I got the new thermometers in the tank and old ones removed.
I got the dimmer connected to the UTH and turned to a little less than 3/4.
I got the two plastic bowls cut for identical hides (I plan to replace these with actual hides instead of makeshift eventually, but wanted to get her set up the two identical hides sooner rather than later).
So, some updates;
- Humidity levels are right around 40 degrees even with the lamps on. This is much better than I previously thought! Even though it still doesn't seem enough (I should shoot for 50-60?).
- It does not look I'm getting the proper temperature gradient throughout the tank. After leaving the UTH w/ dimmer on for 4 hrs, I'm reading 84 on the hot side, 81 on the cold side. I'm not too concerned just yet as I was previously instructed to leave it go for about 8 hrs in order to let the dimmer do its job and allow the UTH to reach its proper adjusted level. I'll have to measure it tomorrow after 8 hours. I'll unplug it tonight so as to not take any chances. My first thought is that I wonder if I need to cut the night lamp off during the day? I've been running it day and night (while cutting the hot side lamp at night) because I was trying to maintain the proper temps. Early indications may be that I was overreacting due to reliance on poor thermometers.
- BP continued basking for several hours under the hot-side lamp before coming off the vine and really moving all around the tank (approximately 10:00pm). I believe she is looking for a place to sleep? She used the cold-side hide once as after I took the old mismatched hides out I covered her with the new plastic bowl hide I made this afternoon. It fit her just fine and she stayed in for a little while before poking her head out to check out what I was doing. Then she slithered out and hasn't gone back in either hide since.
I get the feeling BP's require a good amount of patience, which is fine, I just hope I'm doing the right things here.
Giving it my all!
I'll try to update with some pictures tomorrow.
Thank you again for all your help!
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