Heating pad questions.

[paolo_28]

Im planning on buying a heating pad for my baby common RTB. Right now TITAN is in a 35 gallon tank, and he's about 2 feet long. What size heating pad should I buy, and which side of the tank should I place it.

How my tank is set up is that the water bowl is on the left side with the basking lamp right above it but just a bit to the right. Now on the right side of the tank is my hollow log, branch, and some artificial leaves. Keep in mind that I'm also planning on buying another hollow log for the hot spot.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks Paolo.

[Big Mike]

A heating pad for a 35 gal tank is usually 8" x 8" or 12" x 8" or even 12" x 12"...I think. Some of them have the recommended tank size right on the package.

What you need to do is create a temperature gradient. Put the heat pad under the tank on one end...this will be the warm end. You should have the heat pad controlled by a rheostat (dimmer) or a thermostat. You also need to know what the temperature is on the floor of the tank above the heat pad. It's also helpful to know the temp on the other end of the tank.

Position of the light depends on the temps in both the warm and cool sides. I like to have my light (with only a 40w regular bulb) in the middle of the enclosure and also on a timer for 12 hours. The warm end is always warm and just a little hotter during the day with both the UTH and partial heat from the lamp. The middle is just warm from the light during the day and the cool side is a little warm from partial heat during the day and cool at night. This way there is a nice temperature gradient and a night time temperature drop and a regular photo period.

As far as hides and furniture goes...you need a hide on the warm end at the least. One on the cool end is good too. More could be even better. The water can be anywhere but would be better off on the warm side.

It's important that you get a thermometer or two and that you know the temps and can control them.

Also think about the size that your boa will be in 6 months from now, a year from now...two years. That 35 gal tank will not be a good home for very long. Think about getting a bigger enclosure and then you can set it up and move him in there but make sure that he has a healthy enclosure until you get one set up.

Your set up sounds OK but he needs a hide spot on the warm side and should have heat 24/7 but light only 12 hours a day. So you should have a heat pad or a red night lamp during the night rather than a basking lamp. If the room is warm enough then you might not need extra heat at all but that's why you need to know the temps.

Sorry, that was so long...I hope I was able to help.

[paolo_28]

DAN> Thanks for the essay (LOL). Alot of key factors. I've got another question for you or to whoever is reading this, today when I picked up TITAN, I noticed a very small white bug crawling around his head area.

Now I've got forrest bedding as a substrate, after seeing this, I'm thinking about returning the bag of substrate and maybe going for just regular newspaper even though the appearance wont be satisfying.

Does anyone know if you can get any mites from forrest bedding bought from Super Pet??? When I called Super Pet, the employee said that it might be a WOOD MITE, but to be on the safe side, I should buy NIX (lice treatment for human hair) and spray down the tank including everything in it...or forget about the forrest bedding refund it and just go for regular newpaper?

***To anyone who has had mites problems with their snake, can you please tell me how they look like when they are young and what they look like as an adult.*** (Please and Thanks)

Any advise will be appreciated.

Thanks Paolo.

[Big Mike]

From what I have read...wood mites are white and fairly harmless to us and our snakes. I have dealt with snake mites and they are little black slow moving bugs. I don't know about young vs adult.

There are lots of ways to treat for mites. To prevent them from comming back, switching to newspaper would be good. However if you are going for a natural looking enclosure newspaper does not look that great. You can try baking your forest bedding in the oven for 30-60 minutes.

The spray tratments work well (so I hear) but can be dangerous to the animals (so I hear).

I would scrap the bedding you have now and go with news paper for a while. Also, clean and sanitise everything and do it often. Once there are no more mites...then decide on a substrate and treat it if required.

Good Luck