Hot vs Cool hide?

[The Serpent Merchant]

No, but I have found that Infrared heat bulbs work much better than backlight heat bulbs do. (neither should bother a snake at night)

[357]

Ironically the 100w bulb was cheaper than a 50w by almost 1/2! I figure 40w is 40w is 40w, I do electrical work and regardless of wavelength the bulb is emitting the same heat.

[The Serpent Merchant]

That isn't necessarily the case

I have 50 watt IR bulbs that put out more heat than a 75 watt backlight bulb.

wavelength, efficiency, and the type of glass used in the bulb will make the heat outputs vary. Some Blacklight bulbs use special glass that allows some UV to get through

[Kaorte]

Also might be worth mentioning that the Infared bulb will lower your humidity considerably. You won't be able to see for yourself until you get a digital hygrometer.

Is the thermostat probe INSIDE the enclosure? if so, I would recommend moving it to the outside and tape it directly to the heat mat. That way the snake can't move it or pee on it or mess it up and give the thermostat a false reading, which would cause the heat mat to overheat.

[The Serpent Merchant]

Also might be worth mentioning that the Infared bulb will lower your humidity considerably. You won't be able to see for yourself until you get a digital hygrometer.

Is the thermostat probe INSIDE the enclosure? if so, I would recommend moving it to the outside and tape it directly to the heat mat. That way the snake can't move it or pee on it or mess it up and give the thermostat a false reading, which would cause the heat mat to overheat.

But a heat lamp is necessary in this situation so it is something that will have to be dealt with.

[357]

Also might be worth mentioning that the Infared bulb will lower your humidity considerably. You won't be able to see for yourself until you get a digital hygrometer.

Is the thermostat probe INSIDE the enclosure? if so, I would recommend moving it to the outside and tape it directly to the heat mat. That way the snake can't move it or pee on it or mess it up and give the thermostat a false reading, which would cause the heat mat to overheat.

Wouldn't the probe being outside on the mat cause it to be too cold? The heat goes up, probe would be on bottom. Also I use mulch for substrate and it has to have heat loss there.

[The Serpent Merchant]

It is a safety issue... You want the probe attached directly to the UTH for 2 reasons (you want the probe sandwiched in-between the bottom of the tank and the UTH)

1. so your snake can't move the probe (which could result in burns to your snake since the thermostat thinks that the UTH is colder than it really is)

2. If the probe is attached directly to the UTH it can help prevent heat build up that can cause a UTH to fail (which can result in a fire)

This is where a good thermometer comes in. The thermostat will regulate the UTH to the temperature that you set it to. The thermometer tells you how hot the cage is. You set the thermostat based off of your thermometer readings.

You will have heat loss to the bottom of the cage and whatever substrate that you use. (some more than others). For UTH's to be effective your substrate layer needs to be 1/2" thick or less so the heat from the UTH can get up to the surface without making the bottom of the cage to hot.

[357]

You know, I am very happy I asked these questions.

But I'm pretty ~angry~ too! Now I have to redo my whole setup!

Not a huge deal, I'll just put another UTH under the other side and put the probe between the tank and UTH when I attach it, glad I bought more stuff than I needed.

[The Serpent Merchant]

Yeah there is a pretty steep learning curve with reptiles... don't worry you aren't alone. Most if not everyone on this site has been through what you are going through right now.

[357]

Yeah there is a pretty steep learning curve with reptiles... don't worry you aren't alone. Most if not everyone on this site has been through what you are going through right now.

The good news? I'm married so I'm used to spending lots of money on things I already thought we had!