Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I posted a message earlier about my setup for my first BP that I am getting tomorrow. When I got home tonight I turned on the heater to ensure that everything is working properly before getting the snake tomorrow.

I am going to house my new 18" BP in a ten gallon tank with a screen top. The first mistake I made was putting the thermometer at the top of the tank. Once I moved it down the tank was registering 86 degrees about 2 inches above the bottom on the warm side of the tank. I'm assuming this is ok.

My question is - how can I tell if the under tank heater is too hot? When I touch it is definately very warm to the touch (not hot). The only substrate I have is a "cage carpet" that is pretty thin. Is this ok? I don't want to burn the snake.

It seems like this is warm enough for the rest of the tank without an additional heat lamp (if the UTH is not too hot). I have read that an UTH is all that is needed in a small tank. Is this right? I don't have a spot lamp on right now. I don't want the cage to be too hot, but on the other hand I want to make sure I have enough heat in the basking area.

Thanks,
Nick

Actually, I stand corrected. I had was originally testing with both a 50w heat lamp and the UTH. When I realized the temp was very high I turned off the heat lamp. Apparently didn't wait long enough for the cage to fully cool down after turning off the heat lamp. The temp finally stopped dropping at around 78 degrees and the UTH felt cooler (just moderately warm). I am assuming this is not enough. My house has been around 73 degrees.

I am thinking of putting a dimmer on the heat lamp and putting it back on the cage above the UTH. Does this sound ok? Is this going to provide enough of a temperature variance on the cool side of the tank? Should I try a smaller bulb instead? The bulb that is in there now is a daylight bulb. Should I be using a night bulb? If I use the day bulb, will the UTH be enough heat at night when the heat lamp is off?

Sorry for all of the questions,
Nick

here is a good idea buy an infrared thermocouple or laser thermometer. a cheap one is 35 and measure surface temp. UTH usually will get the surface temp up to 100 which is too hot.
-----
Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

Get a thermometer. Always. Never try to guess temperatures or "feel" hotspots. Way too dangerous.

Thanks for the advice. I put a thermometer on the floor of the cage and it was WAY TO HOT!!! It was around 110 degrees! The thermometer that sits on the back wall of the hot side of the tank reads 87 degrees (it is about an inch above the bottom of the tank).

I put the UTH on a dimmer to drop the surface temp. I hope that the bulb will still keep the ambiant temp around 87 degrees.

I also just ordered a 100 watt ceramic heater so I don't have to constantly replace bulbs. I will also put it on a dimmer if necessary.

You might consider adding the dimmer to the UTH instead of the light , I have heard they are more tolerant to the dimmers?