Hello, another new guy here =)



I recently became a new father to a baby Thayeri Kingsnake, and am using an 18"x18"x18" enclosure that my wife got me for christmas here: http://www.petsolutions.com/King Milk Snake Habitat Kit-I-12517563-I-C-40002019-C-.aspx



For the most part, I love it. It came with a florescent light, in addition to the heat lamp and an UTH. My problem, is that with the UTH in the rear-left corner, and the heat lamp sitting on the top of the screen lid (front-left), my ambient heat, as measured from the front of the enclosure at centerline (only 1 thermometer right now), maxes-out at about 77f. which is probably just on the low-end for daytime heating. That's with the Heat and Floro lights on a 12-hour day timer, and the UTH on 24/7.



Another issue I just became aware of, is that Jake has been staying in the "cool-side" hide the vast majority of the time he's sleeping or whatever...regardless of which hide is on that side. So I got my digital cooking thermometer, and stuck it in the sand above the UTH, and it registered between 95-100 degrees...obviously that's why he stays away from it.



My question I guess, is how best should I raise the overall temp, while toning-down the area over the UTH?



I'm using bout an inch of calci-sand throughout, 2 hides (hot and cool). I've considered adding sand, to create more of a buffer between jake and the UTH, which would also raise the whole habitat-base an inch closer to the lighting...



or maybe putting the UTH on the day/night cycle, and adding a low-watt night lamp?



Any ideas?

here's a crappy picture, as it applies to this situation, but it shows enough I think...the tan hide in the rear-left is above the UTH, hide/tree to the right, waterbowl to the front-left, styrofoam climbing wall in the back, and calci-sand substrate (I feed in another container)





Thanks for any input...



Kevin Black
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