Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello All,

I come to you guys to see if I have my guys to hot. I have two six foot vision cages, both set up the same. I have a heat panel on the left side 1/3 of the cage. I have that set up at 88 degrees. Floor temp gets to 92, then nothing in the middle. The floor temp ranges from 85 to 78 in some places. Then I have two red heat bulbs temp under those measures at 92. I am thinking of turing them off and kicking the heat panel up to 90 degrees. The basement temp is 65 degrees. Talking to HH I know it should go from Hot to warm to cool, do you think that I have to much heat going on. My next thing was to hook a dimmer on the lights and bring the temp down to 85.

Thoughts or suggestions.

Thank you

Jeff
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0.2 Rotts
1.0 Super Tiger
1.0 Amel Retic
0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Red Tail
0.1 Blood Python
1.0 Green Ananconda
1.0 Emerald Tree Boa

Jeff, I don't use vision cages so this my thought. I'd turn the red lights off and use your heat panel. That should be just fine. Do you use paper for substrate ? The floor temp is too hot by itself. Like I said I do not use vision or plastic type cages but I hope I was some help.
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Education is Everything.......

I use to use Newspaper, then changed to Kraft paper, but never had good sheds, and had some RI issues, so I changed to Aspen a couple months ago. I would love to get back to paper, it was so much cleaner but I am willing to put up with the aspen for the heatlh.
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0.2 Rotts
1.0 Super Tiger
1.0 Amel Retic
0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Red Tail
0.1 Blood Python
1.0 Green Ananconda
1.0 Emerald Tree Boa

What ever substrate you use I'm sure is fine. I was just hoping you had something down on the warm plastic, not just the plastic. I do rescues and have seen some pretty bad things that people do and use. I've delt with RI years ago and I'm always aware so thats the main thing. RI can realy suck. In my personal collection I do my best so that will never happen.
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Education is Everything.......

Hey Jeff, how's things going ? Did you try and change anything ?
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Education is Everything.......

I turned off the red lights, and went downstairs to measure the temps this afternoon. Floor temps are about the same as they where, and suprisingly enough both snakes where on the very cool end. 75 degrees and 80 degree floor temps. I measure them with a temp gun. I am about to go out and buy a digital thermometer to place on both sides and the middle to see what the air temp is. I just get so nervous that its to cool, but infact I may be overheating them.

I will keep you posted.
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0.2 Rotts
1.0 Super Tiger
1.0 Amel Retic
0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Red Tail
0.1 Blood Python
1.0 Green Ananconda
1.0 Emerald Tree Boa

Ya I kinda thought their may have been too much heat in that one spot. I know what ya mean on being worried. I'm right there with ya. Ya, let me know how things go.
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Education is Everything.......

Just went down there again to check temps and posistions. Everyone is still in the same location. Temps are the same, 75-78 on the cool side, and works up to 99 - 100 under the heat panel. I hope this works, and maybe I can go back to kraft paper and stop dragging all these chips through out my house. Hahahahhaa. I should not even have to spray all that much if any.

Thanks
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0.2 Rotts
1.0 Super Tiger
1.0 Amel Retic
0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Red Tail
0.1 Blood Python
1.0 Green Ananconda
1.0 Emerald Tree Boa

Sounding good but you may want to turn the pad down just a lil if you can. Just me but 100 deg. to me is still a lil on the warm side. I never used heat panels, can you adjust the heat on them ?
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Education is Everything.......

What up, rotten?

Yeah, I also think you should lower the heat panel setting back down to where you had it (surface temp of 92). If the far end (cool end) gets below 75 you can put a dimmer on one of the lights.

Later Tater!
Mike
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

www.natures-signature.com

I think that is what I may end up doing, putting the dimmers on. The air temp is 89, that what I have the heat panel set at, but the floor temp is up in the 90's and 100 in some spots of it. That is what I have the problem with. Should it be air temp or floor temp, because the two do not really go hand in hand. Air temp could be warm and the floor it hotter.

Maybe I keep it like this for the summer and when winter/fall hit I use the dimmers.

Thoughts.

Thanks for your help. This has been driving me crazy for two years.
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0.2 Rotts
1.0 Super Tiger
1.0 Amel Retic
0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Red Tail
0.1 Blood Python
1.0 Green Ananconda
1.0 Emerald Tree Boa

Radiant heat uses infrared rays to heat solid mass but not the air. If a snake were inbetween the heat panel and the cage floor it's body temp would be as high as the cage's floor surface is now. The snake would be toast, fried.

Under radiant heat panels you use mass temp (the temp of whatever mass is located underneath the heat panel) to regulate the temps. On the other end you should go by ambient temps. You're not using the lights as the main basking source so they're barely on (if they're on at all), heating only the air underneath and not the mass.

If the snakes are as far as they can get on the cool end you want to cool the cage down more to make sure they can get as cool as they want/need. To me, ideally, a snake shouldn't be all the way up against the hot end or the cool end. There should be several inches between the snake and the wall. This tells me that I'm not cornering them with heat or cold.

Floor temp (mass temp) under that radiant heat panel - Air temp (ambient temp) on the opposite side of the cage (cool end). Ambient temps should be measured aproximately half the diameter of the snake's body at it's thickest point, from the cage floor up. If your snake is 3in in diameter then measure the air temp 1 1/2in up the wall from the floor. 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 inches high - thereabout.

Always err on the cool side of temp ranges. Reptiles can recover a lot easier from low temps than they can from too high of temps.

Hang in there!
Mike
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

www.natures-signature.com

Well that would explain a lot and most likley all my issues. I used it as ambient temps, and I still measured the floor. This morning went downstairs and one of them was a little closer to the heat source and the other still has not moved, in shed right now.

I actually turned down the heat panel in my ETB cage, I had that at 82 but the stick right underneath that was 91 degrees, way to hot for him. I am now thinking I need to turn the red light off in my conda cage and just bump up the heat panels, he has poor sheds to.

Its amazing, I spent all this money on heat stuff and that is what is hurting them. I say it once and I will say it again, it scares me having temps that low, but if thats what they want then so be it.
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0.2 Rotts
1.0 Super Tiger
1.0 Amel Retic
0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Red Tail
0.1 Blood Python
1.0 Green Ananconda
1.0 Emerald Tree Boa

I don't know how radiant heat affects moisture, humidity, but still keep an eye on the humidity.

Accurate temperature & humidity measuring devices are important. If I were you I would test the temp gun and every thermometer to see how accurate they all are.

Hang in there!
Mike
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

www.natures-signature.com

Well I have been checking them out each day, they seem to be moving back and forth and somtimes just laying in the middle. The humidity is up,actually higher without the lights on. Ben Renick told me a few months back that I should shut those lights off, as it was sucking the humidity out, but I did not listen then. Again, I was afraid I was to cold, but with what you said and what I am seeing, its only a matter of time before I can tell.
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0.2 Rotts
1.0 Super Tiger
1.0 Amel Retic
0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Red Tail
0.1 Blood Python
1.0 Green Ananconda
1.0 Emerald Tree Boa