too hot!!

[xcrystalx723]

What are some methods to cool part of my ball's tank?

It started getting REALLY hot in the past few days, and even when I turn all the heating devices off, it still gets too hot in there. Any suggestions?

[kavmon]

you can try to cool down the room it is in with fans. use a thermostat to control the heat source. make sure the cage is ventilated enough. hope this may help


thanks

vaughn

[led4urhead]

First of all ... Welcome to the site. Glad to have you around . How hot is too hot? What are the temps like in the room where you are keeping him/her? What are you using for heat? How are you measuring your temps?

[xcrystalx723]

Thanks. I'm not exactly sure of the temperatures, but I know in the morning until about 9:30 the temperature is usually between 75 and 80. I use a red heating light all day and night, and an under tank heating pad that takes up a small amount of the tank if he wants a little extra heat. The tank is 50 gallons, by the way, so it takes a lot to heat up the sucker. Anyway, along with the help of the heat throughout the day, usually by 4 it gets up to 95, and that's when I turn off the heating light, until about 6:30.

Anyway, this morning the temperature was already 84, so I decided not to have the heating light on at all today, until later tonight when it cools off. My concern is that it will eventually get TOO hot in the room. It looks like having fans on in the room and no heat for the day helped out a bit... the warmer side temp is 90 right now. However, since that is the temperature without any heating devices, that is probably the approximate temperature on the cool side as well.

Basically, I just wanted to know if there were ways to provide extra coolness to the cooler side of the tank. Sorry this was so long!

[led4urhead]

Do you use a thermometer to measure your temps at all? As for temps ... you need to get the temp on the cool side somewhere between 78 and 80. The hot side should be between 88-90 with an overall humidity of 50%-60%. 75 is a bit cool, and 95 is definitely too warm. The overall temp of the room in which you keep your snake will affect you temps in the cage greatly. The air flow in, through, and around the enclosure will either cause the enclosure to heat up or cool down depending on the temp of the air moving around. Do you have air conditioning?

[xcrystalx723]

Nope, no air conditioning. I have one thermometer for the warmer side of the tank.

I am concerned for the temperature drop at night, so I've considered getting a higher wattage heating bulb. Could I maintain a warmer temperature at night by blocking some of the air flow?

How can I keep the cool side from getting too warm?

[led4urhead]

Ok .. i would suggest getting something to measure the temps on both sides of the tank. A nice Acurite digital thermometer/hygrometer combo from WalMart runs about $15 and is great. One way to get the temps dead on will be to get a thermostat ( a device that measures your temps and adjusts the amount of power going to your heating devices to control the amount of heat in the cage ). You also may want to consider a rubbermaid/sterelite setup instead of the tank. Rubbermaid setups are eaiser to maintain temps/humidity in and generally dont require using a light to get the temps right.

[xcrystalx723]

Thanks. I don't think I'll change my tank, but I'll definitely get a digital thermometer. How much does an adequate thermostat cost?

[mlededee]

here is a link to some thermostats: http://www.reptiledirect.com/index.a...S&Category=357

i personally use the ESU thermostat and i love it. it keeps my temps right on all the time and i don't have to fiddle with them or use a heat lamp to keep things at the right levels. whichever one you do chose though, make sure to get a thermostat and NOT a rheostat. rheostats work differently and don't cut off when it gets too hot, so they aren't a good choice for what you need.

[xcrystalx723]

Thanks so much!