New to BP and in need of help ??

[willgti]

hey everyone bare with me as i am new to all this and still learning about BP's.........So basically im going to pick up my bumble bee this saturday and i have a few concerns about my setup that i just finished tonight that is all ready for my new pet

Basically I have a 24 wide X 12 deep X 12 high tank (this is what the breeder recommended me for my size snake i will be buying and to move to a larger enclosure when its older ) Its 139 grams right now.

So basically my setup is as follows

The tank listed above
Zoo-med UTH
2 hides one on cold and one on the hot side
water dish
a few pieces of driftwood for decoration
aspen substrate
screen top covered partially with tin foil to keep in humidity and heat

I have also took the idea of covering up the sides of the enclosure in the DIY sticky thread on the home page of the BP husbandry forum.

So basically that a run down of everything i got i just need my snake but my only concern is that where i will be keeping this is in my bedroom along with all my other reptiles and my major concern is the temps.

my room is fairly cold with a daytime temp around 70-71 degrees and a night time of 67-68 degrees .....i know that as my crested geckos wich do not have any sort of heating device on them that what the tanks read in my bedroom everyday allday........So after reading about the "care" for the BP im worried and not sure how i can manage keeping my nighttime/daytime temps properly as i have heard and read that the heat lights are not a good source because it drys out the air ......So basically im stuck and need to hear what i can possibly do regarding this if anyone can help i would appreciate it alot thanks for reading

Thanks

[blackcrystal22]

The UTH should be kept on at all times. Do you have something to control and regulate it?

If it's on and set so the UTH reaches about 95F (making about 90-93F in the cage) it should keep the cages ambient air temperature at about 80F.

[willgti]

The UTH should be kept on at all times. Do you have something to control and regulate it?

If it's on and set so the UTH reaches about 95F (making about 90-93F in the cage) it should keep the cages ambient air temperature at about 80F.

I actually dont have something to regulate it at the moment but i was looking into the zoomed thermostat i was going to purchase another heat pad so i would have one on the cool side and one on the hot side

regulate the hot for about 95degrees so that it will be about what you said and 85 for the cool side so it will hover around 81-82......I was also thinking putting insulating tape around all sides of the enclosure but the front glass and top.

I posted the link on the zoo med website for the thermostat

http://www.zoomed.com/db/products/En...I7czoxOiIwIjt9

[willgti]

I actually dont have something to regulate it at the moment but i was looking into the zoomed thermostat i was going to purchase another heat pad so i would have one on the cool side and one on the hot side

regulate the hot for about 95degrees so that it will be about what you said and 85 for the cool side so it will hover around 81-82......I was also thinking putting insulating tape around all sides of the enclosure but the front glass and top.

I posted the link on the zoo med website for the thermostat

http://www.zoomed.com/db/products/En...I7czoxOiIwIjt9

Nobody can help me out any help is appreciated thanks alot

[anatess]

I actually dont have something to regulate it at the moment but i was looking into the zoomed thermostat i was going to purchase another heat pad so i would have one on the cool side and one on the hot side

regulate the hot for about 95degrees so that it will be about what you said and 85 for the cool side so it will hover around 81-82......I was also thinking putting insulating tape around all sides of the enclosure but the front glass and top.

I posted the link on the zoo med website for the thermostat

http://www.zoomed.com/db/products/En...I7czoxOiIwIjt9

Don't purchase the 2nd UTH yet. Just purchase the Thermostat first. You didn't say what size the UTH you purchased is. If it is sized for 20-30gallon, you may be able to keep the cold side temps at 80F if you insulate the sides and bottom.

So, okay, this is what I would do in your situation:
1.) Replace the UTH if it is too small (it should cover 1/3 of the bottom of the tank).
2.) Don't peel the sticker off the UTH. Use aluminum tape to attach it to the bottom of the tank. (So you can re-use the UTH when you move to a bigger tank).
3.) Purchase the thermostat and use it to control the UTH so that the UTH is at 95F. This should make the top of the substrate inside the hot side hide at around 92.
4.) Insulate all sides of your tank (including the bottom) except for the front and the top. This should make your ambient temperature hover around 80F. If it doesn't, then yes, you can purchase another UTH and thermostat to put in your cold side set at 85.

Hope this helps!

