Setting up!

[Hikari]

So, reptile expo is in a few days on Nov. 5th, and I figured I needed to start getting everything set-up now that I've finished my tank stand. Thought I'd let y'all take a look at my set-up progress as I prepare, and see if I'm doing things correctly. I have a corn snake already, that I've had for two years now, so I'm not completely new to snake keeping, but a BP is a little more demanding in the temp and humidity department, so I think it's just an ever so slight step-up from my beginner corn.

Anyways, I figured I'd start with a "bare bones" set-up to see how my tank handles temps without any substrate, and to test all the temp-controlling devices. Here's what's set up so far:

- Zilla 20g Long terrarium (the one with the sliding, lockable lid). Tank has background cling on the back, and I used foamcore board to blackout the sides.
- 11x11 Reptitherm heat mat, paired with Jumpstart thermostat. Used an extra piece of coreboard to slide under it to direct heat better.
- 60w CHE in a Fluker's dimmable ceramic lamp w/ Zoo Med lamp stand.
- Digi thermometer, digi thermometer/hygrometer, and crappy analog thermometer to test. The latter's not too bad (slightly low, but only 3°F off), and will only be used as temporary back-up if disaster befalls a digital thermometer.

And a pic for reference:



The hot side is holding between 88-90°F, which I can easily bump up if need be. The Jumpstart's working like a champ (set at 91°F). The cooler side under the lamp is currently hovering around the 82°F mark with the lamp going all out (so much for needing the dimmer, lol). The humidity's dropped like a rock though. Already at 50%. Definitely gonna need to add the cypress mulch to keep that up. I need to bake it in the oven first though. Bought a big bag of it from Home Depot, so there might be creepy-crawlies in it, but the price was waaaay cheaper than the pet-store stuff so worth the trouble.

Stuff I have that hasn't been added yet include the cypress mulch, water dish, hides, fake plants, reptile hammocks (the corn snake likes them, figured I'll give the BP one), and cardboard tubes, just so you know what all I have

Anyways, so far so good?