New to the forums, and BPs, help please!

[Thedotw]

Hi there, everyone!

I've been lurking the forums the past few days to make sure everything is good and fine for my new baby BP, and I have the set-up of my tank seeming to be right-as-rain.... but Just in case, i wanted to present it all to you for review, JUST TO BE SURE

(BTW SORRY I CANT SHOW PICS OF HER, AND THE CAGE, I DONT HAVE A CAMERA OR ANYTHING)

Her tank is a 10-gal glass tank with a wire-mesh top. The wire mesh is covered over 3/4 of the top (For ventilation and the heat-lamp for basking) with 3 layers of aluminum foil-shiny side down, with duct-tape on the top of the lid, as well as used to secure the foil on it. No where is there tape available for her to get stuck to, so there wont be any scale damage.

She has a repti cage-carpet matting for the first layer on the bottom, as well as 2 layers of newspaper, and a final layer of paper towel to make sure she doesn't have mites or ticks. These layers also help to keep her from getting burned by the UTH under her main hidey-hole.

The basking lamp I provided is a 75-watt Infra-Red bulb, which is connected to, as well as the UTH, a thermostat, so I can control the temp of her environment more easily.

Also- The UTH and Lamp are on opposite sides of the tank.

She has her hidey hole over her UTH, her water dish in the middle for soaking and drinking, and her "basking tree" (its a little log-like thing that looks like one log over another, like a dead half-fallen tree) under the heat lamp side of the tank.

I have a thermometer probe that is on her tree to keep track of the heat there, and a thermometer-sticker thing so I can see how how it is overall in her tank (the sticker is on the opposite end of the tank so it's not getting light). I have a hygrometer nest to the sticker to keep track of the humidity, and whenever it dips below 40% I just spray a little water in with a spray bottle, and whenever it's above 60% I let it air out a little, till it dips back below.

the sticker is registering at 84, ambient temp, and the probe at 84 as well (I have the light turned off for now, because I wanted to see if she was avoiding the heat of the heating pad.).


Now, with all that said.....

She IS avoiding the heat source in the tank, usually at all times- right now I have the lamp off, and she's on the opposite side of the tank, where there isnt a UTH, and usually when I have the light on, she's on the opposite side of the tank where the heating pad is.








on a side-note:

I have to get a new bulb for my lamp because the 75 watt bulb I'm using is too powerful- on low it keeps the basking side at a crispy 97 degree, if not 99.

So I have to go back and get a 50 watt bulb.


Either way, she is very much so avoiding heat.



With that said- suggestions? Comments? criticisms? questions?

Please, gimme it all!

[Nate]

the stick on's suck....really bad.

You should definitely get an Acurite digital thermometer...bout 11 bucks at wal-mart

[PythonWallace]

You don't need a heat lamp at all. It sounds like your temps are too high overall. Get rid of the lamp and hook the UTH up to the thermostat. Don't let the hot spot get over 95 degrees! She is avoiding the heat because she is cooking. Get an accurite and put it on the cool side with the probe above the UTH near her hide.

[ladywhipple02]

I would ditch the light altogether... sucks up moisture and is, apparently keeping things too hot.

How are you measuring humidity? They need a steady humidity level of about 60% or so... it's going to be hard keeping it up in a glass enclosure, but there are multiple ways of going about it---reflectix, putting the water bowl over the UTH---you can do a search on here for that. This is where Nate's suggestion of an Accurite comes in handy, too... measures temps and humidity.

Also, she needs another hide... you need one hide on the warm side and one on the cool side.

Check out the caresheets on here... it's good reading!!!

[Thedotw]

I would ditch the light altogether... sucks up moisture and is, apparently keeping things too hot.

How are you measuring humidity? They need a steady humidity level of about 60% or so... it's going to be hard keeping it up in a glass enclosure, but there are multiple ways of going about it---reflectix, putting the water bowl over the UTH---you can do a search on here for that. This is where Nate's suggestion of an Accurite comes in handy, too... measures temps and humidity.

Also, she needs another hide... you need one hide on the warm side and one on the cool side.

Check out the caresheets on here... it's good reading!!!

There's a hygrometer stuck to the inside of the tank, reads at about 50% most of the time, if it gets below 40, I spray a mist of water in there, and if it get above 60% I let it air out a little.

I live in FL, so luckily , humidity doesnt seem to be much of a problem.

[Nate]

I live in FL, so luckily , humidity doesnt seem to be much of a problem.

Where in FL? Yep...humidity typically isn't an issue...BUT...your stick ons ARE an issue, and they are not at all accurate!

[ladywhipple02]

The sticky one's don't work so well as the digital hygrometers... it may be reading at 40% and not be 40% (which is too low...they need a steady humidity level of around 60%).

A thermostat was recommended earlier---sorry, forgot about that!---and should be highly considered! If you hook your UTH up to a thermostat, you can keep the warm side at a steady temp. Even at that, though, in a glass cage, your heat is going to disperse too widely and your cool side will be too cool.

Maybe a lower wattage red or blue light they don't see that spectrum of color)?

I don't use tanks for this reason....... anyone chime in on the light thing?

[Brimstone111888]

I live in Fort Myers and humidity is always around 55-60% and during shed I bump it to 70-80%.

[Thedotw]

I live in Orlando, FL. Going to UCF. Humidity isnt the problem mostly. And I'll make sure to keep it above 60%. thanks for that as well.


Anyhow, I have a thermostat as well- both the light and UTH are plugged in it- not the light anymore though (thanks for that advice) I'll look into finding a digital thermometer/hygrometer as well, so I can get rid of those stick ons all together.

[Brimstone111888]

Don't buy one of the ZooMeds ones they sell at the pet store. www.reptilebasics.com has some nice Ranco's for around $75