Reptile & Amphibian Forums

okay ...ive decided to get a hog...im gonna get a 5 month old female western...eating well..never refused a meal...ive seen it eat f/t...so im pretty relieved...unscented of course...and i have an enclosure setup...i have 1 and 1/2 inch aspen bedding with a large piece of driftwood that will provide enough shade...well atleast i think it will...but i still have qualms about uth pads...do i need a rheostat?...i have a overhead lamp that is exactly giving 84 degrees F...but is incandescent...can it be incandescent?...or does it have to be those blue or red lights...
ocuments and SettingsEric ChenMy DocumentsMy PicturesKodak Pictures2004-03-25" alt="Image">

grr..how do u post pics...

lets try this...
ocuments and SettingsEric ChenMy DocumentsMy PicturesKodak Pictures2004-03-25">hognose enclosure

DOES THIS WORK?
ocuments and SettingsEric ChenMy DocumentsMy PicturesKodak Pictures2004-03-25hogenclosure.jpg" alt="Image">

also tell me if incandescent lighting is okay for a hog...if not...even if it might not "harm" the snake...if my snake is unhappy ill be unhappy...so if the BEST thing is to get a purple/blue/red light...or if the UTH is actually the best bet...*but im not getting a rheostat*...plz tell me so

you should have night and day . so if your light is for heat and you need it on at all times then you should use a dark bulb for the heat.

JIM

alright...dark bulb it is!...oh and what would u recommend for wattage for a 10 gallon tank?

you really dont know , you should start with a 15 watt and if its not getting hot enough then try a 25 watt and so on. just dont start to high and came back in a few hours and its to late ! if you do get a thermostat then a 25 watt should do it .

JIM

THIS IS MY SETUP...WITH INCANDESCENT...10 GALLON...1 AND 1/2 ASPEN SHAVINGS...DRIFTWOOD...WATER BOWL...TELL ME IF I NEED ANYTHING ELSE...OR SHOULD REMOVE ANYTHING...THANKS!!!

-ERIC CHEN

AHHH IM SO CONFUSED...DOES THIS WORK?

IT WORKED!!! IM A GENIUS YAY!!!

that looks good but DONT LET IT GET TO HOT !! and make sure you put lots of water in that bowl.

JIM

got it....wait...i mean i have a UTH...which do u think is more beneficial for the hog though?...or i could just get a RED/BLUE light...i have no problem with that....

you should be fine with what you have but you should make sure that you have a cooler place in the cage that the snake can go to if it were to get to hot like in the 70s. you should also have your heat sorce pluged into some form of thermostat so if it were to get to hot in the room where the snake is kept the temps would not get to high. most important! if you dont want her cooked! hope this helps.

JIM

oh...okay...if thermostats are actually that important...i guess ill get one...probably need to use it someday...

I don't know if someone suggested this yet but why not go with a heating pad instead? Snakes don't need light or day/night--my hog is in a room with windows and this is all the day/night she might need, and she spends most of her time buried in the aspen anyway. Human heating pads are adjustable and the low setting keeps my warm end right around 80, and I don't have to worry about the annoyance of having lights on all the time.
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Sue Barnett
1.0 Florida King (Vega)
0.1 Western hognose (Sola)
0.1 Egyptian spiny mouse (Mia)
4.2 mini rex rabbits (Basil, Pippin, Reggie, Hayden, Jackie and Peek-a-boo)
0.1 Plott hound (Molly)
1.0 half Arab (Zarr)
1.0 Betta (Flash)

The advantage to using heat lamps is that hognoses escape heat by burrowing in the ground. Although there is nothing natural about 4 glass walls, at least they can use more natural behaviors if provided with a more natural heat source.
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...the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it."
Aldo Leopold (1938)

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

about the burrowing to escape heat--that's why you have a warm and a cool side. If shes warm she can move to the cool side, which I always keep the set up the same so she knows where it is. With the light you have more diffusion so I would think it would not be as easy to control the warm vs the cool. Mine likes to lay half over her pad and half off it. Besides I hate having to have a light on all the time. personal preference maybe
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Sue Barnett
1.0 Florida King (Vega)
0.1 Western hognose (Sola)
0.1 Egyptian spiny mouse (Mia)
4.2 mini rex rabbits (Basil, Pippin, Reggie, Hayden, Jackie and Peek-a-boo)
0.1 Plott hound (Molly)
1.0 half Arab (Zarr)
1.0 Betta (Flash)

I use a red lamp, it doesn't bother when sleeping and acts secondarily as a night light!
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...the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it."
Aldo Leopold (1938)

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

eating well..never refused a meal...ive seen it eat f/t...so im pretty relieved...unscented of course...

Just wanted to make sure that you are aware that because it has not refused a meal yet, doesn't mean you won't have a lot of problems later. Hogs are notorious for being finicky eaters.
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...the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it."
Aldo Leopold (1938)

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

oh...well...ill keep my fingers crossed!