Temps are becoming a pain now

[Jdrum6]

Hello, so I just moved my BP into a 20L. I was hoping my rack would come beforehand but it hasn’t yet and she’s was too big for the 10 now. I have a UTH and a CHE hooked up to a herpstat 2. The UTH temp in the one hide is good at 90. However the substrate outside the hide is above 90 as well as the top of the hide being close to 100. I had my herpstat set to 86 for the CHE thinking that it would need to be higher to allow the ambient to be correct. However my temp gauge that I use to monitor ambient temps said 84 but the substrate was 93 degrees? I turned the herpstat down to 84 but now the substrate is reading 77 outside the hide and the ambient is now 81? I don’t understand why that is. The CHE (60w) is in b/t the hot side and the center. I don’t know what to set the herpstat to so the substrate temp outside the hide is below 88 and keeping the ambient b/t 82-84. Another question is, as long as the ambient temp is correct, does it matter if the substrate temp outside of the hide is below 78? Also, my probe for the CHE is on the front of the tank, on the inside, a little higher then midway down the glass.

[Bogertophis]

First thing, high temps can cause neurological damage before they actually kill a snake, so if I were you, I'd keep my snake in the former (too small) set-up until such time as you've worked out all the temperature bugs on this 20L for at least a week for safety! Cramped quarters aren't near as lethal as wrong temperatures can be. And no matter how much you want your snake in this 20L, you'll be stressing them out & maybe causing food refusals if they stay there, even if you keep the temps. safe from now on.

90* should be the highest temperature that's any place your snake can touch, including under the substrate where the UTH is, or over the hide, or whatever. And you never heat the whole enclosure/tank/tub- your snake needs the unheated part for safety (to get away from excessive warmth & to thermoregulate), & it should be 75-80*.

[nikkubus]

Air is a lot harder to heat than substrate, so it's going to have that problem if the enclosure isn't very well insulated and/or has too much airflow. The best solution would be to heat the room with a space heater to 75F so that the UTH and CHE have less work to do, if that is an option. If this is a traditional glass tank with screen lid, you can make some modifications to help it be better for ball pythons, but ideally you would go with something designed with this type of animal in mind. Some options are to place the entire tank in a shelf of some sort that can help retain a lot of the heat leaving from the back and sides, using some foam glued onto the back and sides, or using plexiglass pieces to reduce airflow at the top. There isn't going to be an setting on the herpstat that is going to give you correct ambient temps without the substrate being too hot if the enclosure itself is letting out too much heat.

[Jdrum6]

Yeah, I’ve been using a space heater for awhile now. And if I use the foam, that will allow for the heat to stay in the tank so the temps aren’t changing all the time?

[Jdrum6]

Also, sometimes I’ll go in a tank the glass temp and it will read in the low-mid 80s and then sometimes I’ll go in and it I’ll be 91-92 which makes no sense. I do have a UTH hooked up as well.

[Bogertophis]

Every place (room or home) and every enclosure is different- we can't always tell you exactly what to do from a distance (& not even seeing your set-up); it takes a lot of tweaking sometimes to get it right- & your snake doesn't belong in there until you've got it dialed in for a week, preferably, to test everything. Many things (substrate & all) change temperature slowly- they may gradually get too hot & if you already stopped monitoring it, thinking it's correct, your snake might be in danger of harm.

[Jdrum6]

For some reason I’m not allowed to post attachments? And I have a single tub I can move her too if that would be a better option to help stabilize temps more? I have the UTH and a space heater for ambient if you think a single tub would help. I have an AP rack ordered because I plan on getting more but they take so so long . Also, she’s going into shed so would it be unwise to move her while starting the shed process?

[Bogertophis]

For some reason I’m not allowed to post attachments? ...

This might help > > > https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...-Post-Pictures