ok so everything went down good...
after the dumeril's owner helped set the cage up again & we'd talked & i paid him & he left, i went straight to the task of cleaning everything in the cage & upon removing the coco husk bedding found some remnants of an incomplete shed (the snake still had some stuck shed on the top of her head & down her back which i removed easily with a warm wet washcloth). There was also some dried urates here & there under the substrate & a couple piles of dried poo .
Washed it all up & then checked the temp of the glass directly over the heat pad.
Now mind you, i expressed concern with this as the guy had said he could barely feel the heat from it & doubted it needed a thermostat & was feeling the top of the substrate with his hand to which i had said "but if the snake is burrowing under the substrate she's gonna be getting right on the hot spot not sitting on top of the bedding."
to which he replied "yeah thats true...but recently for some reason she's been over there more [pointing at other side of the cage]."
So anywho, when i checked the temp of the glass directly over the heat pad with my temp gun my heart dropped into my stomach when i saw the 104.9!!!
Doesnt need a t-stat MY BUTT! My anger instantly flared & I had some choice words in my head & thought to call the guy & rip him a new one but i didnt. i calmed myself & started thinking. ok what do i do about this?
option A: risk running the heat pad til i can get a t-stat & hope the snake stays off of it?
option B: leave the heat pad off & just use the lights til i could get a t-stat?
i didnt like either of those so i went with option C, which was to place the HUGE & heavy water dish directly over most of the heat pad's location, only leaving enough that the snake isnt gonna be sitting on the hottest part of it. This will also increase the humidity in the tank.
I wrapped the screen in aluminum foil & made a couple holes for the light from the lamps to shine through.
I taped some brown construction paper to the back but ran out & had to do black on the sides then taped a very long piece of unprinted paper over all that.
I added a branch that is wrapped in a plastic vine plant so that the snake can get closer to the day lamp to give her a 2nd heat option in place of not being allowed to get to most of her uncontrolled heat pad.
There's a dial timer looking thing attached to the day lamp's plug but i got no manual with it & cant find it on exo terra's site. I'm gonna post it in another thread to see if anyone has seen it, has/had it & knows how to use it so i can then get some info on how to reset it to turn the lamp on & off for me.
Other then the stuck shed, the snake looked great. nice clean, clear skin, clean belly (surprisingly with how much pee/urates & poo i found in the bedding). Eye's are round & not indented so no dehydration thats good.
She's thin as it turns out the guy was only feeding her 1 lrg mouse every 1-2 weeks. I have a young rat pup that is about the same size as a mouse that i'll be giving her soon, just letting her settle.
so without further ado, heres what i've got...

the setup
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...a/Thesetup.jpg
(It's missing the accu-rite hygrometer i bought for it but i need to get velcro to mount it on the back glass)


me with her
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...holdingher.jpg

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...llmannered.jpg

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...ittletired.jpg
(i was very tired)


just her
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...prettyface.jpg

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...boa/Hemera.jpg


checking out the decor
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...atthepaper.jpg

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...Boa-Hemera.jpg

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...background.jpg
(she looks like she's trying to see something)

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...gthingsout.jpg

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...boa/hiding.jpg

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...ingcloseup.jpg


& this morning
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...a/snake001.jpg

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...a/snake002.jpg