PLEASE HELP, my enclosure is too cold

[Brock]

I will be getting my ball python in a couple days and I need my problem to be fixed. I have a 40 gallon breeder tank with a 175 watt bulb from zoo med and a 30-40 gallon tank under tank heater from zoo med. my basking are heat is fine but the other side of my tank is only 68degrees. Here are pictures of my enclosure and my bulb, please help😀

[KMG]

175 watt bulb!?!?! That sounds like a lot for a 40 gallon tank. I hope it is on a dimmer or thermostat.

Is the UTH on a thermostat? It needs to be.



I had a 40 gallon tank in a room that stayed 68 and got cooler in the cold months. I used a regulated 100 watt che on the warm side and a 60 watt bulb on the cool side. I also had a uth on a tstat. I added thick art paper to the back and sides to insulate it and cover most of the screen lid with foil covered cardboard. That kept the tank just where it needed to be.

[KMG]

BTW, your pics are not showing up. Copy and paste the 'img" code into your text box. You have to load them to a site like photobucket to get the code.

[Macropodus]

I agree w/KMG 175 is way too much. With the UTH the temp will get even higher. We use 100's in our 40g's and get a hot spot of ~102 (we keep water there since none of our snakes like it that hot) and a cool side of ~78. Kudos to you for figuring this out before you acquire a snake, IMO the easiest way to avoid RI is a properly heated enclosure. You say your basking heat is fine, what is it? If it is in the high 90s then your cool spot 36" away (your tank dimensions = 36" x 18" x 18"?) should be > 68. Have you measured the temp with 2 different instruments? What is the cool side up against? Tape a blanket or aluminum foil on that side for insulation.

[Brock]

the bulb doesnt have a dimmer, ill get on though now that you said i should. neither the pad or the bulb are on a thermostat, i have the zoo med uth is it compatible with a thermostat? and why would a 175 watt bulb be too hot if the tank isn't even getting hot enough? Oh and the basking area temp is 93 degrees. THANKS FOR THE REPLIES!

[Brock]

my basking spot heat is 93 degrees

[Brock]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...zigu5hDUQ/edit

This is a link to my enclosure and the kind of bulb i have.

Ok, so i have a 40 gallon breeder tank and a 175 watt bulb and a zoo med under tank heater both on the same side. the bulb puts my basking spot at 93 degrees which is fine, but on the opposite side (cool side) it only gets up to 68 degrees and i have my thermometer probe taped to the wall of the cool side at snake level. Also some people said my bulb is to big do and that id need a dimmer is this true? in please help

[Macropodus]

did you seal off the cover except for where the lamp is? that keeps heat in and is the easiest way to maintain humidity. we use cling-wrap but others use aluminum foil, glass, plexiglass, etc. the holes in the lamp will allow for enough circulation

[Brock]

no i didnt seal it off ive just had a towlel over it will that do it?

[jmcrook]

How and where are you measuring temps in the cage?


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