Thank you for your reply!

Quote Originally Posted by Lord Sorril View Post
Awesome! The sign of a responsible pet owner!
Where is the probe for the thermostat located? Is there a UTH, if so, how is it regulated?
The thermostat sensor is in the middle-bottom back of the tank, stapled to the back of the viv - here's a photo:



The little probe at the bottom right by the vent hole is for the thermostat controlling the temps, the thing that I've fixed about half way up is the hygrometer.
I also have a probe on the back wall for the hot end (right) and cool end (left):





What's a UTH? I'm guessing a heat mat? I don't have one of those, the reptile shop said that they're not recommended and that I should use the lamp instead - I remember this being a (pardon the pun) hot topic debate back when I had corns over a decade ago!

I am also wary of the CHE that is installed inside the enclosure. I've never done it myself because CHE's heat up really hot and that wire metal cage would just conduct the heat to the snake (if it touched).
I suspect heat from the CHE is being trapped inside and raising the overall temp to the one set on the thermostat. If you turn the thermostat down to 85F your temps should go down proportionately. As for drilling vent holes: What is your terrarium made out of? I would not want to drill/cut holes in certain materials.
Sure, you don't really need a 'cool' side as long as you have a Under Tank Heater on a thermostat to generate a hot spot.
What's a CHE? I'm guessing that's the ceramic lamp? Good to know though - I've tried to measure the temp on the metal but it's just reporting 33C, it might be too narrow for the laser to properly report the heat, or more likely - the bedroom is so hot at the moment that the thermostat isn't actually currently running >_<
That was my guess too wrt the heat being trapped - it's only a 3ft enclosure. It's made of wood, I'm not sure but I assume it's a pressed fibreboard with veneer on the top, it's some kind of wood anyway. I was thinking of cutting a hole with a jigsaw a few inches square and getting some thick mesh to staple to the outside, but I don't know if that would make it *too* drafty?

Thank you for the temp tip though, I'll try that. 31C in F is apparently nearly 88 so it's probably running on the hot side for the poor snakie.
If I got a heat mat, do you have any recommendations as to wattage, brand, and wether I should place it under the (thick wood) viv or under the substrate inside the viv? Should I run one in tandem with the lamp or without?

The current ventilation is minimal tbh - the small vent at the bottom back and the two on the top left and right, as seen here:



You can get/make a hide and stuff it full of moist sphagnum moss (or paper towels) as an artificially high humidity setting. If your water bowl is large enough for your snake to submerge in: I would not be concerned with low humidity at all.
I'm not familiar with that substrate.
She has two hides, but if there is spagnum moss in them she won't go inside, so I've put it around the viv instead. The humidity is never really below 50, and when I mist it it goes above 99, she also has a large water bowl that she could easily soak herself in (though she has not done so to my knowledge in the time I've had her)
The substrate is very similar to aspen tbh, the shop people said it's less dusty and just better overall but I don't know, might just be salesman talk.

The white hard lumps are urate waste material produced during digestion. They are processed faster than normal 'brown' waste that you are expecting which you can expect on a less frequent basis.
That's what I thought - should I be concerned that she's eaten 5 feeds so far of that size of mouse once weekly and not produced any "regular" waste yet?


A lot of people will give you a lot of answers and some will show you a feeding chart. Until the snake reaches full size personally I would offer her smaller prey items-as much as she will eat at one time. Start by offering two and then scale the food offerings accordingly. (That is just how I do it)
Should I maybe feed her a mouse, and then if she still comes to the exit of her hide maybe try to feed her another, on feed days? Or will that be too much food for her?

Thank you again for your help!

Oh, one more question. Her cloaca looks and has always looked like this:



IIRC from my cornsnake days, snakes have a hemipenes that can come out of the cloaca, however as a female snake I assume she would not have this. She also seems to have two holes? Am I missing something here, could this be an illness or was she mis-sexed?
Sorry for all the questions, still learning days!


Also SilasHorn - thank you for the headsup, I didn't know that - I haven't seen any mould yet but I will keep an eye out. I also have giant african land snails and they use a kind of coconut.. coir? I think it's called. Would that make a good substrate / mixed in with the aspen or something?

Thank you again!

- - - Updated - - -

Oh P.s. the thermostat sensor was fitted there by the reptile shop staff, the two thermometer sensors and the hygrometer one were fitted by me