Newb question on caging

[The Serpent Merchant]

If you put the time and effort in now, you will reap the benefits later, when you have stable temperatures and humidity. Having a cage that regulates itself 90% of the time actually lets you enjoy your pet!

[whispersinmyhead]

That was my thought. I always think that I am over thinking things. I just want to make sure I have everything setup and ready so that when I get him/her I won't be introducing new things like thermostats. If I can have it ready before I will. Humidity will be the last challenge after all this but I have no base line yet so that will be some playing around I am sure.

Thanks again.

[whispersinmyhead]

On sad note my beardie Freddie passed away this weekend. I just did a thorough clean and disinfect on the cage. I put a 75 Watt and a 50 Watt bulb in to see how close I can get the temps. I had to turn off the 50 Watt on the cool side because ambient temp was 85.6.

Right now here is where my temps are at with one 75 watt red heat lamp and my 36" fluorescent (day use only). I only have the ceramic tile in there too no sobstrate yet. The aspen shavings may keep more heat in.

Hot spot = 86.7
Middle of the cage is ~83
Cool side = 80-81

So I am now going to wait for the new reptile shop to open up because they just got approval from Spyder Robotics and asked what model(s) I was interested in. They wanted to carry one of everything but wanted to make sure they got the one(s) I was looking at . I am looking at the Herpstat 1 or 1 Basic. I haven't quite decided yet but I would like one of those.

As for the probe kitedemon brought up some good points regarding the probe placement. He highly recommended that I change the floor to a pvc floor and i am considering this as well. He also didn't like the idea of the snake being able to get between the probe and the heat source. I am just brainstorming and taking everybody's input and trying to come up with what will be best for me. The temps are pretty close I just need to raise the hotspot a few degrees and figure out where I will mount the T-Stat probe.

I was thinking of making a bracket the goes under the substrate and mounts the T-stat probe straight up about 2" off of the substrate. That should help keep the snake from laying on top of it I think. Or suspending it off of the wire lamp guard.

I like the bracket idea because it will not move then. Any thoughts... does anybody have a good t-stat setup with a red heat lamp?
Thanks to kitedemon and Serpent Merchant for all the brainstorming and help.

[The Serpent Merchant]

I would use a piece of small diameter PVC pipe mounted a few inches above the substrate to hold the thermostat probe in place.

[whispersinmyhead]

That is a good idea.

Given what my temps are should I try and get a UTH mounted to a piece of acrylic into the cage or just a 75-100watt bulb on a T-stat?

I am toying with the idea of putting some flexwatt on the underside of an acrylic sheet and putting that on a T-stat and use a lower wattage heat lamp to keep the ambient .

I want to keep things as simple as possible but I am nervous that the snake won't get enough belly heat. If I should have a a UTH then I will find a way to make it happen but the cage is holding the heat pretty good as it is. I think by tomorrow it will be a stable 90 in the hot area. (ceramic tiles take a while to heat up. Not sure how aspen shavings will affect the temps.

[The Serpent Merchant]

heat lamps will provide all the heat you need, but are hard on humidity. If you can maintain humidity then there is no need to switch to a UTH... but if you find that humidity is impossible to keep then you might need to use a UTH.

Not to complicate things further, but a Radiant Heat Panel might be a better choice than heat lamps or UTH's

[whispersinmyhead]

RHP's look like a good option as well. First thing I guess now is getting the humidity measured with a large water bowl and that will determine if I need to add or switch heat sources.

Thanks again. I need to get a humidity gauge tomorrow. I put a decent size water bowl in the middle of the cage to get it started.

[ExotixTowing]

In my glass tank I switched to a night heat, no light 100watt and have had no issues with humidity, although I do mist once to twice a day. Just the drift wood.

I maintain

91-94 hot side
80-82 mid tank
73-76 cool side

50-60% humidity cool side
35-45 hot side.

But after reading this thread I'm going to be looking into a pvc box ay and using the glass tank I have now for future QT

[The Serpent Merchant]

In my glass tank I switched to a night heat, no light 100watt and have had no issues with humidity, although I do mist once to twice a day. Just the drift wood.

I maintain

91-94 hot side
80-82 mid tank
73-76 cool side

50-60% humidity cool side
35-45 hot side.

But after reading this thread I'm going to be looking into a pvc box ay and using the glass tank I have now for future QT

If you are looking into PVC cages check out this thread: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...With-Pictures!

[whispersinmyhead]

This has turned into a setup log lol..

Well my heat is very stable at 90-91 on the hot side and 80-81 on the cool.

I am measuring temps about 1-2 inches off the substrate is this correct? Or shod I be measuring 90-92 as a surface temp? I don't actually have the substrate yet because I wanted temps and humidity readings first because that may impact substrate choice. Hope that makes sense.

If these readings are good for temps I am on to humidity tests tomorrow.

BTW the tps are using a 100watt red heat bulb at full power.