Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok well i put him in a 30"x12"x18" tank. I cover the whole top exept for a third of it. A 12"x15" heat pad is on the bottom. Under the hide its around 96-97 and the rest of the hot spot is 92. the cool side remains at 82. If i set my dimmer on the heat pad to low then the hot spot will be around 86 and the only spot i have at 90 will be in his hide?? What should I do?

Thanks everyone you all been much help Ur the best!

Hey,
The new cage sounds like it makes better sense if you're trying to establish a gradient for the blood. The temperature should be kept at the lower end of the spectrum, as the ambient air sounds like it is right on target. Don't over heat your blood and its cage. Heat prostration is a big possibility with bloods and other herps, so keeping the temperatures within a set parameter, with fluctuations taking place at night (NTL) and higher temperatures during the day time hours (DTH), makes better sense; so long as your blood is feeding and not experiencing any environmental distress brought on from improper temps and other cage factors.

It sounds like you're on the path to establishing a proper home for your new blood. After sometime working with the blood, you'll start to get a better picture of what to do. At any rate, it sounds like you did the right thing. Keep up posted!

- Angel
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"Until we lose our self, there is no way of finding our self."
-Henry Miller.

In case you missed it before, young bloods do not need that warm of a hot spot while they're little. Tends to overwhelm them. An ambient temp around 82 degrees works fine, with no hot spot. Just make sure you're able to accurately control the ambient (background) temperature in the cage/room...which is why a rubbermaid setup is a lot easier for this application than a glass fish tank.

I really hope you're able to tweak your setup & get the 2 of you off to a better start. Impulse buy no research = train wreck.

K

>>Ok well i put him in a 30"x12"x18" tank. I cover the whole top exept for a third
of it. A 12"x15" heat pad is on the bottom. Under the hide its around 96-97 and the rest of the hot spot is 92. the cool side remains at 82. If i set my dimmer on the heat pad to low then the hot spot will be around 86 and the only spot i have at 90 will be in his hide?? What should I do?
>>
>>Thanks everyone you all been much help Ur the best!
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Just because I have a short attention span doesn't mean

You put a lot of your personality into these posts--- good stuff.
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There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Rom 8:1

At the risk of coming across as a complete &itch, this is why you READ about the care of an animal, and have its enclosure set up BEFORE YOU GET IT!!! Going to a 'new home' is horribly stressful for these babies; its our responsibility to make the transition for them as easy as possible.

I'm I reading correctly that you moved her/him to a LARGER enclosure? 30" long by 12" wide or something? Did you actually read the info that myself and others have posted so far?? Moving that baby to a larger enclosure is the ablsolute last thing she needs right now!

1. Go to WalMart. At the LARGEST, buy a rubbermaid/tupperware container (get the next size up from the shoebox size..I think its a 28 quart???).

2. Make about 20 holes on both end of the container. You can get a drill, or preferably a soldering iron for this (the latter being MUCH easier!)

3. Put down some newspaper or papertowels as substrate. Put in one nice, tight, snug hide for your snake. On the other end, put an appropriately sized water dish that your bloods can curl up and take a nice soak in.

4. Keep the temperature for the ENTIRE enclosure at 82 degrees. No hot spot!!!! This hot spot deal is causing too much strife for you, and your baby blood doesn't need it anyways. Trust us....your baby will appreciate the 82 as opposed to being forced to deal with upper 90s. Remember: 82 degrees...screw a hot spot...she/he doesn't need it....82 degrees throughout.

The aforementioned is exactly how I have my youngest blood set up.

As a side note...don't feed your baby until you can get the temperatures under control. Fresh meal Too hot = one very unhappy snake stomach.

Let us know if you need help with anything else.

Carole

The others know a hell of a lot more then me im sure. But i know one of my problems has been figuring out size of the rubbermaid and how to get the heat right - the theory sounds harder then it really is. So here are 3 pictures of my set up, just to give you an example.

This is a single blood setup. Look at the second picture. There is a thermostat (make sure you get one that has a temperature probe and goes on the outside of the tank and not an internal one) that is hooked up to the simple 15w heat calbe that keeps the temperature perfect. If you look to the right there is a digital thermo-hygrometer to make sure temps and humidity is perfect. There is no hotspot, not spot light no nothing really - extreemly simple and stupid.
On really hot days like we had in the summer i can move the rubbermaid halfway off the heat tape ensuring it doesnt cook.

I dont have that much expirience with bloods but i know snakes. NO snakes, specially babies appriciate being moved around that much in a new place. This time get it perfect so you dont completely stress out that poor baby blood.

I wish you the best of luck.
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"From my rotting body flowers shall grow, and i them - and that is eternity."

