Heating ball python tank, adjustment for colder weather?

[kiiarah]

Hi everyone,

I have already received a great deal of help here with setting up initial heating requirements in my young ball python's enclosure, but I am noticing some changes now that the weather is getting colder and am hoping someone can give me some advice on what to do to help maintain temps through the winter.

The enclosure is a 30 gallon tank with a screen lid (majority of screen covered by aluminum foil). I have a heating pad on the hot side of the tank which is regulated by a thermostat and a heat lamp on a stand above the cool side over a cut out in the foil to help boost ambient temps.

My problem is this, when I first set everything up the thermostat was keeping the hot spot at 88-91 degrees and the ambient temps were pretty consistently 80. I have been noticing that the hot spot doesn't get up to 90 anymore and has been dropping as low as 85.5 at times. I know the temps will fluctuate when using a thermostat but until recently setting the thermostat temp to 93 would keep it around 90 on the surface of the glass, now I have it set to 94 and it will only get up to 87 or so. So basically what used to be a few degree window between the setting and actual temp has jumped to a 7-8 degree gap.


So my main question is does it make sense that I would have to set the thermostat higher to get the proper tank temps during winter? I have only had my little guy for a month and a half so I have never been through a season change with him. I figured maybe this is normal since the heat mat is fighting the ambient cold of the glass, but I was afraid maybe this is abnormal.

Also I have been having a hard time keeping the ambient temps at 80 consistently and would like to insulate the tank somewhat to help reduce temp drops at night. I have a towel wrapped around the back of the tank right now, but it seems to be doing very little good. Would sticking cardboard around the back and sides with double sided tape help? Is there a better way to go about this?

Thanks for any advice!

[Aaron_S]

Yes. It's fine to set the thermostat higher.

[kiiarah]

Ok I will do some adjustments with the thermostat when I get home then. What about insulating to keep the ambient temp high enough though? The thermostat will bring up the hot hide temps, but he spends most of his time in his cool hide so the air temp seems even more critical.

[kwhitlock]

Some people will use CHE's during winter and adjust their humidity to make it work. I had the same problem with my rainbow boa. His cool side was in the high 60's when it was -30 outside. I bought this insulation, forget the name. It's a insulation for heating ducts I believe. Any way. I wrapped it around the outside of the enclosure and it was great considering how cold it was. Wrapped 3 sides with it, brought it up to around 73 ish.

[kiiarah]

Do the CHE bulbs produce better heat than regular heat bulbs? I could look into that, but it almost seems like the heat is being lost through the glass before it can really warm the tank, which is why I think I may have to address the heat loss issue first and foremost. I did look up some duct insulation but it looked like a hard sheet of metal. Was that the material you used or was it more like a foam or thick foil?

[Aaron_S]

If he's always on the cool side then most likely your hot side hide isn't secure enough for the snake to feel comfortable in. Change hides.

[kwhitlock]

Do the CHE bulbs produce better heat than regular heat bulbs? I could look into that, but it almost seems like the heat is being lost through the glass before it can really warm the tank, which is why I think I may have to address the heat loss issue first and foremost. I did look up some duct insulation but it looked like a hard sheet of metal. Was that the material you used or was it more like a foam or thick foil?

From what I have seen others do, it's just a supportive heat mainly. It will dry out your enclosure a smidge. But the insulation is like a reflective thick foil. It came in a few different sizes and lengths.

[kiiarah]

I think I know the kind you are talking about. I live a ways from town so just to hold me over I picked up a roll of bubble wrap which I read people frequently use to insulate windows in the winter. I am hoping this may help some, I also lowered the lamp a bit to boost the ambient temps. I will try the foil insulation if the bubble wrap doesn't work.

Aaron, that is what I thought too. When I set up the tank, the large hide was on the hot side and the cool hide was the smaller one. He never used the cool hide at that time, so I figured since they like small spaces I would switch them for him. I was concerned that maybe he was choosing heat over security, so I figured I would give him the more secure hide where he preferred to be in hopes of making him more comfortable. Oddly enough, when I moved them he never went back on the hot side, just went straight to the larger hide (now on the cool side). I left it this way for a bit and then decided to try putting the large hide he seemed to like back on the hot side to see what he would do. At this point I was concerned that maybe for some reason the hide was actually what he preferred, and that he was now sacrificing necessary heat for the familiar hide. Even after swithcing them back he still preferred the cool side. It was like once he went into that side and realized it was there it didn't matter what I changed about it, he just seems to have decided that is where he like to be. Now I have the large hide on the cool side for him and though he has gone into the small hot hide a couple of times, but he still spends 99% of his time in the cool one.