temps not high enough!

[ChristyR]

Hi there. I'm new here and just acquired my first ball yesterday and I'm trying to get his new home set up. My question is, I cannot seem to get the temps quite high enough on the cool end of the tank. I have a 20g long critter cage, and 3 under tank heaters designed for 20g tanks. Temp on the cool side is right above 70. Temp on warm side (and right under basking lamp) is just under 90. What am I doing wrong here? For bedding, I've got reptile carpet and then aspen on top of that. Also, I have covered the screen top with foil and taped it down. Humidity is around 70%.

We keep our house on the very cool side, so would I be better off with a ceramic heat emitter or something? These uth's just don't seem to be doing the job very well. And I've tried a rheostat and it made no difference.

I would love any input from you experienced keepers! I want my little serpent to be happy!

[elevatethis]

Space heater. The oil-filled electric space heaters available at any walmart or target work wonders.

[ChristyR]

You know, a few minutes after I posted this thread, it dawned on me to look at the thermostat and see what the temp was in that end of the house. It was 65. :eek: Yes I know, we don't like spending $$ on heat unless we really need it, lol! Anyway, I turned it up to 70 and we'll see how that goes.

Thanks for your quick reply.

[recycling goddess]

it's cheaper to put a space heater or even a heating pad (on top of the enclosure) to increase your temps in one enclosure rather than increasing the heat in an entire house...

that said... increasing it to 70 isn't going to get your ambient temps high enough. :/

[elevatethis]

I'd just crank a space heater in the room next to the cage. I've got a boa downstairs in my living room in a display setup....it gets cold down there, so I run a space heater next to it through the winter.

[ChristyR]

Actually, it did work perfectly. The temp on the cool side is now 85 and on the warm side, in the basking light, it's over 100 now, so I'm having to move the lamp back - don't wanna cook my little guy! Temperature on that end of the house is now 72. (We have 3 different heating/ac zones in our home so increasing the temp in that area of the house does not affect the entire house.)

Can't believe I didn't think of that sooner, but thanks so much for the input, guys!

[tmlowe5704]

Actually, it did work perfectly. The temp on the cool side is now 85 and on the warm side, in the basking light, it's over 100 now, so I'm having to move the lamp back - don't wanna cook my little guy! Temperature on that end of the house is now 72. (We have 3 different heating/ac zones in our home so increasing the temp in that area of the house does not affect the entire house.)

Can't believe I didn't think of that sooner, but thanks so much for the input, guys!

get that cool side down a tad more and definitely get the hot side down! remember you want it to be between 90-94 inside the hide, not on top or on the sides of it

[AkivaSmith]

Reptile carpet and aspen is too much. One or the other would be just fine. What happens is that your snake will dig under the aspen to the reptile carpet and the temps will be much higher there. I understand that it will be easier to clean, but the best way to do that is to put one layer of newspaper above the glass, put your temp sensor on top of the paper then cover the paper with aspen to less than 1 inch. just my

[ChristyR]

Okay, it's perfect now, I think. 81 on the cool side and 90-95 warm/basking side.

Regarding carpet and aspen, I prefer the look of aspen as opposed to plain carpet...I like the 'natural' look. I've read on numerous different sites that if you use something like aspen, you must use something underneath it to prevent the snake from burrowing under it and laying against the glass, which could possibly result in burns to the snake. So that's why I did it that way.

Thanks again for the input guys! Turning my thermostat up just a bit worked just fine!!

[tmlowe5704]

Okay, it's perfect now, I think. 81 on the cool side and 90-95 warm/basking side.

Regarding carpet and aspen, I prefer the look of aspen as opposed to plain carpet...I like the 'natural' look. I've read on numerous different sites that if you use something like aspen, you must use something underneath it to prevent the snake from burrowing under it and laying against the glass, which could possibly result in burns to the snake. So that's why I did it that way.

Thanks again for the input guys! Turning my thermostat up just a bit worked just fine!!

The burrowing is part of the reason AS told you to keep the aspen under an inch thick. Not much difference in heat. If the surface is 90* then the glass under a little more is no more than 95*