Heating for digestion questions

[cwburns32]

Hello all - I am probably over thinking things (again) but wanted to make sure I had my Tarahumara Mountain Boa's warm side hide setup properly and at the right temp.

I know a lot of people recommended using my RHP as my primary heat source but with the way my room is setup it works better to help maintain my ambient temp. The Ultratherm provides the underbelly heat as my little guy likes using his hide vs sit out in the open on the warm side.

My Ultratherm is hooked up to my Herpstat 2 and is set at 96F. The Ultratherm is attached to the bottom of the AP T8 cage and the probe sits in a recessed area between Ultratherm and bottom of cage. The RHP is set to 75.2 to help keep the cool side right at 75.

It seems that the warm side is plenty warm but I feel that the floor doesn't feel as warm as it should even though my IR temp gun tells me the floor, inside the hide and the snake are all at the right temp. I have attached some pics of the warm side with my IR gun and my thermometer that takes an ambient temp of warm side (78-80) AND has a probe that sits inside of his warm hide (87-90). When my guy is in his hide, the IR gun shows me a temp on him of 88.5-89 which is about perfect for a Tara so I don't think I should be worried but again when I touch floor with my finger I feel it isn't as warm at it should be even though my snake is very warm to touch after he has been in hide for a while.

You'll notice that the high low on the temp probe in his warm hide shows 81-91. If he is cool when he climbs into his warm hide the temp will come down tremendously until he warms up.

Warm side temps - Album on Imgur (http://imgur.com/a/0by3x)

[Scubadiver59]

I expect the next few comments will probably echo mine, but...I think you need to trust your laser thermometer, your probes, and your snake...he'll know what's best, and if he's in there, then it's just fine for him.

I had a situation where my BP wouldn't go into her hot hide...everything looked okay, but she wouldn't go in, she was always in the cold hide; so, one day, I lowered the UTH temp by two degrees in the hot hide, and lo and behold, she now uses both.

I would relax, and just keep an eye out for similar behavior--not using the hot hide--since then it might be too hot, as it was for my BP.

Hello all - I am probably over thinking things (again) but wanted to make sure I had my Tarahumara Mountain Boa's warm side hide setup properly and at the right temp.

I know a lot of people recommended using my RHP as my primary heat source but with the way my room is setup it works better to help maintain my ambient temp. The Ultratherm provides the underbelly heat as my little guy likes using his hide vs sit out in the open on the warm side.

My Ultratherm is hooked up to my Herpstat 2 and is set at 96F. The Ultratherm is attached to the bottom of the AP T8 cage and the probe sits in a recessed area between Ultratherm and bottom of cage. The RHP is set to 75.2 to help keep the cool side right at 75.

It seems that the warm side is plenty warm but I feel that the floor doesn't feel as warm as it should even though my IR temp gun tells me the floor, inside the hide and the snake are all at the right temp. I have attached some pics of the warm side with my IR gun and my thermometer that takes an ambient temp of warm side (78-80) AND has a probe that sits inside of his warm hide (87-90). When my guy is in his hide, the IR gun shows me a temp on him of 88.5-89 which is about perfect for a Tara so I don't think I should be worried but again when I touch floor with my finger I feel it isn't as warm at it should be even though my snake is very warm to touch after he has been in hide for a while.

You'll notice that the high low on the temp probe in his warm hide shows 81-91. If he is cool when he climbs into his warm hide the temp will come down tremendously until he warms up.

Warm side temps - Album on Imgur (http://imgur.com/a/0by3x)

[cwburns32]

I expect the next few comments will probably echo mine, but...I think you need to trust your laser thermometer, your probes, and your snake...he'll know what's best, and if he's in there, then it's just fine for him.

I had a situation where my BP wouldn't go into her hot hide...everything looked okay, but she wouldn't go in, she was always in the cold hide; so, one day, I lowered the UTH temp by two degrees in the hot hide, and lo and behold, she now uses both.

I would relax, and just keep an eye out for similar behavior--not using the hot hide--since then it might be too hot, as it was for my BP.

Yeah I figured this would be the response :)

I also realized that the temp of our skin at the surface is anywhere from 92-96F and we aren't all that hot to touch either so it makes sense that while it doesn't feel warm it still can easily be 88-90 like the temp gun says.

Like you said just trust your temp gun, probes and most importantly your snake. He is feeding on a big ol rat right now and will likely spend the next 72 hours or so in that hide.