Is this normal for a new ball?

[Mochelem]

The $10 thermometer at walmart has all the clocks and doo hickies on it. All you need is somthing that gives you an accurate reading. This is the exact one I bought at wal mart and it works great...

http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Thermo...9453470&sr=1-2

[jorgasm]

Update! I went to my Target and wouldn't you guess it, they didn't have a single digital thermometer... BUT the Petco in that area did have some digital ones WITH probes! So I picked up two and just got done installing them. You guys were right-- the side with the heat pad is currently at 114.5 degrees F!!! >_< I'm turning the UTH off because I know that is WAY too hot. The "cool" side is at 83.9 degrees F. So I think I'm good there. How will my ball handle not having a heat pad for a while?? I need to find one of those damn light dimmers now. Which with my luck isn't going to be a quick scavenger. o.o I also picked up a tiny aquarium plant. Bad idea?

[jorgasm]

*stressing out*

[starmom]

It is time to order a thermostat since your snake is not going to do very well in an unheated tank

Check these out: http://www.reptilebasics.com/Thermostats-p-1-c-250.html. There are a couple to choose from and many of us order from Rich at Reptile Basics a lot. He is an awesome guy who gives lots of care to his customers.

He might be in Daytona right now, but please email him to check. You need a thermostat. You can also give Jeff a call at Helix and order from him directly or call Dion at Herpstat and order from him.

Bottom Line: Thermostat

...and, I must say, you are listening very well and taking it all in.

[TanyaL]

I would love to have all the fancy, high-tech gadgets but for one snake it's not financially feasable for me...YET! So, I went to Lowes and bought two sliding dimmer switches, one for the UTH and the other for the red bulb. It's not ideal and I still keep a constant eye on temps but at least my temps have never gone above 100! It's not the best solution but it's better than nothing..obviously.

You could also get the accurite from Lowes as well..that's where I got mine from. It was a bit more expensive than Walmart but since our Walmart was out of them, I didn't mind paying the extra money.

[Mochelem]

Good job on the thermometers!! If you need a dimmer switch go to Home Depot or Lowes into the electrical section and buy a dimmer switch some yellow wire nuts and a electrical wall box to screw the switch on....

An employee should be able to help you find all of thease. When selecting the dimmer switch I like to get the switches that have lines at different places on it, this makes it wasier to remember settings on the switch.

To hook up the dimmer switch you need to wire the switch to one wire on the UTH power cord, I remember see a diagram somwhere on this site that shows how to hook it up... Maybe somone else can chime in with that post...

[Mochelem]

heres one of the posts
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...=dimmer+switch


If you cant find one like the above then get a wall dimmer switch wire nuts and a plastic wall box for the switch, and a face plate for a dimmer switch

[jorgasm]

Thanks for the instructions... I'll have to study that a bit, because right now its making my head spin. So, I turned the pad back on. It got down to like 85 degrees and it kept going down. So I'm worried its going to be too cold for the little guy/girl. >_> And I don't mean to argue with the wisdom here, but I can't wrap my mind around the idea that a pet store would sell a product specifically designed for a cold blooded animal that would hurt it. I'm really worrying guys.

[jorgasm]

Okay, my boyfriend had the idea to detach the heating pads from my snakes tanks... to tape them to the surface the tank is on. [yeah, i adopted a baby corn snake last night. lol] So far the tank has remained at 94-93 degrees on the side with the pad, so yay! Anyone else hear if this being done? Are there any flaws with this method I can't see?

[blackcrystal22]

Okay, my boyfriend had the idea to detach the heating pads from my snakes tanks... to tape them to the surface the tank is on. [yeah, i adopted a baby corn snake last night. lol] So far the tank has remained at 94-93 degrees on the side with the pad, so yay! Anyone else hear if this being done? Are there any flaws with this method I can't see?

You might want to take that out immediately. If water gets spilled on it, or the snake urates on it, it could cause a spike or electric shock for your snake.
What type of UTH do you have?
What do you have hooked up to the UTH at this time that is making the temperatures so low? If it is by itself, you might want to give it overnight to warm up completely.
Do you have a heat lamp?

Also, regarding a baby corn snake, make sure it's in something smaller than a 20 gallon (just makes things easier) and make sure there are ZERO POSSIBILITIES to escape! They are so small and capable of squeezing out anything larger than screen holes. So be careful! :]