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New Owner Questions (Substrate and Tank Size)

michaeljeffrie said:
i dont understand why the temperature flux would make a difference? if you set the dimmer to the temperature you want it at, why would you have to change it?
Click to expand...

Dimmer = set the amount of energy it allows to go to the heat source, not the temperature that it reaches.

If the ambient air is at, say 70 degrees and you have your heat source set to put out 85 degrees it will be at 85 degrees. But only when the ambient air is exactly 70 degrees.

If the ambient air changes to let's say, 75 degrees and your heat source is still receiving the same amount of energy as when the ambient was 70, your heat source will be at a higher temp than your desired 85 degrees.

A thermostat on the other hand is designed to reach a desired temperature by taking a reading, and then adjusting the amount of energy (in proportional thermostats) or turning the heat pad on/off to reach the desired temp.

Hope this makes sense! If not I'm sure someone else here can explain it better. :nyah:
 
this is turning out to be a real pain, but i'm glad i did this in advance instead of having to deal with it after buying him. i bought the repti-therm uth, and so far it's working great (temp is 85 on hot side and 75 on cool side) without a thermostat. i'll probably buy one just to be safe though. What has become a hassle now is the substrate. i took everything out of the cage to tape the thermometer down, and i discovered web-like mold on basically everything that was touching the ground. i used eco-earth, which i probably won't be using again. i did leave it a little moist though, so maybe i'll give it another shot by completely drying it. any other substrates that would work good? i know aspen is the best bet, but i want something that is darker colored (this is will be my only snake and i want the tank to look really nice!) some people have suggested mixing eco-earth with some sort of bark or mulch in a 50/50 ratio.
 
if you like to spend money, Flukers sells bags of coloured aspen (red or black) for $10 for a little bag...maybe enough to fill a 20L but not be very deep. It's new, but I haven't heard anything bad about it yet
 
michaeljeffrie said:
i dont understand why the temperature flux would make a difference? if you set the dimmer to the temperature you want it at, why would you have to change it?
Click to expand...

Well a dimmer just controls how much wattage goes into whatever it is controlling from what I understand. So when you have it set to where you want it and the temperature of the room doesn't fluctuate then it stays at that temp. However if the temp of the room goes up or down the dimmer cannot adjust itself like a thermostat would. So same wattage going in but room temp going up, the temp of the heat mat goes up. Hope this makes a little sense. If anyone else has a better way to explain it please do so. I'm not so good with this kind of stuff.
 
Thermostat: totally worth the money.
It looks expensive, until you spend weeks checking temps twice a day and fiddling with the UTH.
I suppose if you live in a fairly constant environment, it doesn't matter so much, but temps here fluctuate from day to day.

As for substrate, if it is color that you are looking for (dark brown), I would be creative and try something like rubber mulch:
http://doitbest.com/Main.aspx?PageI...731379&utm_content=6790&utm_campaign=DATAFEED
Cost-effective and non-toxic.

Anybody know if it would be safe for snakes? I would think that rubber is fairly benign and no worse than using newspaper or towels. (Unless you have a latex allergy)

OR, lay out the coconut substrate to dry thoroughly before putting it in the tank.
 
Porro said:
Dimmer = set the amount of energy it allows to go to the heat source, not the temperature that it reaches.

If the ambient air is at, say 70 degrees and you have your heat source set to put out 85 degrees it will be at 85 degrees. But only when the ambient air is exactly 70 degrees.

If the ambient air changes to let's say, 75 degrees and your heat source is still receiving the same amount of energy as when the ambient was 70, your heat source will be at a higher temp than your desired 85 degrees.

A thermostat on the other hand is designed to reach a desired temperature by taking a reading, and then adjusting the amount of energy (in proportional thermostats) or turning the heat pad on/off to reach the desired temp.

Hope this makes sense! If not I'm sure someone else here can explain it better. :nyah:
Click to expand...

Oops, answered the question before I saw this post. You definitely explained it better!
 
Tinkerbeller87 said:
Oops, answered the question before I saw this post. You definitely explained it better!
Click to expand...

haha thanks, it took me like 20 minutes to figure out exactly how I wanted to word it lol. It all made sense in my head but not so much when I first wrote it out haha
 
I wouldn't go with rubber mulch due its lack of absorbency. If you want dark, try cypress mulch or Repti-bark. Welcome to the hobby, by the way!
 
so i've decided to hold off on the okeetee, although i'll get one sooner or later. i find myself much more attracted to the solid color corns...bloodreds and blizzards. i've even been looking at mexican black kingsnakes. the uniform color just seems so much more striking and beautiful to me, but thats just my opinion. anyways, the reptile expo is on sunday, and i hope to grab one of these there. i'm a little worried, though. i've been doing a lot of reading and the general consensus seems to be that bloodreds/blizzards are either hit or miss, meaning that sometimes their patterns remain even after reaching adulthood. i don't want that to happen! is there certain things i should look for in order to get a better specimen (such as looking at the parents)??? decisions, decisions. i just want one!
 
Naagas said:
I too love the solid colored corns... I recently acquired a bloodred, but I worry because his pattern is so visible. He's an '09, so he has plenty of time to grow, but it really is a hit and miss.
You can always look at line-bred corns, such as Poppycorn's bloodred corns: http://www.poppycorns.com/Colorpages/Red_Cornsnakes.html
They make me drool.
Click to expand...

THAT FIRST ONE IS PERFECT.

i want one like that! the blizzards and stripe variations are really pretty too.
 
so i guess i'm a traitor. i went out today and got a mexican black kingsnake. i decided beforehand that i wanted to get a hatchling, and handled about 20 snakes. all of the corns were just so spazzy, it made me very nervous! i even dropped one, so i kinda got started off on the wrong foot. then i held the king, and she settled down as soon as she was in my hands. she's about 6 months old i think. so far, she hasn't musked on me, which i hear is common among MBKs, i hope that continues! she does seem very nervous when initially picked up though. overall, i'm really happy. are there any other MBK owners out there? tell me your story, and/or give me tips! thanks!
 
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