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Substrate and ambient temperature questions

G

Gungirl

New member
Hi All,
The fiance and I just brought home our new ball friend this weekend from the New England Reptile show. His name is Spot. This is our fist BP, we have a baby corn as well.
My question has to do with substrate and ambient temps. He is in a 48Wx24Dx18H wooden viv that we built. It is sealed inside and out, has a plexiglass front which is also the door.
We are using cypress mulch as substrate. I have 11" flexwatt under plexiglass for heat. This is one strip wide and goes the depth of the viv (11x24). This is just about 1/4 of the viv. I have a Alife thermostat controling the flexwatt, the sensor is secured to the plexiglass right in the center of its area. The temp there is 91, 88 around the edges of the plexi. We have about 1" of cypress on top of the heater setup. The substrate itself right on top of the heater is only measuring about 77. The substrate measures 68ish on the cold side.
Is this an issue? If so, any suggestion on how to fix it?
Also, ambient temps in the viv are about 68 as well. Is this an issue? Any suggestion on fixing that too?
As a note, I think these temps are too low, but I want to hear what people have to say and their solutions.

On a better note, with the cypress we are having no issues with humidity!

Thanks
Kat
 
hrmmm...well for now I have put a heater in the room to get the over all air temp up around 78. I know the temp was to low before. I am also looking into getting a Reptile basics heat panel to put in his viv. If anyone has any better or other ideas I would really appreciate it..
 
I would probably add a heat bulb to that cage. Maybe a 50 watt to start, and see if it that gets the ambient temps up. We always keep humid hides in with ours, particularly around shedding time, in order to keep sheds complete. Ours are kept on aspen, and in the cages, humidity does not seem to be an issue.

You also should know that BP's can be VERY sensitive and easily-stressed snakes. If this BP is a baby, a 4' x 2' cage is very, very large. Make sure you have a ton of hides, and you might even want to consider a smaller cage until the animal is yearling size or larger.
 
I am in the process of getting a heat panel seeing as he can get burned by a heat bulb. I also have fake plants and vines that he can hide under while moving around his viv along with the different hides he can choose from. I dont think the size of the viv is an issue seeing as how i have it set up for great hiding. I just need to get my heat panel in asap. I do still have a heater running in the room and his viv is at a steady 76 for air temp 4" off the sub-straight.
 
So just figured an update is in order... we got a 40 watt radiant heat panel and all seems well. The temps are up where they need to be and he is eating again. Humidity is still doing really well sitting at 60% and I think we have solved our issues. Thanks for all the advise.

Kat
 
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