Heat Source Location

[PythonJiuJitsu]

I have a question about the heat source and where a good location for it is in their enclosure. Currently I have it setup so the heatsource is under or over their main hide house. ( Usually a hollowed rock or a half log hollowed out ). On the other side of the enclosure they have a water bowl, and in between the two halfs usually is some foliage, I.E some raise log or rock with false leaves. Ive heard rumors that you should not have the heat source located at the main hide house but this seems counter productive as this is where a ball will spend most of his time, especially when sleeping. What are your thoughts?

[Kaorte]

This is why you have two identical hides. One for the cool side, one for the hot side above the heat source.

Since you have two living in the same enclosure, I would get 4 identical hides, 2 for the hot, 2 for the cold. This way they aren't competing as much for the best spot in the tank.

Also, stick with the hollowed out rocks. The half logs are crappy.

Make sure whatever heat source you use, you have something controlling it to make sure it doesn't get too hot!

[PythonJiuJitsu]

I have it setup similar to that. I have a hide house made of a hollowed rock at one end, and on the other I have another solid rock with a good branch and false leaves providing decent cover for him or her to hide in depending on which enclosure im dealing with. Im just having trouble getting the temperature just right. The heat pat seems to do fine for keeping the inside of his warm side hide nice and comfortable but the ambient temperature is a bit lower than id like. But when I add an additional heat source say from a lamp it gets farrrr to hot and he or she wont ever spend time in the hide house. Any suggestions?

[dr del]

Hi,

Use a dimmer or thermostat to control the secondary heat source the same way you are supposed to control the primary?

If it is a ceramic bulb (i.e. no light emitted ) then you could use an on/ off type of thermostat but if it emitts light then you are better spending the extra for a proportional thermostat as the light blinking on and off gets annoying as heck pretty swiftly plus it shortens the bulbs life considerably compared to the proportional. In both instances you could try using a dimmer ( rheostat ) but remember that if your room temps fluctuate you would have to be continually monitoring and adjusting that - this also gets to be a pain remarkably swiftly.

Possibly the most econimical way to do it would be to use proportional thermostat connected straight to your primary heat source to get the warm end temps spot on and connect the secondary heat source to it through a rheostat then simply adjust the rheostat untill both the warm end and cool end are at the right temps.

It sounds more complicated than it really is but it does require a little more monitoring and fiddling at first to get it right - but once it is right then you shouldn't have to do anthing more than just monitor for problems the same way you would with anything else.

The main thing is to have good reliable (digital ) thermometers during the process so you actually know for certain what the temps and himidity in various locations are - the one most often recomended is the acurite weather station with probe from wallmart for around $10.

For random spot checks I cannot overstate how great (and fun ) temp guns are.


dr del