UPDATE on my dumeril's boa thread PIC HEAVY

[mommanessy247]

ok so everything went down good...
after the dumeril's owner helped set the cage up again & we'd talked & i paid him & he left, i went straight to the task of cleaning everything in the cage & upon removing the coco husk bedding found some remnants of an incomplete shed (the snake still had some stuck shed on the top of her head & down her back which i removed easily with a warm wet washcloth). There was also some dried urates here & there under the substrate & a couple piles of dried poo .
Washed it all up & then checked the temp of the glass directly over the heat pad.
Now mind you, i expressed concern with this as the guy had said he could barely feel the heat from it & doubted it needed a thermostat & was feeling the top of the substrate with his hand to which i had said "but if the snake is burrowing under the substrate she's gonna be getting right on the hot spot not sitting on top of the bedding."
to which he replied "yeah thats true...but recently for some reason she's been over there more [pointing at other side of the cage]."
So anywho, when i checked the temp of the glass directly over the heat pad with my temp gun my heart dropped into my stomach when i saw the 104.9!!!
Doesnt need a t-stat MY BUTT! My anger instantly flared & I had some choice words in my head & thought to call the guy & rip him a new one but i didnt. i calmed myself & started thinking. ok what do i do about this?
option A: risk running the heat pad til i can get a t-stat & hope the snake stays off of it?
option B: leave the heat pad off & just use the lights til i could get a t-stat?
i didnt like either of those so i went with option C, which was to place the HUGE & heavy water dish directly over most of the heat pad's location, only leaving enough that the snake isnt gonna be sitting on the hottest part of it. This will also increase the humidity in the tank.
I wrapped the screen in aluminum foil & made a couple holes for the light from the lamps to shine through.
I taped some brown construction paper to the back but ran out & had to do black on the sides then taped a very long piece of unprinted paper over all that.
I added a branch that is wrapped in a plastic vine plant so that the snake can get closer to the day lamp to give her a 2nd heat option in place of not being allowed to get to most of her uncontrolled heat pad.
There's a dial timer looking thing attached to the day lamp's plug but i got no manual with it & cant find it on exo terra's site. I'm gonna post it in another thread to see if anyone has seen it, has/had it & knows how to use it so i can then get some info on how to reset it to turn the lamp on & off for me.
Other then the stuck shed, the snake looked great. nice clean, clear skin, clean belly (surprisingly with how much pee/urates & poo i found in the bedding). Eye's are round & not indented so no dehydration thats good.
She's thin as it turns out the guy was only feeding her 1 lrg mouse every 1-2 weeks. I have a young rat pup that is about the same size as a mouse that i'll be giving her soon, just letting her settle.
so without further ado, heres what i've got...

the setup
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...a/Thesetup.jpg
(It's missing the accu-rite hygrometer i bought for it but i need to get velcro to mount it on the back glass)


me with her
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...holdingher.jpg

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...llmannered.jpg

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...ittletired.jpg
(i was very tired)


just her
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...prettyface.jpg

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...boa/Hemera.jpg


checking out the decor
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...atthepaper.jpg

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...Boa-Hemera.jpg

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...background.jpg
(she looks like she's trying to see something)

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...gthingsout.jpg

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...boa/hiding.jpg

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...ingcloseup.jpg


& this morning
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...a/snake001.jpg

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...a/snake002.jpg

[mommanessy247]

when re-naming her, i considered Eris (daughter of Nyx, greek goddess of night...& this is who my ball python is named after). Eris is the greek goddess of chaos & discord but then i decided on Hemera (another of Nyx's daughters) but she is greek goddess of day. I stuck to the greek goddess names.

[Evenstar]

Nice Dumerils! She looks pretty good to me despite her previous lack of care. Glad she has you now!

Just for future reference for ANYone who reads this thread, ANY heating element should ALWAYS be operated on a t-stat. I don't care what the wattage is or what type of element it is or how hot the reptile supposedly likes it. For that guy to say that he "didn't think the heat pad needed a t-stat" because he didn't think the substrate was warm enough was just ignorance at it's best. (I am not criticizing YOU - you obviously recognize the need - this is just info for others who may read this).

