Help! Mid-sized Boa, big enclosure, big climate problems:

[Bruin30]

I will try to be as specific as possible, but we all know that I'll never be able to give you ALL the details each of you wants to try to help answer. I am at a loss, here, so please try anyway. Thanks

7 foot Boa, 5 yrs old, Female BCI, not breeding. Big tank 4 feet high (yes, she climbs) 6 feet long, 2.5 feet wide.

Hot side, BIG water pond (soaking, etc.) 4 feet below 2 Ceramic Emittent Heaters, 3 in winter (yeah it's cold here.-- I run a humidifier into the top of the cool side during winter, too.)

Cool Side, Small water "bowl," for drinking. --- She definitely knows the difference, believe it or not.

Substrate varies: can't nail this down, either. Currently using the Recycled, pressed paper balls.

1) CEH Wires KEEP burning at the porcelain in the top-- every 6 months or so. Never mind the poor snake-- I'm afraid I'm going to burn MY OWN house down one of these days! Ideas for keeping the wires off the ceramic fixture, and maybe keeping these things going longer??

2) I haven't heard too much about the heat panels. Although I found some prevoius posts on these, I haven't found answers to the following:
a) Mount it under the substrate but in the tank?
b) Thank God it won't burn the animal-- what about the substrate?

The bottom of the tank isn't quite Plywood-- more like particle board-- and most of the "hot" side is covered by the pond anyway-- so I'm not really sure I want to mount a Panel UNDER the tank... the side is an option, though, as it's plexiglass. Again, the intention was that the CEHs would do the trick, & would spread enough humidity around, too, from helping the pond evaporate. ...that's not really happening, either, though. Man, is it dry in there, some days!

Thanks for your attention, ideas, etc. I REALLY have been struggling, here.

Thanks again,

Steve

[peterm15]

are RHP supposed to go on top.. inside the tank... i may be rong.. sorry i cant help otherwise..

[Bruin30]

Thanks...

... seems that way from SOME posts, but I have 4 feet of vertical space to fill with heat, so I'm not really sure, in my situation, what's best.

If any of the moderators/members are aware of any links to "instructions" on the panels, I'd love to check them, too. I checked WAAYYY back on the forums, but came up mostly blank.

[reptile boi]

have you thought about using KANE heat mats? If hooked to a rheostat or a thermostat, it wont burn. Oh and its supposed to go under the substrate.




Thanks,
Ben

[ReptiZone]

This may sound very trivial but if you shorten the cage a bit but still provide climing branches you can get away with just a UTH. As well you don't want the pond to cover the whole hot spot otherwise where is the snake gonna go to bask.
I have seen prime condition boas and I mean very expensive boa collections in cages that are 4 feet long, 2 feet wide and 18 inches high. Now if she is a climber you can put it at 2 feet tall instead of 18 inches and offer a branch to climb on.

Keep in mind the dimensions may seem small but I have seen female 8 foot breeding boas do exceptionally well in these cages.

By making these changes you will see that your temps will be easier to monitor, as well, as your humidity. It also reduces the time for maintanence and the over all health of your Boa will improve.

The ReptiZone
Marc Doiron

[Bruin30]

Ben: Thanks for the mat idea... what are the advantages of the Mats v. the RHPs? Anyone?

Marc: unfortunately, I can't trim down the size in this thing without making a mess, er, a REAL project of the whole thing. I am aware that a smaller enclosure would be MUSH easier to maintain, but I think I gotta play the hand I dealt myself. So in the meantime...
She basks up high, (heat rises) on a shelf under a UVA/UVB Day-light lamp on the cool side. I think she feels like she gets the best of both worlds: High light, good heat, but not too hot, not too cold. When she gets cold, she moves across the top to a point right under the CHE, and then travels back when she's warm. Although the average ambient temp is chilly, she has a HUGE range of available temps, and uses all her basking shelves regularly. Often, despite the "chill," (75, or so) I find her coiled down low in the cold side corner, as far away form the heat as she can get. Like I say, she uses all areas of her home.
So, under these circumstances, and with such a large enclosure, would [anyone] recommend a heat mat, all the way across the bottom of this tank, or is that overkill? Perhaps just the warm side... which is mosly under the pond? ...and do the mats stand up to having 3.5 gallons of water plus the snake's weight on them?

Again, I SINCERELY appreciate every and all suggestions :-)

Steve