New to reptile care. please help asap.

[dizzmcd]

So, thanks to the misguided teachings of a Pet-notso-Smart employee, I bought a snake and only brought home a heat lamp for his tank. I did my own research and bought a heating pad for nighttime use, but I don't have another source of heat, and only the themometer that comes with the kit. Is he going to be okay with just the heating pad at night? I know I have to turn the lamp of to create a day/night cycle, so how do I keep him warm without using a moonlight lamp? Heating pads CAN'T be all you guys are using, its just not putting out enough heat. right now I've got a heater for the entire room so the lights can stay off, but that's expensive and it keeps the ENTIRE tank warm and sucks keeping it around 50% humidity.. I think its 80F right now at 50%H. Will he be okay with the heater running until I get a moonlight lamp? Should i just keep the lamp on at night? The lamp does fine to keep the temp where its supposed to be. About 83-85 cool side, 89-93 warm side, certain spots being warmer than others. Idk. Where should I go from here people? I was made to think I had everything I needed, but I don't, and can't afford to buy any more for a while.

EDIT: also, its a 20 gal tank instead of a 10. the 10 gal got too hot with the lamp, so we gave it more space to regulate the temp and that much seems to have worked. also he has plenty of hides and sticks and vines and seems to love me and his tank. gets inactive for hours or so but has been moving around, and has made poo once. so he seems fine so far... imo...

[carlson]

I have a uth hooked up to a thermostat set to 91 on hot side nothing one cold side and no light the window takes care of that. 92 in warm hide 85 above hide and that area of tank and 79 on cold side since I heat trailer to that most people here use racks with heat tape to keep their snakes ill be making one in a month

[dr del]

Hi,

You can insulate the outside of the tank with cork, polystyrene (sp? ), bubblewrap etc.

The bulb in the heatlamp can be changed to a red or blue one which will not disturb them and can be left on 24/7.

This will keep the ambient temps up and then your heat pad and thermostat can be used to provide the hot spot.

Check out some of the stickies and thy will show you how others have organised their setups.


dr del

[NormanSnake]

You definitely should get a thermostat if you don't have one for that UTH. It doesn't seem like it, but it WILL get way too hot for your snake. You should never let your temps rise above 95. Heat mats can get well over 100, and have been recorded to hit 120.

Here's what I use, it's the cheapest one I've seen and works well for one snake: http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR...arm+thermostat

All you do is plug the thermostat in, set the temperature you want the heat mat to be, put the thermostat probe under the warm side hide, and then plug the heat mat into the thermostat. I can post a picture of what it looks like all hooked up if that's confusing. The probe from the thermostat will turn the heat mat on and off in order to keep it at the temp you set it to.

[Valentine Pirate]

If you have a screen lid, blocking it off with tin foil, a plate of acrylic, or something else solid (other than around your light) will help with temps and humidity. Nice big water bowl under the lamp once you get a blue/red bulb can bump up your humidity significantly. The stickies Dr D mentioned have a ton of info as well, I'd check them out

I'm really glad you did your own research! Once you have the snake's set up stabilized the maintenance is easy and you're going to have a healthy happy snake Welcome to BP.net!

[Kaorte]

What kind of thermometers are you using? I'm guessing you have those round analog thermometers? If so, get rid of them. They aren't accurate enough for the purposes of monitoring your ball pythons temperatures. Get a couple digital thermometers with probes and put one under the substrate over the UTH, and one on your cool end, opposite of the UTH, on the surface of the substrate.

I'm sorry you didn't make it here sooner so you could figure out all the things you would actually need. I made the same mistakes with my first snake. Found out I bought a bunch of crap I didn't need. :/

[XoKarma]

I have a 36x12x18 glass tank that I insulated 3 sides with thick black poster board and covered half the screen top with a folded towl. During the day I heat it with a 75 watt reptile basking light and at night I switch to a high heat off putting red reptile light. Each bulb cost me 8$ and his tank stays 88-92 on the hot side and 77–83 on the cool side. I don't use uths at all. Also his humidity stays 50–55% on the towl covered side and 32–37% on the heated side.

Edit: a larger water bowl, or two water bowls, one near the heat and one on the cooler side will improve humidity.

1.0 ball pythons - Koba
0.1 pitbull/lab - Cinnamon
0.1 collie/elkhound - Fluffy
0.2 children
1.0 boyfriend

[brobertson]

You definitely should get a thermostat if you don't have one for that UTH. It doesn't seem like it, but it WILL get way too hot for your snake. You should never let your temps rise above 95. Heat mats can get well over 100, and have been recorded to hit 120.

Here's what I use, it's the cheapest one I've seen and works well for one snake: http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR...arm+thermostat

All you do is plug the thermostat in, set the temperature you want the heat mat to be, put the thermostat probe under the warm side hide, and then plug the heat mat into the thermostat. I can post a picture of what it looks like all hooked up if that's confusing. The probe from the thermostat will turn the heat mat on and off in order to keep it at the temp you set it to.

X2! A thermostat is probably the most important thing that you need for your snake!

[martin82531]

Here is some good info about temps and such:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...04#post1845904

[dizzmcd]

Well, to those who say i need a better themometer, this themometer doesn't use a probe, but its digital and cost nearly 300 dollars. Its an advanced tool for weather conditions a friend of mine has, and its very accurate. My temps right now with the themometer are 79.7 and 89.7 WITH the UTH on,no thermostat. the heating pad itself isn't giving off very much heat. I don't have the tank insulated, but i do have the top covered with a towel with a cut-out for the light. The snake seems fine right now, will these temps do okay?