hot side hide temp??

[new2BP]

last night i did a little experiment. my hot side temperature is staying right around 83 - 84 so i decided to take a bowl and lay it upside down (imatating the hide for the BP) with the probe under it to see what the temperature would climb to. it wasnt long and it climbed over 90. so i am guessing if i can keep my hot side at 83 or 84, then have my hide on my hot side which may stay around the low 90's because it keeps the heat in, plus have my cool side down in the high - mid 70's i should have a good setup i think. plus my humidity is staying at about 55 - 56 % so everthing is looking good. what are your thoughts.
thanks

p.s. i am glad i decided to purchase and get our setup ready prior to getting the BP. the baby will be here on friday.

[Smulkin]

I would not rely on the hide as the sole source of good hot side temps.

You would be better served and your BP better off keeping the hot side in the 92 degree range. A valid point to note in your experiment is the ability of some hides to become heatsinks - taking temp readings inside them is a very good idea. If you find the temp inside the hot side hide is TOO warm all you need to do is put a few holes in the topside of the hide to allow the heat to vent out.

[doobysnack]

think you said you put a bowl in there well after a hoel is cut for the bp to get into the hide there will be a place for heat to escape

[Adam_Wysocki]

What if your ball python would rather sit on top of the hide?? You can't make a setup that works well for you and trust that the snake will think like you do. You must make the setup right for the snake.

92-94 on one side, 82-84 on the other .... 70's is asking for an upper respiratory infection.

Make sure you get a thermometer with a min/max setting so that you can see how low and high the temps are getting when you're not looking ... like at night while you are sleeping ... that's the killer for most people because ambient household temps often drop at night.

92-94 on one side, 82-84 on the other ... everything else will just work itself out.

-adam

[new2BP]

adam, i got a digital themometer that has the high and low temp redout that resets itsself everyday. i have now got my temps up to where they should be as of right now but i had to use a 75 watt infrared light and now i am lossing some humidity. i am sure with your guys help i will have it ready for friday.
thanks

[Smulkin]

Are you using glass tank/screen-lid combo?

If so have you closed off the screen with anything yet? My wife still uses this approach for her fuscus and it works very well. The con-tac paper (clear) across the lid helps keep her humidity where it needs to be - which is pretty significant with that species.

Glad things are shaping up with it.

[new2BP]

my lid is mainly all plasctic with a cover on the front that is more like a lid that i will have to secure when we get the snake. i may need to ventalate more because it is pretty much closed off. the back half of my lid is glass with a few holes cut into the plastic area that is around the glass.

[Smulkin]

Gotcha.

Not sure exactly what that looks like - but with the plain screen lids we covered the whole thing with con-tac paper and then cut the corners free (in a couple of cases we left 1" strips along opposite (short) ends to allow for adequate airflow.

[new2BP]

smulkin, my humity has climbed to 72% and seemed to level off. i placed a air pump that my brother had spare from one of his fish tanks. placed the pump unit outside of the tank and put the end of the hose in the water dish which makes the bubbles. not sure of the name. worked great for getting the humidity up but i diffenetly need a little more airflow to get it down about 15%. i may setup a timer system for it to turn it on at certian times and off at others. might do this with the heating system too. any thoughts on a timer system?

[Smulkin]

Hmm.

If you stop pumping bubbles through the water where does that leave the humidity? Also word of caution - air pumps can create a good bit of vibration - when I was running the DIY humidiifier I had to place the pump on a different shelf altogether because I din't want to subject the BP to all the vibrations.

Instead of a timer have you considered a thermostat for the heating? Since temperature affects how much moisture the air can hold once you get the temps stabilized (heed Adam's advice on where your cool end should be temp-wise) I'd tackle the humidity at that point. Depending on how much water the waterdish/bowl holds the placement of that can also impact humidity (placing on warm side produces a slight bump and vice versa).