[Donald M]

Hi I was using 2 20 gallon aqs and I absolutely hated it! keeping the temps was a pain because the heat kept escaping and hum wasnt stable. So to get by I used the foil trick I placed a two deep wet towel under the foil to help keep in hum. I also switch from aspen to forest moss mixed with coco bark this helped keep my hum manageable. as far as heat I used a uta but never got a themo until I build my heat rack. This all I went through with glass tank meant for fish. I served its purpose but as soon as I found out about tubs I made the move asap now my greatest issue with my bps is who should eat first. I sa all that to say this it was a constant battle to keep the tank right make sure u use themometers and hydrometers to watch ur temps and hum GL

[SlitherinSisters]

If you are using a tank, chances are you will need a heat lamp during the winter and the summer in order to keep the tank warm enough. Most likely the only way you could get away with just a heat pad is by using a tub-there is a lot less space for the heat to dissipate. Heat lamps will kill the humidity, but you can remedy that by spraying the tank daily, and especially during shedding.

Everything that you listed sounds good. Make sure that your hides are snug for him. They should be small enough that he BP has to ball up and be a bit squished inside. A good snug hide will encourage your BP to be less stressed and therefor more likely to eat.

Also, I personally wouldn't waste my money on the ZooMed thermostat. I almost lost my collection in the beginning because I was using a cheap thermostat. You can get a lamp dimmer from just about any home improvement store, and many large Wal-Marts for about $10. I use them as back ups on all my thermostats. They are nice because they don't allow full power to the unit, therefor it can never run wide open unless you let it. The other nice thing is that when they fail, they cut all power to the unit. With a heat pad that's not a huge deal, but once you move on to flexwatt or something like that, it's a major issue! You will have to check temps often to ensure that you are running the right temps. If your house drops or raises the dimmer doesn't make up for that, if your house drops 5 degrees, your tank will drop 5 degrees.

That's just my two cents The cheapest thermostat I would buy is a Ranco or a Johnson, which are roughly $50. Otherwise I would just get a dimmer-but you have to be responsible and check it often.

Oh, and welcome to the site! I can't wait to see your bee!

[willgti]

Okay thanks alot guys for helping me out i think Im going to take the idea of using the tin foil method on top of the tank/screen and use a low wattage heat bulb .....So basically I will have my tank setup with the UTH and hide on one side (hot side) and then I will put another hide on the cool side with the lamp placed over the cool side as well and the water dish so that at least the beam from the heat bulb will hit the water dish that i have that is deep enough that it will not evaporate because it didn't do that in another reptile setup i have and it had a 75 watt heat bulb .....I will be using a low wattage for my BP such as a 40 watt or 50 watt infrared bulb........So all the help posted so far sounds great and it term of humidity i dont have any issues with misting once a day as I have to do that for my other reptiles so what will it take for one more tank lol ....Anyways one question I have is : How do I insulate the glass on my tank ? I believe this will help me alot so I would like to know asap


Thanks again everyone

[Donald M]

Okay thanks alot guys for helping me out i think Im going to take the idea of using the tin foil method on top of the tank/screen and use a low wattage heat bulb .....So basically I will have my tank setup with the UTH and hide on one side (hot side) and then I will put another hide on the cool side with the lamp placed over the cool side as well and the water dish so that at least the beam from the heat bulb will hit the water dish that i have that is deep enough that it will not evaporate because it didn't do that in another reptile setup i have and it had a 75 watt heat bulb .....I will be using a low wattage for my BP such as a 40 watt or 50 watt infrared bulb........So all the help posted so far sounds great and it term of humidity i dont have any issues with misting once a day as I have to do that for my other reptiles so what will it take for one more tank lol ....Anyways one question I have is : How do I insulate the glass on my tank ? I believe this will help me alot so I would like to know asap


Thanks again everyone

this is what i used http://www.homedepot.com/Building-Ma...atalogId=10053

[yeroc1982]

Maybe you herd this before but if u switch to tubs, heating and humidity issues will be eliminated. I struggled with my old setup with a glass tank, temps were up and down several times a day. Switched to tubs, and was the best thing ever! Sure, tubs aren't nice to look at, but I figure if I wana look at my snakes, I'll just take them out. Also once u get the tubs in a rack, makes owning snakes soo much easier, and a cleaner look!!