Help newb owner heat pad problems.

[kitedemon]

Your snake must have external heat, unplugging a heat source is fine as long as you can hold at least 80º across the cage (don't feed it while the temp is this low) if you cannot hold this temp I would return the UTH again and place a floor tile (ceramic or stone) inside the enclosure over the heat to prevent the snake from close contact for long time to 110º. 110ºF is warm enough to shut down a snakes digestive system but so is 80ºF as well. Cool temps below 75º with no hot spot is the equivalent to aids in humans it will depress the immune system and leave to door open to infection and bacteria. Reptiles are very closely connected to temps incorrect temps almost always result in sick animals. Why so much importance is placed on thermostats.

[Yggdrasil]

Thanks for the tip. Great work around.
I am concerned that he was on there for 2 days.
I hope no permanent damage has been done. time will tell.
he is rolling around at night and having a good time.
My heat lamp is not an infrared, it does put out a good deal of light with it. so not really sure what kind that is but i will test the uth with a tile, i just happen to have one hanging around.

[Lisn123]

Thanks for the tip. Great work around.
I am concerned that he was on there for 2 days.
I hope no permanent damage has been done. time will tell.
he is rolling around at night and having a good time.
My heat lamp is not an infrared, it does put out a good deal of light with it. so not really sure what kind that is but i will test the uth with a tile, i just happen to have one hanging around.

Im a newbie to the snake world as well. so take my advice with that in mind. But I have read that the "Day/ night" cycle is important for snakes. So if your light is emitting some light around the clock, that might be messing him up a bit.
Just my 2 cents- im sure better experts will have more to offer on this subject.

As, for hides. We've had our snake home 3 weeks and tried a couple different hides. It wasn't until her first meal (a week after we had her home) that she went in the hide. She'll stay in there for a few days processing food, then comes out and again sleeps behind the hide, or under the "fake Greens", so she's hidden. This is unusual from what I've read around here about snakes & hides, but seems to be her "thing". Im going to try a reptile basics hide next. Who knew they could be so "fussy"

Good luck- its been a fun experience for our family to learn all we have about snakes.

[Yggdrasil]

Ok uys had a busy after work. Went by ace and picked up some flower pots. Cut them out and got them ready.
I got the uth looked at and had to cut a piece of tile so it would be the right size.
I had also gone by the petstore and found a decent deal on some fake foliage so i figured for 8 bicks it was worth it.
I wanted to leave the hide where it was and add the new hides in a different place but it didnt work oit. So i pulled the little guy out and he did really good with my wife and kid holding hom.
So he seemed really healthy, which gave me a litttle piece of mind.so got the tile in place and turned the uth on. Checked the temp after a few hours and it was still 100.
So one of the things i havwnt entioned is that the sticky pad on the ith never worked. So i shimmed it against the glass.
I decided to jist remove the shims and get the uth away from the glass. Ill go check the temp in an hour.



On another note, tomorrow os feed ing day.
What os the recommendation. On live vs frozen moce? The pet store owner auggested live.
Please et me know im not sure how old thos snake is but cant be more than1or 2 months old.
Thanks for alll the help

[The Serpent Merchant]

frozen is safer, but some snakes don't really like the frozen rodents at first.

live has the chance of your snake getting bit, but your snake is more likely to accept it.

I would start off trying frozen (also usually cheaper) and falling back to live if need be.

Im a newbie to the snake world as well. so take my advice with that in mind. But I have read that the "Day/ night" cycle is important for snakes. So if your light is emitting some light around the clock, that might be messing him up a bit.
Just my 2 cents- im sure better experts will have more to offer on this subject.

yes, if you have a white light on 24/7 your BP won't be too happy with you as they are nocturnal. this is why Infrared heath bulbs are what I recommend if someone is going to use a heat bulb. they put off a light that doesn't bother snakes. THe natural light in a room during the day is enough to get the day/night cycle in, so artificial lighting during the day isn't 100% needed. Temperatures should be held constant 88-92 on the hot side, 78-82 on the cool side. no part of the cage should ever get above 95 or below 75

[Yggdrasil]

Ok, im getting it dialed on now.
Ill get frozen and see how it goes.
Found some cash and will get the thermostat ordered tomorrow and hope to have the whole rough start behind me.
Also sorry for the poor spelling, androod tablets rough on a web page interface.

[Yggdrasil]

120am. Just checked on him. After I turned his light off tonight he was active for a bit and I went to sleep.. I woke up and checked on him and he has gone into the hide on the cold side. The I opened the cage up and checked the temp in the hide on the hot side and it was steady 95.
I'm a little concerned that he was on the cold side when the light is off but I assume he knows what he's doing and will at least move to the warm side if not into the hide on the warm side if he gets too cold.
So anyway I know 95 is a little on the warm side still, but I think I can drop it a few more degrees with some tweaking in the morning or afternoon.
Thanks for all the help.

[Yggdrasil]

Ok guys from ... amateur to more amateur.
So the snake was looking real good. He was cruising around and obviously hungry. So I get some frozens thaw one. And dangle it, he was up in in his branch and took it right awway.
I thought he had it down so I thought id put the screen on.
It scared the the hell out of hime and he dropped it and ran into his hide.
My question is do I just scrap the feeding for another 7 days or do I attempt to feed him later tonight when he comes out. Or tomorrow.
Thanks.

[The Serpent Merchant]

You can try again now, but if he doesn't seem interested, wait until your next feeding day.

[Yggdrasil]

Ok, im he was out and about with the lights off so I gave it another shot but he didn't have any interest.
I feel so bad but It's a for the sake of learning.
Thanks for the help serpanterchant. Your advice has been great throughout this whole thing.
. The good news is that he appears to be happy.. He was in the cold hide for the morning and came out and cruised around.. I could tell he was hungry by the way he was snaking up at the screen top.