Newbie!

[Sh0rty]

Hello, I've had a pretty trying day today...

I drove 2.5 hours to the East Bay Vivarium and had to say a tearful good-bye to my anery corn snake because he was not feeding to well and I though it would be best to put him in comeptent hands.

I fell in love with a baby ball python there and after talking with an employee decided to purchase.

My current set up is...

-10gallon glass tank
-aspen bedding
- one UTH (rheostat being built)
-one heat lamp (hooked up to a rheostat)
-water on cool end
-two hides, on each end, more coming

I am having a really big problem with my heating situation. I have my UTH heating up the warm side and the heat lamp warm up the cool side (the house it at 62F)

The cool side hovers around 80F with the lamp hooked up with the dimmer, but the warm side is changing alot. I have dial thermometers right on his bedding ( I was told by the vivarium that was okay and what they do ).

What are your methods of keeping your tanks at the right temp?

Also, what would be okay reguarding handling at this point?

[gunkle]

Well I'm still a newbie myself but heres my little exp. I started with a tank a month ago and my house temps are just like yours (its winter heat is expensive) I could not properly heat and maintian humidity in the tank. the best i got was to put the heat lamp and UTH on hot side and a small 5 gallon tank size UTH on the cool side. Go to walmart or Lowes and get an AcuRite indoor outdoor thermometer (seems to be the popular one here and works good for the money) for like $11. and you will see that those little round or stick on ones are not very accurate. I also put the water bowl directly over the UTH on the hot side to aid in evaporation and covered about 3/4 of the top of the tank with a damp towel. Plus I have a 20 gall humidifier running in my house and could not get humidity over 40% in the tank. Now i have a tub set up and a thermostate, heating is no issue and humidity is actually a little high (still working on bringing down).

[reptile3]

I have a 30 gallon breeder tank, UTH , 2 hides, 1 large flat water dish, I use a thick towel over the side with the hide& UTH. The other side, I have the red nocturnal heat bulb., my temps stay between 88-95. The room temps here is about 70-75. I also use a small hand towel/wash cloth wet it & hang it in the middle of the tank, that helps with the humidity, also misting throughout the day.

[Sh0rty]

using a UTH and the heat lamp on the hot side seems like alot of heat. I was thinking last night of getting another UTH and using it on the cool side with a rheostat.

Now, I am taking all these temps from the substrate, is this correct?

[gunkle]

Yeah UTH and Lamp on same side can be alot thats where i used a low watt bulb cause I needed a small amount and the UTH alone wasn't cutting it. My house temp averages between 60 and 66 degrees. Hey its winter and I don't mind the cold.
I take my temps on top of the substrate (belly temp) for each side plus one halfway up on back wall is the ambient temp. I only check humidity on hotter side but should be the same on both I think. My ambient temp and my cool side temp are usually about the same +-1 degree. I believe that the ambient temp and the cool side should both be in the 80 - 85 range. Someone will correct if I'm wrong.

[Sh0rty]

My UTH can get plently hott, but right now I am building another rheostat to connect to the UTH. I have a 100W bulb hooked up to a dimmer as well.

My new plan of action, spend the day fiddling with the UTH tep combine with the heat lamp. Then I am putting a blanket over the cool side to keep heat in. Does this sounds okay?

I also have those stickie dial thermometers. I got the from the vivarium. I am NOT sticking them to the wall because that is useless. I took off the adhesive and they are right on his substrate.

Also, will he mind me messing with his tank all day? Or should I put him in a holding tub? Should I be handling him at all?

[gunkle]

BP's can get stressed out real easy. Looking back I think mine would have had the shakes (if it could) due to all the things I did wrong in the first week. The best bet is to get it set up as quickly as possible and leave it alone for a week to 10 days except to change the water and clean up. Then if it eats properly wait a few more days for it to digest then try handling it for short periods with a day or so in between to let it relax again. If your supper cautious like I am now you can wait till it eats a few meals before any major handling. Heres a good link about tank setups from the stickys at the top of this forum. Glass tank setup Like I said I gave up real quickly on the glass tank and switched to a tub much easier for me. But I would not recomend the towel on top (even though I did it ) due too possible fire hazard with heat lamp.

[clipclopclip]

Hi Shorty! Nice to see you here too! I already gave you my setup on cornsnakes.com, so I am just saying hi!!

[Sh0rty]

I really need to get his UTH on a rheostat and working properly. I might just put him quickly in a small tub.

I think I am going to ditch the light. I have been hearing because getting their UTH to 92 and putting a towl on top of the tank and the cool side will get up to 80. We'll see.

Sorry for the 20 questions but, I am leaving for school on Saturday. It is a 2.5 hour drive to Chico. Any suggestions on howto travel with them? Maybe I'll just wait until I get to Chico to adjust his UTH. Its six days away, but it might be worth it just to closely check his temps every few hours and make the proper adjustments. Then when I get to Chico, I can make everything perfect without having to stress him.

[Sh0rty]

Hahahahha Hi Rachel.

I'm stressin!