But even with the water bowl over it, you really should get a t-stat asap. You can get a nice Hydrofarm off amazon for only about $32. Here's one: http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR...arm+thermostat

I would also nix the tank once you have some cash saved up. Tanks suck for snakes, lol, especially with the light. And she's going to outgrow that in no time. A nice T8 from Animal Plastics will be perfect for her and should last her entire life. You can get that right now for only $150 and add flexwatt heat for only $35 more. AP is a good company and you can reuse that hydrofarm t-stat with the new cage.

I like the name Eris!! It suits her. My female Dum is named Suki.

[mommanessy247]

Thank you Evenstar.
Lemme tell you i wanted to give this guy a bop on the head when i heard him say "see, substrate's not even all that warm." couldnt believe the guy thought that mattered.
whatever though, redirecting my focus, i know what i need to do & will be doing my best to get this all correct with a t-stat. I realize she'll need a bigger cage too & will cross that bridge when i come to it.
if i didnt already have 2 heat pads in my ball pythons t-stat i'd run this girl's tstat so they're at least sharing it...hmmm...
maybe unplug my ball's cool side pad & use the slot temporarily with this girl's heat pad...?
& then maybe run the boa's night lamp on the cool side of my ball's cage top so the temp doesnt drop too much?
i need to re-figure my budget & the rest of the money i have right now & if i cant fit in this small bump in the road then i'll have to do this shared tstat set up ...
what does everyone think?
& i decided on Hemera for the boa's name...

[Evenstar]

Unless all the heat pads are exactly the same - brand, size, wattage, EVERYTHING - then do NOT run them on the same t-stat. It won't operate each one in the same way. I would only do that if you have a dual-zone t-stat. But why mess up your ball python's enclosure for $32??

If you can't afford the $32 hydrofarm (and that did include shipping), you can pick up a dimmer from Home Depot or Lowes and use that temporarily to lower the output on the boa's heat mat until you can get a proper t-stat.

[mommanessy247]

i hear you evenstar & there's alot to consider, lots of pros & cons but i just checked the boa's hot side again...108...oh heck no!
now after hooking it up to the tstat, its dropped under 100 & is still going down. my ball's heat pad is @ between 86-90 so as long hers doesnt drop below 85 she'll be ok.
I am trying to find a dimmer right now on lowes website but all im seeing are the light switch dimmers...what do i need to be looking for specifically do you know? if i can get a dimmer today i'm gonna be doing that but before i have my hubby drive me 25 minutes to lowes i need to know for sure they have one...

[mommanessy247]

FOUND 'em! lol i knew there was a dimmer thread sticky'd here somewhere.

[Evenstar]

Ok, glad you found it. This is another one that most people use: http://www.lowes.com/pd_160613-539-D...ers&facetInfo=

Keep a couple of things in mind - dimmers are usually used for light bulbs and not for heat mats so you have to make sure to get one that is compatible. Also, these run around $25 and up. For that price, just get that hydrofarm for $32 off amazon!!! It is a WAY better product and will give you YEARS of use with much better, safer, and far more accurate results. You do NOT want to compromise on a t-stat. If dimmers were only, like, $10 or something, I'd say ok why not. but if you're going to spend 25-30 bucks on a dimmer, why on earth would you not spend a couple bucks more for a t-stat???

If you're concerned about the shipping because you need something asap, it sounds like you succeeded in a temporary solution and amazon ships quickly - if you ordered that today, you'd have it by Wednesday.

[mommanessy247]

thx evenstar.
I absolutely plan to get a t-stat next month but the dimmer i bought is only a temporary form of control til get the t-stat.
i know dimmers should not be used long term on a heat pad & dont plan to rely on this thing for long.
Got everything set up & the boa's temp on the heat pad has dropped to between 80-83 which is perfectly within the 80-85 range they need.
Knowing me & my neurotic tendency to constantly check temps until i'm comfortable with accepting that the little fluctuations wont get out of hand...:/
i'm gonna be watching the temps VERY closely since im a little out of my element with a dimmer.
but its under control for now. glad i was able to jump to this quickly.
oh, & the dimmer was only $10 .

[Evenstar]

No worries! I wasn't coming down hard on you or anything - just trying to make a few suggestions that are not only good for your snake, but cost effective too. Goodness knows, we all need to save our pennies!! Glad you found a dimmer for only $10! Good buy....