Is this normal for a new ball?

[jorgasm]

I'm probably making something out of nothing, but my new ball has spent most of its time up on this branch. I mean he looks fine up there and all; he movies around a lot, but I'm wondering if maybe the hot side with the hide is too hot? I'm using the under tank heater on the side with the hide and the guy I bought it from said it should stay around 100 degrees. I dunno. It stayed in the hide last night, so I guess its normal... Humidity is 65, and the temp of the air in the tank is 85ish. I just figured it would spend most of its time in its hide log is all. I need to stop worrying so much. I want to handle it so bad! Do I really have to wait a whole week? It was fine on my arm on the way home from the pet store.

[Shortandfat]

100 degrees is a bit to hot. You want to ideally keep it from 92 ish(+/- a degree or 2). If you do not have a thermostat i would suggest getting one to regulate your UTH. Hope this helps.



Tim

[jorgasm]

Thanks Tim. [= I plan on getting a digital read thermometer with a probe so I can put it right where I need to get the read, but if it shows that the temperature is too high what do I do? Remove the UTH? There is no dial to change the temp.

[Mochelem]

thermostat is a must have item when using a UTH, 100 degrees can give your snake thermal burn
the johnson controls or the ranco will do wonders for you found here
http://reptilebasics.com/Thermostats-p-1-c-250.html

And no you dont remove the heater, you get a thermostat

[jorgasm]

Ah, a thermostat. Thanks man! So can you tell me how this regulates the heat of my UTH?

[Mochelem]

You set it to the desired temp and when the desired temp is reached it shuts of power to the heat source, when it goes slightly below the desired temp it turns the heat source on.

The nicer thermostats (proportional) regulate the wattage going to the heat source. If the temp is too hot is sends less wattage to the heat source and if its too cold it sends more wattage without ever turning the heat source off.

With a single glass tank set up like you have there an on off thermostat will be fine. The johnson controls or the ranco will be fine...

[jorgasm]

Awesome! Thanks so much for the info!!! =D I need to get me a thermostat.

[shadi11]

you place the probe on the inside of the tank on top of the glass of the uth. I know some people do not like to put the probe inside the tank but it is really hard to keep accurate temps with the probe under the tank. I really would suggest getting an infra red parameter, to check your surface temps. If you don't have one they sell them at harbor frieght or tempgun.com. You can use the temp gun to help set your temps.

[jorgasm]

Interesting... I'll have to look into that. Thanks. [=

[Mochelem]

with a single tank I dont recommend a temp gun, you can get a digital thermometer at wal mart for $10. People who use temp guns mostly have multiple ball pythons and it makes more sense to buy a temp gun that a $10 thermometer for every enclosure.

Also placing a probe inside the tank can be bad, if the snake urinates or water is spilled on the probe it will tell the thermostat that its a lower temp, this will make the heating pad turn on and get too hot.

I dont want to over load you with info here though, it seems to me like you might be kinda new to this. Once you get a thermometer with a probe and a thermostat we will gladly step you through setting it up on this web site...

Bottom line is you need to get the thermometer and thermostat ASAP...