Substrate and Temps

[Toronto Python Gurus]

i switched from newspaper to aspen shaving and havent switched back all 14 of my snakes love it and its awesome for temps, humidity and cleanlyness . . . i use UTH aswell and havent had any problems, all have perfect sheds and no eatin/stress problems

[MUSTANGGTANDGSXR]

Funny you said that. I picked up a roll of Reflectix at Lowes today during lunch. I'll be trying that next.

JohnNJ

how did the reflectix work?

[JohnNJ]

how did the reflectix work?

I'll work on it again over the weekend.

Thanks.

[Appolion]

Precisely. The whole reason for setting the probe for the thermometer against the glass is to keep track of and control the hottest temp. If it's not perfect on top of the substrate and they want to get warmer, they'll burrow. The very fact that they do this means you want the temp at the glass (or plastic) to be a safe level.

Not sure why you have that extreme difference of temps from glass to substrate top...that's strange. Have you tried placing the tank on a layer of foil to help spread the heat? Sometimes UTHs get concentrated hot spots and won't heat evenly. Just a suggestion.

But, regardless, I would get the temps on glass to no higher than 95 and just go from there. Don't worry as much about substrate temps.

I'm getting a tank setup and my temps are:
Warm side glass (UTH) - 94.5
Warm side substrate in the hide over the UTH - 86
Ambient (cool side 5 inches above substrate - 81.5

Cool side is still changing, but as long as the cool side substrate(?) is around 82, I should be good, right? Otherwise, those temps are pretty good?

[Bloodsong]

Appolion, those are good temps, sounds like a good set up.

One thing I would suggest across the board, though. As was mentioned earlier, many UTHs have a problem with not heating evenly and creating hot spots in the tank which leads to gradient problems. I prefer flexwatt for this very reason. The way it is built is like a heating element in a space heater, but with a lot more resistance, so it won't get quite as hot. It will heat pretty evenly, though. The problem is that you have to have it on a stat or it will create a hotspot that will burn. For a 20G US tank, I would suggest the 4" flexwatt running along the hot side's far outside edge. That alone should create a decent temp gradient as long as you keep one hide against that wall. And the best part is that it uses only 8 watts per foot, so energy savings are great!

Bloodsong

[Bluebead]

So I'm guessing that the snakes do not try to get under the newspaper.

What about feeding? Do they ingest the substrate much? I read in another thread that some people put down a paper towel or newspaper to feed on and then remove it.

Anyone have a preference for something other than Aspen?

Thanks.
JohnNJ

I like coconut bark.
I get compressed blocks from the garden center that you soak to make come apart.
So far I haven't had any problems with mold etc. or feeding. My snakes really like it.
Ambient humidity is pretty low up here, usually 15-20%, so for me keeping the humidity up is hard to do. The coconut really soaks up the water and releases it slowly. Helps alot for shedding.

[Bluebead]

Other than that I use newspaper.
its fast and easy when you are cleaning over 40 snakes

[JohnNJ]

I finally got around to putting the Refectix under the two tanks. I checked the temps with an infrared thermometer and a wired probe.

Temps of probe on glass (inside tank)___________94.6_______99.9
Temps of probe on substrate (inside hide)_______78.6________81.9
Infrared range on top of newspaper & aspen___85.2-88.6___83.5-88.0

The infrared thermometer will not take a correct reading of the glass. One tank has one sheet of newspaper under the aspen and the other has two sheets.

One tank has a ZooMed UTH which emits heat. The other tank has an Ultratherm UTH which says it emits infrared heat (doesn't emit heat but heats objects).

The last thing I'll try is removing the newspaper and just using a thin layer of aspen. I'll set the temps so the probe on the glass reads 93-95. That's the best I can do.

Thanks for playing along.

JohnNJ

PS - the snakes are thriving. Eating f/t mice every 5 days, pooping weekly and very neat one piece sheds.

[Patricia]

With any substrate, aspen or otherwise, you should always place the thermoMETER probe on the glass right over the UTH. Get that temp at about 93-94, then the temp on the substrate will only be about 1-2 degrees cooler. Substrate depth should only be just enough to cover the floor without bare spots, since BPs aren't avid burrowers like corns.

This is the most clearly I've seen it spelled out. Thank you! It's been the substrate depth, thereby reducing heat reaching the snake, that's been the trickiest thing for me to deal with. Could've sworn I'd read somewhere that BPs burrow (not just in the wild, but as pets, into substrate), so they need an inch or 2 of substrate. Newspaper plus ¼" sure beats the 1-2" of burrowing substrate I've seen recommended!

[JohnNJ]

As an update, mine regularly push the aspen out of the way and lay directly on the glass.

JohnNJ