Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm moving my blood to a 12qt rubbermaid, but I can't get the temps right. The room temp is 70 and I'm using 11" flexwatt under 1/2 the tub. The flexwatt is on a ZooMed reostat that's turned down as far as it goes, and the temps are 72 on the cool end, 78 ambient temp on the warm end, and the floor over the flexwatt is 85. I tried putting a 50 watt red heat lamp 1' above the top of the tub, and that got the ambient temps up to 80 on the cool end and 85 on the warm end, but the floor over the flexwatt went up to 95. I tried raising the tub 3/4" above the flexwatt, but the floor was still 90. I also tried moving the heat lamp farther away, but no matter what I do, either the ambient temp is too low, or the floor temp is too high. Does anybody have any ideas besides raising the room temp?
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MY COLLECTION:
1.0 '04 Columbian BCI
0.1 '05 Sumatran Blood Python
1.2 Ball Pythons

MY WISHLIST:
A Northern Blue-Tongue Skink
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boas
1.1 Hogg Island Boas
0.1 Columbian BCI
1.1 Sumatran Short-Tail Pythons
1.1 Borneo Short-Tail Pythons
1.1 Dumerils Boas
1.2 Spotted Pythons
2.4 African House Snakes
2.4 Bearded Dragons
1.2 Rankins Dragons
2.6 Crested Geckos
1.1 Purebred Dobermans
0.1 black German Shepherd

i put newspaper in between the heater and the rubbermaid
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1.1.0 Colombian Redtail Boa
2.1.0 Sumatran Blood Pythons
1.0 Black Blood Python
1.0 Dumeril's Boa
0.1 Coastal Carpet Python
0.1 Jungle Carpet Python
1.0 Texas Tiger Salamander

I'm moving the blood to the rubbermaid because the tank she's in now is too big and I'm having trouble getting her to feed, so I need to move her soon.
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MY COLLECTION:
1.0 '04 Columbian BCI
0.1 '05 Sumatran Blood Python
1.2 Ball Pythons

MY WISHLIST:
A Northern Blue-Tongue Skink
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boas
1.1 Hogg Island Boas
0.1 Columbian BCI
1.1 Sumatran Short-Tail Pythons
1.1 Borneo Short-Tail Pythons
1.1 Dumerils Boas
1.2 Spotted Pythons
2.4 African House Snakes
2.4 Bearded Dragons
1.2 Rankins Dragons
2.6 Crested Geckos
1.1 Purebred Dobermans
0.1 black German Shepherd

Can you put the smaller enclosure inside the larger and use that setup to heat the Rubbermaid?

>>Can you put the smaller enclosure inside the larger and use that setup to heat the Rubbermaid?

The tank she's in now was just supposed to be a temporary thing to hold her for a week or two until I got the rubbermaid set up. The warm side in the tank is 85, but the cool end is only about 72, so she stays on the warm end most of the time. I've been having problems with the heat tape, for some reason it only gets to 95-100 at full power. Thats hot enough for the rubbermaid, and the floor temp over the heat tape is okay, but I need to get the ambient temp up about 10 degrees. I stopped using the heat lamp because it was heating up the bottom of the tub too much. At first I assumed that the floor was getting to hot because of the heat tape, but I tried using just the heat lamp and the floor was still 92, even though the ambient temp at the same spot was only 85. I tried puting a Cobra heat mat on top of the tub, but it didn't really do anything. I'm pretty much out of ideas, anybody have any?
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MY COLLECTION:
1.0 '04 Columbian BCI
0.1 '05 Sumatran Blood Python
1.2 Ball Pythons

MY WISHLIST:
A Northern Blue-Tongue Skink
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boas
1.1 Hogg Island Boas
0.1 Columbian BCI
1.1 Sumatran Short-Tail Pythons
1.1 Borneo Short-Tail Pythons
1.1 Dumerils Boas
1.2 Spotted Pythons
2.4 African House Snakes
2.4 Bearded Dragons
1.2 Rankins Dragons
2.6 Crested Geckos
1.1 Purebred Dobermans
0.1 black German Shepherd

I had a similar problem when I was setting up my tubs. What I did was put the heat tape under 3/4 of the tank. The ambient temps over the heat tape are 85, like yours, and that keeps the temps in the cool side about 78-79. Which is a little bit low, but they rarely seem to spend much time on the cool end. I have clay flowerpot bases as hide spots over the heat tape, which traps some heat and inside the hide spots the temps are around 89-90. They all seem very happy and healthy.

>>I had a similar problem when I was setting up my tubs. What I did was put the heat tape under 3/4 of the tank. The ambient temps over the heat tape are 85, like yours, and that keeps the temps in the cool side about 78-79. Which is a little bit low, but they rarely seem to spend much time on the cool end. I have clay flowerpot bases as hide spots over the heat tape, which traps some heat and inside the hide spots the temps are around 89-90. They all seem very happy and healthy.

