Photos of my new snake and his enclosure!

[The Rock]

The set up is fine, except for the heat pad. He will grow into it in no time.

 

[BROWNS]

yep chuck the heat mat under the tank and i'd wack your tile on top of your newspaper which will hold a more constant heat just like the surface of a road where you see most snakes.

 

[SLACkra]

going to fix the heat pad sitch today. outside the tank it goes and i will remove the tile as it will no longer serve a purpose.

thanks for the info guys! freak accidents i don't like the sound of them...

well i gtg fix up the heat mat and probably get bitten

browns just read yoru post you posted just before me while i was writing my post. so i should have the heat mat under the tank then newspaper then the tile?

 

[BROWNS]

if you want to use the probe t/stat maybe get a thick enough piece of ply,melamine you can put under the whole tank with a hole drilled to place the probe in rather than inside the tank you can basically check the heat with your hand after initially adjusting your temp...

 

[SLACkra]

ok like make a groove for it to sit in then the heat matt ontop of it. set the thermostat so that the warm side temp is sutiable. got a spare bit of melamine will move the heat mat today and see if i can find the tools to make a groove in the melamine to fit the probe.

will go move the heat matt now.

andrew

 

[The Rock]

Dimmer is much easier than thermostat.

 

[serpenttongue]

A number of things,- if theres a slight falt anywhere and the snake wees zap dead snake. Ive also seen snakes strangle themselves,(belive it or not),on wires in tanks. VERY VERY bad idea.
Slakra,- put the tank on concrete or if you need it where it is put a fire proof sheet of something down first, just get that heat pad out of there. You obviously like taking un-needed risks.

I agree totally with The Rock. You should never allow a snake to make direct contact with any heat source(with the possible exception of hotrocks-which i think are useless and shouldnt be used anyway). Snakes bellies arent very sensitive to high temperatures, so your little hatchy could be laying on a heatmat thats burning its belly and it probably wouldnt even know it.

Also any uneaten food could cook and rot quicker if its left on a heatpad by either you or pushed onto it by a constantly moving snake.

Good to see you've taken it out .

 

[SLACkra]

ya removed it. folded up a small towl then placed the heat mat ontop of it hten the tank ontop of that. the temp on the warm end is 36'C.

Dimmer is much easier than thermostat.

as this is only temporary i am going to stick with the thermostat as its doing a pretty bang up job at keeping the warm end not to hot and not to cold.

andrew

 

[OuZo]

Just a question - does everyone else keep that much stuff in their enclosures? Seriously, I'm curious. I just have a water bowel, lots a newspaper and a stick blue-tacked to the wall. (And yes there is a blue lightbulb for heating.)

I don't have anywhere near that amount of stuff in my enclosures lol. I used to have heaps of hides in with babies but was told they have to get used to it sometime so now there's only one. I'd be very careful of the blutack though! I've heard the horror stories of snakes and sticky things :shock:

 

[SLACkra]

he ate a pinkie rat last night. disturbed him from his hide and put the pinkie infront of him. just looked at it then i wiggled it and away he went! didn't do much coiling around it but i reckon he knew it was dead.

photos will come soon gtg walk the dogs

andrew

 

[Vat69]

May I ask what brand of heat mat you are using? It must be pretty hardcore if you're worried about it getting so hot that it'll take away the heat gradient in the enclosure.

I've never used any kind of guage with mine. Just stick them under one end of the tank. It stays warm and the other end of the tank stays cool. Easy.

 

[Guest]

Yeah im the same as Vat69, i havent used a thermostat or dimmer for any heat mats ive used with no dramas at all by just sticking them under the end that i want to be the hot end.

 

[SLACkra]

its the smallest and highest wattage heat matt from the herp shop. 14watts and cappable of heating up to 20' higher than the ambient temp. i could easily see it going to 40'C easily.

andrew

 

[Vat69]

I'm curious, why did you buy one with that much capacity? (I didn't even know they made ones that needed to be regulated).

 

[SLACkra]

during the winter my room gets cold like 13'c sometimes, so being able to heat above 20'C of the ambient temp means the temp on the hot end is still at around 33'C when its that cold.

Also the 7watt and 14watt matts were the same price so went for the more powerful model.

andrew

 

[olivehydra]

I don't have anywhere near that amount of stuff in my enclosures lol. I used to have heaps of hides in with babies but was told they have to get used to it sometime so now there's only one. I'd be very careful of the blutack though! I've heard the horror stories of snakes and sticky things :shock:

Too true, many years ago I had a hatchie do some nasty damage (lost scales and almost a spectacle) still scar tissue visible today. The culprit was a bandaid of all things!

 

[Vat69]

Fair enough. Where I keep my snakes it can get down to below 5 degrees and all I have is a regular heat mat. They do fine.
But hey, whatever works for you, do it.
Personally I just think it would've been far easier and cheaper for you to have just bought a regular one with no thermostat.
Everything's different when it's your first snake though, I understand :wink:

 

[SLACkra]

sdaji sold me a probe thermostat for like $50 so i am happy. the setup works. the lil dude is digesting his meal in his warm hide box and spends tha majority of his time in it so it must be pretty good.

little off topic theres a crazy beard with a big ptach of yellow outside my window and its just looking at me and chirping....

bak on topic, ya i keep on hearing aobut how sticky things do terrible damage to snakes! he aint coming in contact with anything like tape or adhesives.

andrew

 

[Vat69]

As he settles in he should hopefully be spending an equal-ish amount of time in the warm and cool areas.
So it's not really the best thing if he's spending the majority of his time in the warm hide, but that's probably due to him just getting used to his surroundings.

 

[SLACkra]

actually at night time hes all over the place but in the day hes in his warm spot. hopefully soon he will be happy enough to venture out of his hide during the day, but i don't see that happening any time soon.