BP Heating: I made a rookie mistake!!
Hi all!
I'm new to the site/new BP owner. I made a rookie mistake! I bought the snake before all my supplies came in (I'm waiting on a Hydrofarm Tstat and a ZooMed UTH), but there were problems and now they are going to be a week late! She has a heat lamp, but I'm terrified of starting a fire while I am at work so I only have it on when I am here and just keep the heat in my room up to 70. I few times I've come home to find it's dropped to 65 but mostly it stays around 70-75. She has gone a week with this set-up and seems fine (bright eyes, tongue flicking, really adventurous, and she ate once), but I'm worried. Do you think this set-up would be alright for another three days?
Furthermore, I let PetSmart convince me that a 10 gallon glass tank was large enough. She is 3mo's old and as long as the tank so she looks cramped. Any thoughts on when I should upgrade her? I'd prefer to only upgrade once to a permanent 30-40 gallon tank. As far as heating goes I wanted to wait for the bigger tank before buying a pro-heat panel, but in the meantime I want to only use the UTH and occasionally the heat lamp. Do you think that is sufficient for heating until she gets bigger and I get the heat panel? I live in New England so it gets pretty cold here.
More stats if it helps: the tank has a screen top w/foil over half of it (the heat lamp sucks up all the humidity). She has aspen bedding, a half log hide, a fake leafy plant for climbing/hiding, a water bowl, and I regularly spritz everything with water to try and maintain 50-60% humidity (again, this has been a challenge with the lamp).
I love her so much and the stress of my mistake potentially making her sick is keeping me up at night!!
Thanks in advance for your advice!
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