Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am in trouble, I think. My husband is deployed and while he is gone I am in charge of his two ball pythons. I normally have no issues...they eat, I clean their tanks, and that's basically the extent of it. I really don't know a lot about them other than that.

They are in what I think my husband calls a rack? It looks kind of like a short bookshelf and has rubbermaid type containers that slide in and out. There is a white box thing on the floor that I think is a thermostat. It says "Ranco, Electronic Control System" on it. Then there is a little black thermometer attached to the outside of the rack and has a wire with a stick thing on the end that goes inside one of the empty rubbermaid containers on the rack. I don't know what temperature they are normally set at, but the thermostat was saying 104 and the thermometer was saying 101.7 and I know that's way higher then what it normally is. I think it's usually somewhere in the high 70's or low 80's? I can't get the thing to go back down. I finally unplugged it and within 15 minutes the the thermometer was down to the lower 90's. So I plugged it back in and tried to reset the thermostat and I can't get it to come down lower then 104.

I am so freaked out that my husband's snakes are going to die. He will freaking kill me. I am not the person he should've assigned this job to. He said everything was all set, I just had to feed them and give them water and clean their bins. This was not supposed to happen. The snakes are pressed all the way up against the front of the tubs farthest away from the heat. I can't set the heat in my house to the snake's normal temperature because my kids will roast, and honestly I don't know if our heat pump would make it to 80 anyway. I usually keep the house temp around 68...if I just leave the thermostat thing unplugged is 68 too cold for them? I don't know where else to turn becaues it's not like I can just pick up the phone and call him over in Iraq...but I found this website saved in his favorites and thought maybe someone here could offer some advice. Please help!

If you look at the thermostat (white box on floor) there should be three little square buttons on there. A Menu button, Plus button, and Minus button. Just press menu till you get to the setup screen and adjust the temp on there. I usually have mine set so that I have a 90 hot spot, ambient temp of 86, and ND to 80

The common temps for ball pythons are 90 hot side 80 degree cool side. Im no expert of the ranco , I use johnson controlls...

heres a link to instructions to adjust temps........
Basically you have to enter the menu with the far left square...
Set target temp to 90 and differential to 2.......Differential should be 2 degrees So basically it will turn on at 88 and off at 90. If your husband has a handheld temp gun to measure temps I would check the tub temps of the animals to see if they are as high as the thermostat indicates. Make sure it is in heat mode ........ after clicking on the link theres a small box labled more information, Click on it and read carefully....
A cool snake is better than an overheated snake. I would tub both snakes and remove from the rack until you have a good grasp on the controlls.I tape my probe right to the heat tape,
Hope this helps , I would recommend some reading on ball pyhton care. Theres a great care sheet at this site http://www.ballpython.ca/ Keep us updated!

Link

Hey, stuff happens.

First, check for the probe. Look in the tubs for the little wire and probe thing, and see where it's sitting. Is it sitting directly on the heat or did it get moved? Make sure it's sitting right on/next to the heat source.

Second...how old are the kids? If they're younger, they could have pressed the buttons and reset the temp too high. The previous reply mentioned how to deal with that.

Yes, 68 is definately going to be on the chilly side for the snakes. If you can't get the heat sorted out, you might just want to go to petco/petsmart/pet store and get a couple of heat pads (20 gal size) and a rheostat (uses a dial (hi - low) to control temp). You did say there were only a couple snakes, right?

Good luck, and let us know how it goes! Glad your husband had this site saved and you're able to get help.

~jenny
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"Polysyllabism in no way insures that what you're saying is actually worth being heard." - Blake (an e-friend of mine)

"I have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: "O lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And he granted it." - Voltaire

Hey there -- My husband is deployed as well, has been for the past year with the 1st Cav. He doesn't come home until February. If you want, drop me an e-mail: jennifer.harrison@hotmail.com -- I keep many ball pythons and I can walk you through how to fix everything either by e-mail or on the phone if that would be easier so I can talk while you do it. Good luck, and hang in there. I know first hand how tough it can be.
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

You are right to turn off the temps as 104F is very high for the hot spot.

Several things could have gone wrong..if you have kids etc, they could have messed up the temps. You can use the guidelines another poster already posted to reset the temps to the 90F mark. (in that post the 'ND' means Night Time Drop, just in case you didn't know the acronym).

If you readjust and it still shoots up to 104, then the temperature control unit is fried or malfunctioning. Or the probes are not functioning. You will need to replace. Going with a standard rheostat and heat pads is a good temporary measure.

Worse come to worse, you can stop feeding the ball pythons (I am assuming they are over a year old), turn off the heat completely, just keep the room around 75F. This wil be alike a winter cool down...so they don't much or at all. This way you have time to find a proper thermostat (if you are only going to mail order it or pick it up locally, don't bother with cool down, just make sure the room is at 80F or close to it, and not feed for the couple days or weeks...
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PHLdyPayne