NEWBIE here!

[tdcamp]

Hi everyone. I just got my first BP last friday and I love him already. I do have a few questions though. He is in a 10G tank. I have a UTH on one side and nothing on the other. I know I need a hot side and cool side. My question is, where should my thermometer probe be placed on the hot side? I have seen ppl put it right down next to the glass but the problem with that is, my thermometer reads temps > 100F. It would seem much more useful to have it just on top of the substrate. right? haha. also, where should my heat light be? hot or cool side? or whatever it take to regulate the temps correctly? right now my temps are hot=92, cool=78. My apartment stays somewhere around 68-70.

Thanks for all the help

and heres a couple pics of my new friend...

[JLC]

Welcome aboard!

If the UTH is 100 degrees against the glass, then you have to assume that that is a temperature your snake will be exposed to. They are not inclined to just stay on top of the substrate. It's very common for them to shift it all over the place and nestle down into it until they are right against the glass.

To keep the UTH at a safe reading even against the glass, you'll want to remove some of the substrate until you just have a small layer over the floor of the tank. That way, it doesn't have to be 100 degrees against the glass in order to get the surface of the substrate to 90. I'd never let that glass get hotter than 95 degrees...then however much substrate over the top of that that will maintain a warm spot around 90 or so.

This is all assuming you are using a thermostat to control the amount of heat the UTH puts out in the first place. An unregulated UTH will get wayyy too hot.

[Crazy4Herps]

Hello and welcome to BP.net! It may seem weird, but the thermometer probe should be under the substrate, at the hottest possible point. If your snake decides to burrow and sit directly on the bottom of the glass, which he may do, he could get burned at the current temperature. If they are not warm enough, they will burrow under substrate towards the heat. A cheap rheostat dimmer at Lowes is a great way to drop the basking temps just a bit. If the temps are 92 (>100 under the substrate) and 78 without the heat lamp, you don't need a lamp. I personally prefer using only UTH's for my snakes so that I don't have to deal with photoperiods (12/12 or 10/14 light/dark). If you need the lamp to keep temperatures where they are, then by all means use it wherever. It may take a bit of experimenting to get all the heating right.

I actually can't see the pics. Maybe they got moved or edited or something and aren't showing up?


Good luck with everything, and big congrats on your new little guy!

[JLC]

The pictures won't post from your e-mail. They need to be hosted online somewhere. We've got free gallery space that you can use here...or you can use any of the photo-hosting sites like Photobucket.

[tdcamp]

Sorry about the pics. These should work.

Thanks for the comments. So keep the temps at the glass right around 95 and right above the substrate 90 right? and the cool side should hover around 80 or so?

[JLC]

Thanks for the comments. So keep the temps at the glass right around 95 and right above the substrate 90 right? and the cool side should hover around 80 or so?

That would be ideal.

Handsome snake you got there!

[lewicki87]

what kind of substrate are you using ????

[tdcamp]

Im using aspen.

[MikeV]

what kind of substrate are you using ????

Aspen and newspaper = win.

Go with newspaper tbh, it allows you to keep the glass/tub bottom at lets say 93 and once the heat makes it through the glass or plastic it will be about 90F

for me i gotta set it to 94 to get it to read 90 - 91 on the floor of the tub just under one layer of newspaper

I use newspaper with all of my animals (besides my savannah monitor ofcourse) and its great. No need to worry about what the glass/plastic temps are, you just set the thermostat to 93 - 95 and you know that the result will be a 90 - 92 hot spot (depending on how thick the glass/tub is)

EDIT:

Although, even using newspaper you should always measure the temps with a thermometer. I didnt meant to come across as saying, "yeah set it to 93 - 95 and your good to go!" But you already have a thermometer so its all good

[shorty54]

Nice baby and welcome to the BP world! Be careful! It's addicting.....