New BP owner- want to make sure I'm doing this right!

[rocknrollmama1980]

Sometimes I think reading too much information can be as troublesome as not enough! I have Mr. Mittens in a ten gallon tank with a 50 watt bulb. I purchased a small heat mat today, but I am unsure whether a heat mat and the light will be too much. Any feedback? I currently have a zoo med gauge (dial) which I know am thinking is worthless (based on what I've read). I tried a digital one today but I hated it and need to return it. The dial thermometer says it is 78 degrees and 85% humidity. I did recently move the lamp though from one side to the middle which might be why the temp is lower. I have a thermostat in my Amazon shopping cart should you say that I should add the heating pad.

Oddly enough, Mr. Mittens is super active around his cage. My corn snake hides all day and night and my bp is a mad man.


Any suggestions or feedback is much appreciated!

I have attached

[shadowsnakes]

I would get rid of the bulb and go with a UTH connected to thermostat. You need a hot side around 90-92 and a cold side around 80-85 with hides on each for your snake to be comfortable and secure. I'm afraid the one bulb is going to provide a consistent temperature for most of the enclosure with no way to comfortably escape the heat. Humidity is also very high, try taking off some of the foil topping the tank.

[BPLuvr]

I would say the dial indicators may be off. With such a large lamp housing (I am guessing 6 inch) I would think it would be much warmer in there unless the room itself is in the 60's. I would go with a ceramic heat emitter instead of the bulb and have it on a thermostat (or dimmer if that works with them). Maybe also move the heating element to one side so it is not direct heat over the entire tank. Lastly a UTH with thermostat for the hot side. It is very likely he is moving around due to it not being comfortable. This thermometer works well and can give you readings on both sides of the tank. Just make sure you bury the wire under the substrate well. Acu-Rite

[Jackie]

I use an uth and 50 watt at night and it's working out great.


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[winglesshornet]

There's no right or wrong way to set up a terrarium as long as you have the temp and humidity at the required specifications for the animal, both on the cool side and hot side of the tank. The zoo med dial gauge is only good for the trash. the acu-rite as mentioned above by BPluvr is fairly accurate, and has two temp readouts as well as humidity. going off the top of my head per mfg.'s specs they are accurate to plus or minus 3 degrees "F" and 4% RH in humidity and cost like 12 bucks at walmart give or take. i have two of them and i check them every 3 months (I'm a calibration technician). however i do wish the acu-rite had multiple probes rather than just one external but you can easily modify it to have three if your good with a solder iron. as for the UTH that is a must have since snakes thermo regulate through their bellies mostly. There are different reasons/opinions about the lighting rather daytime or nighttime. i have a 60 watt daytime and two red night time lights at 60 watt and 100 watt on timers only because the room my BP is in gets too cold and shes in a big glass terrarium. I rather pay a little extra on the electric bill than let my little girl suffer. i keep the ambient temp for her at 80-83 on the cool end and 85-90 on the hot end with the UTH temp offset to keep the top surface of my substrate (moss mats or terrarium carpet) at a steady 90 degrees, and humidity is a perfect 65%. there's a million ways to do it and the way i see it if your snake is shedding good, health is good, and eating.... we are doing somthing right.

[winglesshornet]

Oh yeah i forgot to mention...lol, you need to have two hides, one for cool side and one for hot side at minimum. its better to have them identical too so the snake don't sacrifice temp for comfort.

[rocknrollmama1980]

Thanks for the feed back. My thermostat should arrive tomorrow. I need to get the identical hide. I have some stumps and leaves on the cool side. I guess I was afraid I would make it too crowded for him.

I also purchased a thermometer gun today. I need to find a balance. The under hide temp is great when the light is off but then the rest of the cage is at 75. If the light is on then the under rock gets in the mid 90's. which might be too hot.

[Crazymonkee]

Put your lamp on a dimmer so you can control the output

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[rocknrollmama1980]

Is there a certain dimmer I should get?


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[winglesshornet]

ball pythons don't really need a lot of space but the ten gallon tank is hard to find a gradiant because of its small enclosure but it is poossible. a general rule of thumb is the tank not be less than 2/3 in length of the snake long. Mine out grew hers in two months (10 gal). during that time I used a 75 watt blue nightlight bulb to keep from getting to hot which would dehydrate. 75 degrees for an extended period of time is like us going outside in 40 degree weather with no jacket to a snake and would develope ri. snakes are real sensitive to temps but IMO I would rather have it a little on the warm side but closely monitor for dehydration (dry wrinkly skin, can easily be confused with pre-shed) because it would be easier to deal with than ri.