Harley temps and eating etc help please

[BlueButterfly]

Ok. We have run into a bit of a problem. Harley wouldn't take his mouse. He only ate about three crickets. He is turning his nose up at everything. I can't get the heat up over 105 on the hot side for some reason now. We have 4 100 watt bulbs on that side. It was at 130. But now it's not staying as hot???could this be why? He also seems lethargic again. He still gets up at 10 Snd does the usual run around etc. but really isn't wandering much other then that. And he has not spent much time on the lower floor at all this weekend. Could it be to cold down there. Temp is 70 on the bottom. How can I heat it up without risking him burning himself on the lights.

[Bradyloach]

Alright so this was my problem for the past week:

Cassie would not eat... And her cool side temp was 75. The basking surface was 130F


Okay so this is what I fixed:

I bumped the basking spot up to 150F.
That resulted in the cool side being 80-85F
The humity is at 65%
She ate so much today, the most I've ever seen her eat! She's doing way better now!


I understand you have 2 levels in your enclosure, I would heat the enclosure so your conditions are like mine, the bottom should be around 80F with the top being a little hotter. She has a burrow to escape the heat right? And a water bowl?

Okay so now I'm gonna tell you how to accomplish this, take the 100w basking bulbs out, go to a hardware store or canadian tire and purchase 3-4 45 watt hologen flood lights. These worker better then basking bulbs And you can get 2 for the price of one basking bulb.

Your enclosure will start to heat up and your monitor will be way more active and eat like a champ! Just trust me :) Wayne will confirm what I said for sure!

Also for taking temps like the surface temp you must have a temp gun to get an accurate reading.

For Air temps you must have a probe hygrometer or thermometer! The stick on ones just suck and are not accurate!

Hope I helped! I'm a rookie but I've been listening very carefully:)

[BlueButterfly]

Okay so the problem I'm having is that the lights that we bought from Rona are too big for the light fixtures they extend past the end of the fixture and don't sit properly.. We have 4 small fixtures on the hot side and one large on the cooler side with a flood light in that one. So what's the solution? Should I put 4 larger light fixtures there?

[Bradyloach]

Umm if you have the lights with the domes, remove the domes. Savs will grab the dome and swing from them. Remove the domes with pliers like rip them off! Haha. Then they will fit. As long as the bulbs are 45 watt you shouldn't have a problem with humitdy ether!

If you need to by larger fixtures then do so :)

[BlueButterfly]

so i went and got him a dozen snails from the garden as they are his most fav... and he ate them all... will post pics.. lol so cute... still need to warm up the cage... i really need to figure this out...

[Bradyloach]

Wayne says a warm monitor is a happy monitor!

[mo9e64]

The reason you shouldn't have domes is it is a surface that the monitor can burn itself on,so you shouldn't use guards around the lights,and screen top with a dome on top acts the same way.
There is no set wattage just use lower preferably 50W floodlights or lower,if you can use 30W even better.The number of lights should be based on the size of your monitor and the size of your cage and the ambient temp of the room the cage is in.
If you set your cage based on the basics;deep substrate ,limited airflow appropriate low wattage basking spot,security-humidity takes care of itself.The cage shouldn't have one humidity-it will be dry at the basking spot and more humid in the cooler areas.
Observe your animals,with commonsense they'll tell you what they need-

[jarich]

So here is your present set up, right?:
http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/general-enclosure-discussion/92133-6ft-long-x-2-feet-wide-x-4-ft-tall-two-level-enclosure.html

So, the problem here looks like the lights are too far away from the basking surface. How far away are the lights from that second shelf? It looks like about 2 ft, is that right? What would be best is to take off that screen on top of the enclosure where the lights are sitting right now. Then take the hoods off three of your light fixtures. Get three lower wattage bulbs, around 40-50 watt flood lights. Then put those light fixtures with the naked bulbs through the holes and hang them so they are around 12 inches from the basking surface. Then take a new piece of wood and cover the holes where the lights used to sit. Sealing the top will bump the humidity level on the top level of the enclosure and increase the basking spot up to what it should be. You will need to get that infrared temp gun though. Its the only real way to tell what the surface under those lights is getting to, and how high exactly to hang your lights as a result.

[infernalis]

Something seems off here.

My box is 8 foot by 4 foot, and I only have 2 50 watt floods, 2 florescent UV rich (6500K) floods, one spiral and a tube florescent.

with 2 floods totaling 100 watts, I am getting a basking spot of 148 degrees, ambient air temps in the 90's and soil temps in the middle eighties.

There is a lot of heat escaping your enclosure somehow.

If you go to the hardware store/building supplier and buy some of that pink Styrofoam house insulation (8x4 sheets about 1/2 inch to 3/4 thick) and make panels for the back, sides and top of your enclosure, and glue it to the outside of your box, you will find that a whole lot more of your heat will stay inside the box.

[infernalis]

Another thing I would suggest, put your basking down on the bottom level, heat rises, so with your basking at the bottom, the upper level will have all the heat from below too.

[mo9e64]

Jarich hit it on the head,lowering the bulbs using low wattage bulbs is the answer.Your coolend just needs to be in the low eighties.When you combine that with less ventilation and heating the substrate instead of the air you'll have less DEHYDRATION.