Heating problems for my Ball>>

[CJN2216]

I just recently got my Ball, and I have my 25 Gallon Long setup with a Screen up top and then a Heating Enclosure that rest's above that. It has two Bulb fixtures inside. On the one side I have my 150Watt Daytime Bulb. On the other is my 100 Watt Night time Bulb.
Well the Aquarium is only getting up to about 78° and I know recommended temp is 82-90°. So I went and bought two more bulbs to switch off between lighting. So I would be running (2) Daytime Bulbs during the day and two Night time at night. Well the Two Daytime Bulbs got it way to hot 90°+ so I took it back out. I assume the same thing will happen with the Night time Bulbs. This is pissing me off and I don't feel like spending $100 on 20 different type's of Heating Bulbs. What do you all reccomend for my enclosure?
How about those Ceramic Heat source's?


P.S
Yes I also already have a UTH under his Hide.

[escm]

first off id recommend getting an infrared temp. sensor (at radioshack for about 20$). Ive found that on the warm side my digital thermometer reads around 80 but the actuall floor temperature is 90 in the hotest spot and cools down towards the cold side where my digital thermo reads around 75. Having the temp. gun gave me a much more precise idea of what was really going down in the tank. What I did to get my temps perfect was use a 100watt incandescent bulb (like $1) and a 75 watt infrared bulb ($7) on a homedepot dimmer (10$). Also I have a uth connected to a thermostat keeping the hot spot at 90 all day/night. I first set up the infrared bulb positioned somewhat towards the middle of the tank but angled slightly towards the hot side. Then adjusted the dimmer so that it kept the hot side around 80. I didnt worry about the cool side as the ambient room temp is 71 year round and I figure my snake can decide if hes to cold or not (im more worried about him being to hot). I then set up the 100 watt incandescent bulb over the hot side and adjusted its distance from the top of the tank in order to get the warm side to exactly 90 degrees. At night off goes the incandescent bulb...the temps drop to 80 on the warm side and the uth keeps his hide nice and warm. Hes been in this set up for a month or so and he seems realllllly happy...daily cruising, no nose pushing or escape attempts (at least while im awake hehe), love to be held and eats like a pig. he also she last week and it all come off in one clean shed. hopefully youll be able to use some of my ideas...good luck!

[royal]

CJN, I am having the same problem.
From what I have seen so far IMHO is that you should hook up a dimmer switch to your lights... there is a post on rehostats(sp?) in the enclosure creations forum.

Also just to point out... make sure to check the temps under his hide... In my tank with my uth it only got to 78... if i moved all the substrate away from the glass it went to 92.
Hopefully this helps a bit.

[royal]

haha.. escm beat me to the post.. and had a better post.. hahaa

Very informative, nice post.

[Weather1]

I have roughly the same size enclosure as you with a screen lid. 30"x12"x12"

I use a 50 Watt inafred that hangs about 1" above the screen in the centre of the enclosure. Then I have an UTH under her hide. My thermometers are placed directly on the substrate. The warm end is 80-90 Night and Day and the cool end is 72-82 night and day.

I have 3-4 inches of substrate so she can crawl under to the bottom if the temps are to warm or to cool.

However she love to sit on top of her warm hide and look around. She is very active in this temps. The room temp is around 68.

[Pythonian]

my blood python enclosure was getting up to close to 100 degrees!!! the easiest fix is to lift the light higher then it is now. I put a thumbtack on the wall .. and the lamp has a clip on it.. i just cliped it to the thumbtack about 4 inches higher then it is.. it is working perfectly! with the same temperature gradient!

Mike

[CJN2216]

You guys all have good idea's. Like I said I am running (2) 100 Watt Heat Bulbs. What if I downgrade to say a 75 or 50 Watt with the 100 Watt. That would probably work to I guess? Mike's idea was good about lifting the Heat a little higher to lower the temp. I might have to rig something up so I can do that.

[stormyva]

The way you described your "heating enclosure" sounds like a hood with light fixtures on both sides. If you use two bulbs at the same time with the hood it will not allow the proper temperature gradient and will not allow your snake to go get cooled off. The least expensive fix to get your temps up to where they should be would be to use a human heat pad under the hot side of the tank. Make sure you allow about a 1/2" under the tank to allow air flow between the pad and the glass. Also get some new thermomoters... unless your room is an ice box a 150 watt bulb should be baking a 20-25 gallon tank!

[CJN2216]

Well it is a guest bedroom with no carpetting so yeah it doesn't get very warm in there. The 150 Watt Bulb I got might be complete junk. Either that or my Thermometers are not to good. There the $2 type you stick on the sides of your Tank. I have (2). One for the Top Temp. and one for the Bottom Temp.
What is a Human Heat Pad? A certain brand or an actual Heat Pad for a Person? I have the Reptile Heating Pad for 20-30 Gallon Tank. Is that not good enough?

[rattekonigin]

Those sticker-type thermometers aren't very accurate at all, your temps are probably higher than they indicate...you can get a cheap digital thermometer (with a probe) for around 10-20$ at walmart...as for "human heat pads" they mean heat pads made for humans. They're kinda like a small electric blanket...Sunbeam makes a small one that sells at Wal-Mart for, like 20$...and they have 3 settings (low, medium, high) so you can adjust the temps easier...I use a combination of a human heat pad (set on low) and a red incandescent bulb (I think 60 or 75 watts) to keep the temps up in my boa's 20Gal tank (and they have around the same temp requirements as a bp, a little lower)...and these keep the hot spot at around 85-90 F, depending on the temp of the room...