Newb question on caging

[whispersinmyhead]

This is my first snake and if it becomes and addiction LOL then it will be racks for the rest with this being my display cage. I didn't want to chance getting bugs or anything from hardware store cypress so I didn't really look around. The big bag was $28 but I still have 1/4 left for spot cleaning. I spend $30 on worse things during a month I am sure. I stopped drinking coffee at coffee shops (no more Timmies) so that covers my substrate expense LOL. With the heat bulb as the primary heat source I had a humidity level of only 32% and the room was at 40-45%. I knew I would need more humidity and thanks to all the advice/info here it led me to cypress. That will battle the humidity sucking red bulb and allows me to reuse this enclosure.

[snake lab]

The zoomed cypress is the best you can buy for sure. It is so fine almost like shredded aspen. The only issue i get from big bagged bulk cypress is its chunkier and sometimes i get a chunk that looks like a 2x4 lol

[whispersinmyhead]

The zoomed cypress is the best you can buy for sure. It is so fine almost like shredded aspen. The only issue i get from big bagged bulk cypress is its chunkier and sometimes i get a chunk that looks like a 2x4 lol

This stuff is really nice consistency and seems easy to spot clean. I really like it even the smell is nice.

Do you have to bake the bulk stuff or anything. Bugs? I think for one enclosure I don't mind getting the zoomed for now unless I see something that works the same for a little less. I don't like to take too many chances. Especially because I will have enough stress over switching her from live to F/T. That is the next challenge I think. The T-Stat is coming so that will be nice and I will put it in once she is acclimated so I don't disturb her.

[snake lab]

No the stuff i get rarely has any bugs in it and if i ever see any ill just spray with reptile relief but it is very rare i see any bugs in it.

[whispersinmyhead]

Well I think I have everything nailed down on this cage except the T-Stat and that is coming. I also am building a mount for the probe. For safety reasons I am keeping the heat bulb wattage as close as possible to the maximum wattage needed. This way if something fails it won't be able to get to ridiculous temps but just keep everything fairly even. This is the hopes.

My Temps on my hot side (on top of the hide which is a half log under the heat lamp) is 92 as a surface temp. 78-82 is the range on the cool side. I think one small corner dips down to 75. I hope this makes sense to those of you who read this. My girl spends a lot of time on the cool side except at night she seems to go and soak up some heat and explore.

My question is: What should the temp inside the hot hide be?

The temp inside the hide is not 92 because it is a half log and it seems to be low 80's in there. Is that enough or should I switch my hides? Both are identical (or close to).

Thanks
Jim