New baby keeps trying to strike - HELP!

[bcr229]

Thanks for all of your quick responses everyone! We will definitely wait a week now to handle her again. I just peaked in at her in the dark and she's peaking her head out of the hide. I hope she tries to explore tonight.

As for her home for now, it's a 20 gallon long glass tank. It is heated with 2 infrared bulbs. One 75 on the hot side and a 50 the middle. The warm side is 88 - 90 and the cold is 81 with a hide on each side. There is a large water bowl in the Centre with paper towel for substrate for now. I live in Canada so the temps are quite cold. The uth was not cutting it as the air would only reach 72 at the highest with the heat pad at 115 °F! Way too hot for a uth. So I switched to lamps completely and the temps are good now. I have damp moss in each hide for humidity as the air is very dry here as well. Keeping humidity in the entire tank has been impossible. Would a small tub inside the tank be better until she's bigger?

A UTH is not supposed to heat the air in the tank, its only purpose is to heat up the glass on the bottom of the tank to give your snake a basking spot. It won't do anything for the ambient air temperature.

All of your heat sources should be regulated by thermostats. If they aren't you can overheat and burn or kill your snake.

As you've discovered heat lamps suck all of the humidity out of a tank. Normally you would run just one and cover the rest of the screen top with foil to keep the heat and humidity inside the tank.

We will have to feed her in a few days so to not handle her should I feed her in her tank or in a feeding tub? Before we got her she was fed in her tank but I wanted to feed her in the tub so she wouldn't associate put hands with food. But if we shouldn't be handling her would in her tank be better?

Feed in the enclosure. You do not want your snake to associated leaving the enclosure with being fed, that is what will cause it to bite when it's out and being handled.