Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I thought everything was balanced with my blood python's setup but after being paranoid I decided to do some checking of temps in some areas. Luckily my new blood has been hanging out in his humidity hide so I'm not bothering him too much.

First, I'm using a heat pad under the warm side of the rubbermaid. The ambient temps on the warm side are reading 89 degrees but that is not the case under the hide on the warm side. I put the probe in the hide on the warm side and the ambient temp is reading 111, which, if you ask me only makes sense because it is an enclosed item with a small hole and being the dense material it is (clay flower pot base) would tend to trap the heat a little more from the heat pad underneath than the rest of the rubbermaid.

Does this sound like it's ok and if not how in the world would you change this? The only thing I can think of would be to either drill some small holes in the ceiling of the hide or use something like a plastic hide.

Second, if this setup is adequate then what about the hide in the cool side of the enclosure? The ambient temps in that hide are the same as the ambient temps around the hide which are at 78 degrees. Wouldn't these differences in the temps of the two hides be a bit much? It's basically 111 or 78, take your pick.

I thought the bases of clay flower pots were supposed to be a good choice for a hide but maybe not.

Wouldn't it be better in this case to put a hide with part of it on the heat pad and part of it not on the heat pad to have something in between these extremes? FYI, I'm using newspaper for substrate.

Please give me your thoughts on this situation as I am beginning to get worried about my new blood's home!!!!

Thanks a bunch for your help!!
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Rob Talkington

That 111 is way to hot, bloods don't even seem to like it in the 90s atleast my don't.What kind of heat pad are you using and how is it mounted?Non of my clay pots get that hot, but they do hold a little more heat.Also whats your substrate.I know a lot of heat pads get way to hot and should have a reostat connected to them, especially those zoo meds.

>>That 111 is way to hot, bloods don't even seem to like it in the 90s atleast my don't.What kind of heat pad are you using and how is it mounted?Non of my clay pots get that hot, but they do hold a little more heat.Also whats your substrate.I know a lot of heat pads get way to hot and should have a reostat connected to them, especially those zoo meds.

I've got him on a BigApple heat pad, mounted on a little less than half the enclosure, regulated with a Big Apple proportional thermostat.

I just got smaller hides, a smaller humidity hide and a smaller water dish. I also moved the water dish all the way off the heat pad area. What I think was happening is there was too much stuff coverin the floor space of the heating pad and making it work harder. The temps have evened out much, much better since I opened up the floor space over the heating pad.

Thanks for you help!
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Rob Talkington