Cage critique

[MissionHockey086]

Does this look better?

[Marla]

Yes, looks great. Now just get your temps sorted out and you're in good shape. Once your thermostat arrives, that shouldn't be much trouble.

[MissionHockey086]

Yeah... the humidity is doing fine... just seems that I can't get my temperatures high enough. Right now the hot side is at 87.8, cool side is at 82.2 and the humidity is at 48%. When I get the thermostat, where should I place the sensor?

[Marla]

Temps are close enough that the snake isn't suffering or anything, so I wouldn't worry too much until the thermostat comes. You have two choices as to where to place the sensor, either directly on the heat source or on top of the substrate. I would place it directly on the heat source and then adjust it as needed until the thermometer on top of the substrate gives you the reading you need. It will take a matter of hours to get it adjusted correctly, and you'll need to turn off the CHE if you won't be using it after the temps are worked out with the belly heat.

[MissionHockey086]

Alright... I live in Southern Claifornia. What time should I run the CHE from? Turn on at 1AM, off at 12PM, would that be a good schedule?

[Marla]

You might want to skip the CHE altogether if you can, because it will dry up your enclosure more than the belly heat will and you are likely to find yourself with humidity issues living where you do (right now, I'm fighting too *high* humidity here because the relative humidity hasn't dropped below 70% in several days). A nighttime temperature drop of up to 5 degrees or so won't bother your snake in the slightest and will mimic natural conditions, but if the drop is too much, then I would schedule the timer on the CHE to run during whatever the coolest hours are, maybe 1 AM to 8 AM or so.

[MissionHockey086]

Would that be a good schedule?

[Marla]

I'm just guesstimating. You'll need to figure out first whether your night temp drops are big enough to need the CHE at all, and then what the coolest hours are in your area.

[gen]

I live in So Cal too, and I just use under tank heating, no bulbs. But I use a rubbermaid so that may be different. Just out of curiosity, where in so cal are you?