Please help! I'm about to give up :(

[hoax]

thank you! the only problem when i lower the temps back on the UTH's is that when I put my hand in the hide, it's barely warm. it's barely warm even at the temps i have them at now

When I got into it I was the same way... It should feel warm right...

Well look at it this way your body temp in 98.6F the highest you really want is 94F.

I got a digital temp gun, it really helped me with my husbandry.

Hope this helps you a little.

so that is the first & most important step in BP husbandry? I had no idea

Thank you

Dude paragraphs are the only way to have a happy snake

[hoax]

Remember that our body temp is much higher than the temp you want for a ball python, and so the hides will indeed feel tepid; or barely warm.

A glass tank can be a tricky thing to get right. Have you tried insulating the sides and back of the tank to help hold in the heat?

Also, a thermostat (as has been suggested) is a must to control the heat sources and keep your snake from getting burned. If you have 2 heat sources you'll need 2 thermostats or a Herpstat II.

Reptile Basics sells a great line of temp guns. These are a great husbandry tool; really a must-have in my book!

Take care. Don't give up. Keep asking questions and being open to corrections and change

I guess Starmom beat me to it!!!

[kasmir]

Remember that our body temp is much higher than the temp you want for a ball python, and so the hides will indeed feel tepid; or barely warm.

A glass tank can be a tricky thing to get right. Have you tried insulating the sides and back of the tank to help hold in the heat?

Also, a thermostat (as has been suggested) is a must to control the heat sources and keep your snake from getting burned. If you have 2 heat sources you'll need 2 thermostats or a Herpstat II.

Reptile Basics sells a great line of temp guns. These are a great husbandry tool; really a must-have in my book!

Take care. Don't give up. Keep asking questions and being open to corrections and change

thank you thank you thank you! I contacted my local family owned pet store who doesn't carry thermostats but is looking into ordering them for me & they were very helpful (I also was able to pick their brain about my situation, i love supporting small businesses lol). I also found a temp gun at home depot for $30 so i will be investing in one very soon! thank you for your help

[hoax]

thank you thank you thank you! I contacted my local family owned pet store who doesn't carry thermostats but is looking into ordering them for me & they were very helpful (I also was able to pick their brain about my situation, i love supporting small businesses lol). I also found a temp gun at home depot for $30 so i will be investing in one very soon! thank you for your help

You can find them at Autozone, Orielly's, or NAPA. I got mine @ NAPA. I have seen some inconsistancy in the on eI got at NAPA and will be ordering one from Rich @ Reptile Basics.

[Gloryhound]

Another possibility that can make a world of difference is if a warmer room exists in the house move him to it. Also keep the tank away from windows in your house. Sitting next to a window in this kind of weather in my house makes me cold. Limit drafts, make sure no heater vent blows on the aquarium and it is not next to a cold air intake. (as long as you have several cold air intakes in you house you can block one off if you have to put it by it.)

Start a note book that keeps every little detail you can think of in it, even incase you know the detail is wrong and fix it as soon as detected. Include an overhead room sketch in your note bood that shows windows, tank placement, approximate height off floor, doors designated as going into the rest of the house or outside, heat and AC vents and intakes. Different things work for different people, different people are comfortable with different things, and a house built in 1890 will probably require a different set up than a house built in 2008. The notes will help prevent you from second guessing yourself.

Heaven forbid it comes to it, but if something does happen to your ball you will at least be able to go back and see if some change made may be at fault. In the end you will be a better herp keeper. Once you start to get things hammered out your confidence will grow and you will start to intuitively know what has to be done. Until then your notebook will have everything written in it creating a Do and Do Not guide for yourself.

[Ranegyr]

Don't give up.

I am having humidity issues now that the semi-cold weather has hit florida. I spray some water into the enclosure in the morning before i go to work and by the time i get home, everything is fine. Then i have to do it again the next day.

I use a 30gal glass tank and i tend to have some of the same issues from time to time. Glass is not the most reliable, but it is the prettiest. So I feel your pain.

I have found that daily maintainance is the only solution. I use a dimmer (shame on me) instead of a thermostat. I just had to add a 2 minute routine check up in the morning before work. I check again when i get home and before bed. You can never be too careful.

Everyone else seemed to hit in the important stuff; aspen bedding, temp gun, warm to the touch may still be hot to the snake.


Stick with it.

TO TEXAS DAN...

I split my post into multiple unnecessary paragraphs to even out this thread. Hope it helped.

[Ponthieux]

First thing I would try is paragraphs.

since you have been blessedly silent since posting this, i hope that means you realized that it was mean and completely un-necessary.

[zail]

My house gets very cold at night and i was having trouble holding night time ambient temps so as a cheap insulation solution i got some polysterene (styrofoam?) packing from round PCs at work and cut it to size and taped that round 3 sides of the enclosure - It's really helped so you may want to try that.

Some really good advice on here - obviously the paragraphs thing was great advice for your snake - please let us know how you taught it to read!

[kasmir]

My house gets very cold at night and i was having trouble holding night time ambient temps so as a cheap insulation solution i got some polysterene (styrofoam?) packing from round PCs at work and cut it to size and taped that round 3 sides of the enclosure - It's really helped so you may want to try that.

Some really good advice on here - obviously the paragraphs thing was great advice for your snake - please let us know how you taught it to read!

haha thank you! I may need to do the insulation thing, my ambient temps just aren't up to par, close but not where it should be. I recently borrowed a temp gun which works out wonderfully! luckily I can use it for awhile before investing in my own. It was just driving me crazy not knowing what the temps were ontop of the substrate! I'm alot more at ease knowing I'm not freezing or cooking him lol