You're fighting a heck of a battle.


* The aspen in the hot spot acts as an insulator instead of a heat transfer.

* The aquarium glass offers no thermal protection (insulation) between the cage temperature & the room temperature, and the room temp is quite a bit cooler than the desired cage temp.

* The cling wrap can't stop heat from rising out of the tank.

SteveinIL makes a good point, but you have to take into consideration, both the tank's surface AND ambient temps. Even if you were to get the hot spot surface temp to 90°F you most likely won't have an efficient cage ambient temp with the room temps being so low. While the snake's belly may be at 90°F, the top of the snake will still be quite cooler.

There are several options to make that setup work better. Been there, done that. The easiest would be to use a red or black night heat bulb instead of a typical lightbulb. OR, a ceramic heat emitter. I suggest using cheap on/off thermostat with it, or at least a dimmer switch, so you can control temps. A thermostat or dimmer switch takes the guesswork out of what size heat bulb (60-watt, 100-watt, etc...) you need by allowing you to get one that's got plenty of heating power.

Another option is to put the snake's tank in a room that you can use a space heater in to raise the room's ambient temps.

I don't want to make "the longest post of the year" here at the beginning of the new year, but I'd like to offer other suggestions in an effort to try to cover all the bases and get your BP's setup where it should be, as quick as possible.


* You can put a piece of ceramic tile or rock/slate over the heating pad area in place of the aspen for a more efficient basking spot. However, as mentioned earlier, it's not going to do much for the tank's ambient temps.

* For about 10 bucks you can get a 4ft x 8ft sheet of blue or pink insulation board that's 1/2" - 3/4" thick and use it to cover the top, sides & bottom of the tank. This will help a lot. When using the insulation foam board on the bottom of tanks using under tank heating pads, it's important to allow a small gap between foam board & heating pads for air flow.

* Don't forget to monitor the ambient temps on the tank's cool side, too.

* When using night heat bulbs or ceramic heat emitters, closely monitor humidity levels.

Best wishes!
HH
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American


www.natures-signature.com

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