Yet another question

[grizz2534]

(Sorry I'm paranoid!)

I have a 75W infrared heat bulb that sits on top of the tank. The bulb itself is about an inch or so inside of the lamp. I have a branch, that was bigger then I realized and it's about an inch from the top of the cage, my BP was on top of this last night and he was touching the screen, is this bad? And about the light, at it's closest it's about 2 inches from the end of the branch. The lamp is fairly toasty, Is it possible that my snake could get burned on this just by touching the lamp through the screen? I usually have it on during the day while he's asleep, but it was kinda chilly in my room last night so i left it on for a while until the room temp got warm. I also have an UTH but with only that on the temp is maybe 75 and with the heat lamp it's closer to 90. Right above the UTH stays pretty warm. I need to get a probe to check just how warm, I touched the substrate and it was warm, but not very hot, so I'm guessing that's a good thing. Thanks for the help. Again sorry about all the questions, I'm just paranoid and want to give my animals the best environment I can.

D

[Moriar]

yeah move the branch around so he cannont get near the screen where the bulb is.

[grizz2534]

Wow, this guy, (me) is a moron! Why didn't I think of that! Seriously, I have thought about moving that stupid branch every way but just rotating it 180! Wow I'm dumb, that put the top of the branch at the opposite end of the tank (20L) so I'll see if that'll keep him away from the light, if not i guess I'll just get another branch!

Thanks.

D

[frankykeno]

The best option really is to try and go with just UTH heating. The over the head lamps can be a bugger to deal with as far as sucking up all available humidity as well as not providing the belly heat these snakes do best on. You might want to look at other heating options to address that. If your snake has to climb to get proper heat it's not able to use it's hides as effectively.

This is what happens to snakes that get access to hot bulbs. Now granted it's most likely she was in direct, physical contact with an unprotected and very hot bulb but it's just something people should see and be aware can happen (Orlah was like this when we bought her).



To sort out what the actual temps and humidity really are, I'd suggest an Acu-Rite. You can find them for around $10.00 (plus the cost of one AAA battery) at most WalMarts in the outdoor thermometer aisle. Lowe's and Home Depot also sell a similar product though under a different brand name.

[grizz2534]

OK, I'll go look into one of those after school. I had the tank set up before i got the snake and I put my hand in the hide and it was warm (not the most acurate way) He was up there for a couple hours after turned off the light too so I think he was just having fun?? Thanks for the info

D