switch him over to rats. Is is better to feed him larger prey or feed him more frequently? He has no trouble with 1 med-large mouse every four days. He never had any trouble killing on first strike but this last feed it took four attempts. Maybe the mouse was just fast? He has no mucus I only saw it once and he seemed to cough it all up so that is good. I think the antibiotic/
temp increase caught RI in time. With misting I am able to maintain 65 humidity so that is good.
Thanks for replying. I appreciate your comments.

Thanks
Tina

[tmlowe5704]

Ok,

I originally had my tank set up with the warming light and the uth on
the same side. My darn snake would never go over to that side. I would
always find him under his log freezing to the touch. I switched things up to
try to get a minimum tank temp of 82 degrees. If the cool side falls below 80 degrees I will get an UTH for that side and call it good. My house is usually a little chilly even though I try to keep the temp at 70. I am upping his feeding
schedule to every four days. I know he will eat a small rat so will try to switch him over to rats. Is is better to feed him larger prey or feed him more frequently? He has no trouble with 1 med-large mouse every four days. He never had any trouble killing on first strike but this last feed it took four attempts. Maybe the mouse was just fast? He has no mucus I only saw it once and he seemed to cough it all up so that is good. I think the antibiotic/
temp increase caught RI in time. With misting I am able to maintain 65 humidity so that is good.
Thanks for replying. I appreciate your comments.

Thanks
Tina

How and where are you measuring your temps?

[Wholuvsyah]

I have a digital temp gauge and a humidity sensor (not digital). I take random

readings usually middle of the left, center, and right sides. I check the readings
in his hides -a cave and a log. He is up to 95 now on the hot side and 78 on the low. The humdity is around 65 to 70 right now. He is hanging out in his cave which is right at 89 inside temp. I switched the setup around this morning and I am watching the cool side to make sure it stays warm enough which was a problem.