Went up to visit Kara at NERD to get a snake and setup, have major questions.

[BostonMacK]

Hello everyone, I am one very excited yet nervous BP owner.

Thursday I went up to see Kara at NERD and got an unbeleivable tour as well as a setup and beautiful snake. Before I begin I have to say that Kara is just a super cool/kind individual. She took a major amount of time showing me around and I was just blown away with their facility and the beautiful animals within it. Anyway, before I begin let me just say that Kara did explain how I should set the tank up but there was so much going on that not much of it sank in which brings me here. She is a very busy girl and if I don't have to nag her and get questions answered here GREAT!

OK, Here is a picture of the enclosure I bought for the new boy. The cage was built buy Kevin and Kara (I beleive), very cool.



Anyway, I have a 50-60 gallon sized T-Rex heat mat connected to a CA RF100 thermostat. The mat is butted up against the left side of the cage but extends about 2 thirds accross the cage. I have the probe to the thermostat on top of the bedding under his hide. I have a digital thermometer set on the other side which will ( I hope anyway) be the cool side with the probe on to of the cypress there. I have the snakes other hide and waterbowls but I havent put them in yet seeing there is no need seeing the snake I bought still resides at NERD for the time being. My hopes are to try and get everything dialed in so I can go bring the boy home next Saturday. My fingers are crossed!

OK, at 6:00 I plugged the heat mat/thermostat in and set it on 95. At 7:00 the temp was 74.5. How long does it take to bring temps up when turning a thermostat on for the first time? Also, the humidity is reading 94% but I am assuming that's because I just put new/wet cypress mulch in the cage a minute before plugging everything in.

I see a ton of stuff on setting up glass tank setups but very little PVC enclosures like this. Can anyone help shed some light on this for me? I am really excited but very nervous things arent going to work out very easily on this. Hopefully I ca get things together so I can go bring the man home.

Thanks a ton iin advance for any help.

~Jason

[Phreak]

everything should warm up and stable itself out but I'm not sure. Just wait it out and see what happens. Any other questions, feel free to ask.

[lord jackel]

First...it takes more than an hour to heat it up from the get go...so relax. Also a damp substate will take longer to heat but once heated will hold the temp longer.

Next how are you measuring the temp? Are you getting 75 at the probe site (under the hide) or up on the wall where I see the thermometer? Also, are you sure the thermostat and pad are working? Have you felt the bottom of the cage (below the substrate) to see if you can feel any heat?

Let me know on these and we will go from there.

Also, it was a really good idea to setup first and then bring your snake home as this will take a few days to get dialed in.

[BostonMacK]

Thanks for the responces guys.

The thermometer on the left reads 78 and the one on the right reads 76. I don't have an infared temp gun yet so I am sut sure what the exact temp is under the hide where the probe to the thermostat is. I was wondering, is that thermometer on the right optimally placed? I am just nervous about the loose cord running down the back of the cage.

Thanks again!

[lord jackel]

Thanks for the responces guys.

The thermometer on the left reads 78 and the one on the right reads 76. I don't have an infared temp gun yet so I am sut sure what the exact temp is under the hide where the probe to the thermostat is. I was wondering, is that thermometer on the right optimally placed? I am just nervous about the loose cord running down the back of the cage.

Thanks again!

Assuming that the temp is being measured at the actual device (and not on the end of the cord) I would move both of them down near the bottom. You really don't need to worry about what the temp is up that high when you ball will never be up there. He will spend all of his time on the ground and this is where you want to measure the temps. Hard to tell from the pics but the one of the right has a probe lead (so you can measure temps at the end of the cord?) and the one on the right only measures at the unit...is this correct?

[Subzero]

The thermostat probe should never be inside the enclosure, If the snake tips the water bowl and water gets to the probe it will heat the matt up like crazy, I dont use cypress for BP's Especially with that type of tank (the good kind) They hold humidity well. Id use shreaded aspen, Both of your thermometers need to be waaay lower and not stuck the the walls, heres what I would do ... heat matt under the tank (duh) thermostat probe right under there against the mat (taped to it, on the bottom of the enclosure) the matt should have come with little rubber things to hold you tank up higher. Ok so the matt and probe are both on the outside of the tank on the bottom, place the actual digital thermometer on the cool side right in the middle, and right on the floor not on the wall. then take the remote thermometer probe and stick it right in the hide (tape it to the bottom of the tank, but inside the enclosure) Thats how I would do it.

[BostonMacK]

Wow, I just assumed the thermostat probe went inside the enclosure to give the reading that the snake would actually feel laying on the substrate. So the probe just monitors the heat of the mat, gotcha, I feel like an idiot.

Now, with the thermometer, I should mount the unit in the middle of the tank and run THAT probe into the snakes hide? You said to tape it to the floor of the tank. Should I tape the cord and allow the probe to sit on the substrate or actually tape the probe to the floor and have it covered with substrate.

Thanks for the help fellas, much appreciated.
~Jason

[Subzero]

yeah just sit the thermometer on the cold side, dont have tomount the sticky stuff just sit it the on the substrate so you can see it, then take THAT probe and put it in the hide on the hot side, you can tabe the wire and let the temp. reading potion lay on the substrate,

About the thermostat probe, some people DO put it in the enclosure But accidents can happen that way. I would take it directly to the mat.

THEN heres how you start setting the thermostat temps, first set the thermostat to 95 (since the probe is on the mat directly the mat will heat to 95, but itll be a lil cooler on the inside) Im trying to explain it the best I can, but Im a visual type of person so bear with me. SO you set the temp on the T-stat to 95 then you wait at least 6 hrs id say, since you freshly plugged in your mat they take a long while to get completely hot, in 6 hrs check you inside thermometer it will be a few degrees cooler since your thermostat is heating the mat to 95, after a long while your temps as example may be 95 in the mat and 90 on you inside thermostat, so if you want it to be 92 inside you'll have to go to about 96-97 on your T-stat. If im not explaining it well enough let me know ill be glad to word it better.

If you choose to just put the T-stat probe inside the encloser put it on the hot side and tape it to the floor good. then you just set your T-stat to what ever temp you want, say 92 it will heat your mat to a temparature higher than 92 in order to get your probe area to 92 because you will loose a few degrees going through the floor.

I

[Flagg]

All excellent info, except its not advised to use tape inside a viv. It inevitably comes up and if it's a really tacky tape and the snake gets caught up in it, the results can be nasty.

I use hot glue when fastening wires or probes inside the tank. seems to work ok.

[BostonMacK]

Thanks a million guys, I am going to switch it around tomorrow morning. I can't wait to get this dialed in, it's killing me knowing my snakes waiting for me at NERD. Once this is set it's full sail ahead.