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I have a heat pad under my 55 gallon tank but the temp gauge isn't going anywhere, it reads 73 degrees. I have one side for her to cool down at which is at the same temp. What do I do to raise the temp? I know that heat lamps can cause her burn. I was looking to put a low wattage one in...

Advice on what to use ReptiSun 2.0 15w UVB or UVA?

Thanks,

Jennifer

Where is the temp gauge located? On the wall of the tank?

Rosies mostly use conduction to heat up. They butt up against a warm surface. The air temp can be 60 deg, but if the object (like a sun-warmed rock) is 85 deg, then the rosy can warm up.

What you need to do is have a large heat pad - big enough for the rosy to coil up on if she wants, or even bigger, since your cage has plenty of room for unheated area - and use a temp controller to keep that heat pad warm enough to get about 85-90 at the surface.

Don't use very much substrate if using wood chips. That ends up insulating the heat to stay below the substrate. What substrate are you using?
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Mark

I have a large heat pad under one side, but I have eco carpet down then newspaper, then aspen chips.

The gauge is on the back of the tank on the almost at the top, and then I have a hydrometer in the middle of the back wall of the tank then another thermometer on the other side. They are all at the same height.

Should I get an upper heat source? like a very low watt heat lamp so she doesn't burn?

FYI She is only alittle over 2 months old so she's not very big yet

Thanks Again for all your help!

Here is a picture of her en closer, Tell me what you think...

>>Here is a picture of her en closer, Tell me what you think...
>>

OK, I'll tell you what I think. I do have alot of experience with rosies. They are pretty simple animals really. This is a snake where truly a simple approach is best. On the flip side, when you give them something they do not like, they react with stress.

Right now, the snake is pretty small. The small mass means that it can heat up quickly with just a heat pad. You do not need to worry about air temp right now. You can add a low wattage light if you want, but no need really. I guarantee a heat pad will enable the snake to reach its desired temperature even if the air is 55 deg F. I know because I have a baby desert rosy right now in a 60 deg room eating huge thawed fuzzies and digesting fine with just a heat pad.

For substrate, I would use newspaper and aspen and get rid of the carpet. This way more heat gets trapped by the newspaper and aspen and allows for a wider range of temps possibly. I would keep the aspen less than 1 inch deep.

Make sure the heat pad is in the 85-90 deg range. When the air is cool, rosies will use 90 deg heat pads.

To provide more temp choices, get a piece of 1 inch dia PVC pipe, say about a foot long. Place that partially buried in the aspen, some of it over the heat pad and some not over the heat pad. Your rosy will love it and can access heat or cooler while staying hidden in a tight hide. Rosies like tight hides. Half logs are really not what rosies want.

I would lose the half log, lose the carpet, lose the huge diameter styrene plumbing fixture there. Go with 1" dia PVC and any other low-height hide. Even some newspaper laid over the aspen will be an aswesome hide. I guarantee you will see a difference in your rosy - it will become voracious.

As the rosy grows, the 1" dia PVC will need to be replaced. 2 inch dia would be better then, or else use an alternative. There are some nice rock hides sold online. Neodesha plastics sells plastic hides, so does I think RBI Plastics. As I said, newspaper makes a great hide by itself if you can stand the look of it.

Your cage is large enough where you can use a bulb if you feel you need it. Adult rosies have more mass and need more heat energy - not necessarily hotter temps - but enough heated area to heat all of their fat body. So then, a bulb can help keep the heat in the cage during cold times. But when the rosy is an adult, you pretty much want the air temp to be cool during Winter. You can still keep the heat pad on. The rosy will choose its temp. It may choose the coldest spot. Fine. It knows what to do.
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Mark

Get a temp gun. It's $30 you wont regret spending.

I setup my tanks by "feel" with under tank heaters and a ceramic heater in a dome. I though I was pretty close but didn't "know". So, I bought a bunch of the sticker temp guages because they were cheap. The sticker temp guages are completely useless. My snakes are in 55G aquariums with the sticker temp guages low on the back wall at both ends of the tanks. They don't register at all on either end -- temp below 69F according to them.

I keep my house on the cool side -- thermostat set to 68 in the winter. I was freaked out when I put the stickers in. I thought I was freezing my snakes. I got a temp gun. According the temp gun I'm at 88F on the hot end and 72F on the cool end. I'm sure if I had tried to adjust the heat using the stickers I'd have cooked the snakes.

I got my temp gun at Home Depot and definitely appreciate it. It takes just seconds to verify temps and it's an instant reading.

I agree...but you can find nicer ones cheaper on Ebay than buying the tempgun brand.
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Thanks,
-JC
www.rosyboas.to