Sorry for your loss. All you can do is make sure if there were any issues with the set-up that they are corrected and try again. Sometimes babies die suddenly and inexplicably, reptiles or any animal for that matter. I was wondering what kind of heat pad, what kind of UV bulb and wattage and how far away from the substrate it is and how deep the substrate is. It might be better to have one or the other (heat pad under tank or light bulb heat source above) because that way the hatchling can regulate based on the depth it burrows, but getting heat from both directions above and below could be confusing to know which way to go up or down to get away from the heat. If the substrate is deep and moist it would have more forgiveness and insulation. A heat gun was the best money I ever spent for reptile keeping, you can get one for $30 at Pro Exotics and it's worth every penny. You can shoot it on any surface and get an extremely accurate surface temp. and I would shoot for 84-90 tops at the hottest spot in the cage, depending on room temp and/or cool side temp. If the room temp is low 70s hot spot could be more towards 90 but if the room temp is closer to 80 the hot spot would be 84 tops. A small tank like you described might only need a very low wattage bulb, like 25-40 watts depending on the distance from the substrate surface, at most in summer if its towards 80 room temp. Some of the UVB sun bulbs are 100-150 watts and would likely be way overkill for a hatchling, as well as some of the heat pads will run up to 110-120 degrees for desert species. Maybe your set up is fine and something else caused the death and I hope this doesn't sound like a lecture, just trying to help, and I hope your next experience will have a more pleasant long term outcome, like you said they have amazing personality, which is why we all love them so much. Best of luck
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Jeff Benfer
gartersnakemorph.com

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