Actually the 85 ambient temp was with the heat lamp, with just the heat tape, the ambient temp on the warm end was 75-78. I tried putting the Cobra heat mat on top of the lid and then put some aluminum foil on a piece of cardboard and put that on top of the heat mat. With heat tape under about 3/4 of the tub, that got the ambient temps up to 76 on the cool end and 82 on the warm end. Do they really need to be at 85? I've noticed she seems to prefer around 80-82. When I was using the heat lamp I tried putting a piece of thin white cardboard on top of the tub, and that got the ambient temps up to 80-82 while keeping the floor from getting too hot, I guess I'll fool around with that some more.
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MY COLLECTION:
1.0 '04 Columbian BCI
0.1 '05 Sumatran Blood Python
1.2 Ball Pythons

MY WISHLIST:
A Northern Blue-Tongue Skink
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boas
1.1 Hogg Island Boas
0.1 Columbian BCI
1.1 Sumatran Short-Tail Pythons
1.1 Borneo Short-Tail Pythons
1.1 Dumerils Boas
1.2 Spotted Pythons
2.4 African House Snakes
2.4 Bearded Dragons
1.2 Rankins Dragons
2.6 Crested Geckos
1.1 Purebred Dobermans
0.1 black German Shepherd

I bought a snow corn, i just threw a pinkie mouse in and he ate it.Can't wait till the hamburg show

No, I've tried twice and she pretty much ignored the mice. The last time I tried was about 2 weeks ago, and today she actually came out of her hide for awhile, so I think she's getting hungry. I'm going to try feeding her a brained mouse tomorrow night. If that doesn't work I might try dipping one in chicken broth. She defecated about 2 weeks after I got her, so she was feeding before. Are you still planning on getting a blood and a carpet at the show?
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MY COLLECTION:
1.0 '04 Columbian BCI
0.1 '05 Sumatran Blood Python
1.2 Ball Pythons

MY WISHLIST:
A Northern Blue-Tongue Skink
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boas
1.1 Hogg Island Boas
0.1 Columbian BCI
1.1 Sumatran Short-Tail Pythons
1.1 Borneo Short-Tail Pythons
1.1 Dumerils Boas
1.2 Spotted Pythons
2.4 African House Snakes
2.4 Bearded Dragons
1.2 Rankins Dragons
2.6 Crested Geckos
1.1 Purebred Dobermans
0.1 black German Shepherd

Im definetly getting a blood,having second thoughts on a jungle carpet,i might just get two bloods instead and a coulpe of corns,i just got a snow corn on monday and iv'e never seen a snake go after preyso fast,i was worried he wouldn't eat,man was i wrong

Well, the feeding didn't go very well. I thawed the mouse and brained it, then smeared some of the brain matter on its head. I put it at the entrance to the hide and as soon as I turned the lights off she came partway out of the hide and started looking for it. I guess she's used to live because she crawled right over the mouse and didn't even seem to notice it. When I got up this morning it was still there, so I put it under a heat lamp to warm it up a little, and then held it by the tail and moved it around at the entrance to the hide. After a little while she grabbed it and constricted, then she tried to swallow it sideways. When that didn't work she gave up and went back in the hide. I'd like to try a live rat fuzzy, but I don't have anywhere to get one. There's a petshop that sells weanling mice and some rats, but there don't have any pinkies, and I think the weanling mice are a little too big. There's also a Petco, and they have mouse pinkies, but they want $1.50 for one, and they wouldn't be much of a meal for her anyway.
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MY COLLECTION:
1.0 '04 Columbian BCI
0.1 '05 Sumatran Blood Python
1.2 Ball Pythons

MY WISHLIST:
A Northern Blue-Tongue Skink
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boas
1.1 Hogg Island Boas
0.1 Columbian BCI
1.1 Sumatran Short-Tail Pythons
1.1 Borneo Short-Tail Pythons
1.1 Dumerils Boas
1.2 Spotted Pythons
2.4 African House Snakes
2.4 Bearded Dragons
1.2 Rankins Dragons
2.6 Crested Geckos
1.1 Purebred Dobermans
0.1 black German Shepherd

don't feel bad my bp is still on her strike i hope just for the winter.i pay a $1.29 for a pinkie mouse,how big is ur snake again.my cuz just got a ball python

Jungles are great but they are not a blood. I have a jungle and a queensland (yes they are different) but they need a lot of handling to stay tame. So do bloods I guess but I would not trade both my carpets for my blood.

Mike

I currently keep everything thats housed in tubs in a rack system, before i had the rack i had chondros and womas in individual tubs. I used a heat pad or flexwatt underneath each tub which covered about half of the interior space. To avoid the tub from overheating or melting i used a thermostat, and digi thermometer. But to protect the tub i went to home depot and bought bull nose tile 1/4" thick X 4" long and glued it around the perimeter of each tub. This gave me a space between the tub and heat source to prevent any problems(its takes ALOT of heat to get tile hot). Then all you have to do is experiment with the temps...it will take longer to heat and the setting on your t-stat will probably be higher compaerd to having the heat source directly under the tub, but you'll have the comfort of knowing you wont burn down your house or cook your blood. good luck

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1.1 suri redtails
2.1 chondros
1.1 womas
1.0 blood
1.0 albino blood

My blood is such a lazy eater after being nursed for several months that I have to rub his nose with a dead rodent, he then opens his month and I but the rodent in. I put him down and he proceeds to eat it. It dosn't matter how long I wait, he won't eat until I put it in his mouth. Go figure.

Mike