For the first time I am not in complete agreemant with this Forums "regulars" I think we ALL agree that Bloodboy did not look before he leaped and that we all must try to help him keep his animal alive. But I think we are missing some information here and are overwelming our inexperianced herp friend. I need some honest answers

1 what is you experiance with snakes

2 What is the temp in the room you are keeping the animal

3 were do you live in a general sence ie northwest midwest southeast

If you have a room where you can stabalize the tempreture it is much easier to just that If however you do not many bloods have been kept healthy using the gradiant method it just takes more attention to detail on you part. I am sure not everyone will agree but I had kept several of my bloods prior to building my room dedicated to my collection
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Kevin
I am lost w/o spell check
"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself."-unknown

Thank you Kevin for understanding me....My room is heated by a room heater it is about 78 normally...I have now decided to keep the heat pad on all the time and give no night time drop..the light is on from 6 am to 8pm...The hot side is now 89 and hide on hot side is 95 I think its ok now...I live in PA also...He is doing good and ate his first mouse today I am so happy he is doing great! Thanks fro everything,
Jake

Blood boy you are missing the jist of what EVERYBODY is telling you anything 90 degand over is DANGEROUS reguardless of methods you are useing. 89 is to hot for a cool side YOU HAVE TO DO SOMTHING. 78 deg is OK for a low temp side and 89 is OK for a hot side but these are extremes and you need to have room for the snake to mave around. I repeat YOU NEED TO GET YOUR TEMPRETURES RIGHT REGUARDLESS OF METHODS Most of us use a ambiant meaning the whole room is 84ish deg. However some people have used the tempreture gradiant methods were one area is lower then another IE 80-88 Ddeg. YOU HAVE TO GET YOUR SNAKE IN ONE OR THE OTHER CONDITION. Now the first couple of weeks known as justation are very hard on a snake and makeing adjstment and changes to the enclosure are not making them any easier you got to get it right and soonI am sorry to seam harsh but everybody has told you you temps are to high I want to make sure that you understand I am in agreement with them I am only trying to point out another method you could try BUTT tempretures are still critical and in same range
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Kevin
I am lost w/o spell check
"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself."-unknown

Hey Kevin,
I have to admit that I too am in agreement, with you. I have been milling my thoughts on this one for a day, and thought that I would wait until today to respond. It does sound to me like there are just too many things being said, despite his desire for information. It's enough to turn him away from the forum, IMO, and not want to ever come back. Well, that said, I do believe too, that bloods and other herps can be brought up properly in a not so ideal cage vis-a-vis a "Rubbermaid", versus, a ten gallon or some other type of enclosure. I have raised a number of pythons, including my beloved adult bloods, and one of my favorite girls, Negrita, in a ten gallon etc. They are all well, and show no signs of distress from the experience. (I think though, that what the our friends of the forum were trying to say, is, that glass enclosures work well, if you've had some experience with the use of this type of cage, as they are difficult to maintain ideal temperatures in one, given the low "R" rating= low (poor) insulation).

However, there were some unmitigating factors on Bloodboy's part, that led to some of the opinion slinging from some of the more experienced keepers. Albeit, that was a bit diconcerting to me too, but I thought that for the most part, it could've been addressed less harshly. I believe sincerely, that everyone here, whether first time keepers of bloods or old timers alike, want nothing but the best for everyone seeking assistance and advice, but sometimes things can get a little bit out of hand. At any rate, I truly believe that your intentions are good and that yes, you probably could've taken the time prior to your purchase, to look things up a little more thorougly; but hey! things don't always go that way. With that said, I think you are going to do just fine with your new blood. Get as much information on them as you possibly can, and apply as much of it to your situation that you feel will make the experience better. There is plenty of information to glean from, and then some. I personally hope that you will keep us all posted, and will also, stick around with us here for a long time to come. Good luck!

This is Negrita eating in her 5 gallon glass aquarium, at 3 months old. There is a small heat pad measuring about 4"x5", underneath the outside of the cage keeping things warm. If I remember correctly, the temps were in the low to mid eighties in the crock hide. She was moved to a Rubbermaid 2221 (Rack system), not long after this picture was taken, about a year ago and is growing like weeds.

-Angel
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"Until we lose our self, there is no way of finding our self."
-Henry Miller.

Hey,
Sorry,l the above post, should've been written in two parts. My apologies!
-Angel
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"Until we lose our self, there is no way of finding our self."
-Henry Miller.

I take no offense when it comes to this stuff. I know I am not the most experianced here and would never claim to be. I just felt like some of us forgot what it was like to have a small collection and limited means (reptile room)
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Kevin
I am lost w/o spell check
"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself."-unknown