Sooo just got a Spider BP

[dshin963]

Okay, soo
The BP is probably about six months old and this is the first snake I have ever own... I like to think I understand the basics... I am currently working on the tank.

It is glass with a mesh cover... its a little difficult to moderate the temperatures and humidity... I am trying to keep one side above 90 and the other around 88 starting to prove difficult... I have a heat pad and a heat lamp on the hot side nothing on the cool side.

I have a hide on both sides... the hot side has one that came with him and the cold side has one i made out of a freezie box...

The water dish is close to the middle more so towards the hot side in an attempt to keep the humidity higher... in addition to that I also put a damp cloth on top of half the tank to keep moisture and heat in. The humidity on average is around 39% I would say.

I will include a couple of photos could you please offer some constructive criticism to help my BP adjust to the move?

[Lankyrob]

The cold end can drop lower, say 75-80f as long as the hot end is 91f. You want to get the humidity up to about 55-65%. Mesh top aquariums arent easy to keep at the right temps and humidity tho so youmay find it hard work.

Looking forward to the pics.

[dshin963]

There come the pics

[dshin963]

... or not...

[dshin963]

hope this works...
The temp drop and humidity drop is mainly because i opened the tank... damn thing is soo temperamental... right now its at 88.4 degrees and rising and 41%

Also i figured that a place he would could bask was on top of the hot hide... would he do this?

[Jendee]

the lamp is not needed..and if you want to use a glass tank id recommend putting the towel completely over the top since your using paper towels and a small water dish it will be hard to keep temps and humidity. I know nothing about ball pythons..but did start out using glass tanks 17 yrs ago lol

[dshin963]

I cant get the temps high enough with out the lamp though... also i just switched the thermometer and the cool side reads at around 51% humidity... i figure if i spray every day or so i should be fine on the humidity... not just the temp

[Aaron_S]

If you need a lamp then you need a red light. Probably a 50 - 75 watt. The lamp should be shut off at night and just run the heatpad. I prefer to keep a single heatpad with a thermostat attached to regulate it.

[dshin963]

is there a huge difference between the blue and the red?

[Aaron_S]

Yes the heat output.

[dshin963]

alright well i added something to the tank
To raise the temp in the tank i put some aluminum foil on top of the moist cloth to keep in heat... just wondering is this safe to do?
It is sitting at around 93 degrees at the moment

[Ch^4]

The only foreseeable problem with the foil is overheating (IMHO). 93 is a little warm, but should work for a basking spot. You don't want the entire cage at 93. With that size of a cage, it can be difficult to create a proper thermal gradient; you can achieve, but it takes patience, and some trial/error. (I have a quarantine cage that is similar in size.)

I'd invest in a thermostat to avoid temperature extremes. Which side of the tank is your little spider on?

[dshin963]

he likes to stay in his hide on the hot side... I havent seen him go over to the cool side once too cool off... the cool side i believe was at 81 ill double check again in a bit.
OHHH on a positive note I woke up to a little poop in the cage this morning I was really worried he was going to regurgitate his food because it wasnt warm enough.
Also last night i found him basking on top of the hide i think he liked the heat

[dshin963]

also I am going to invest in a digital thermometer that can take the surface temp ASAP... these ambient ones are irritating me...

[mld]

Just wondering if that flukers thermometer /hygrometer has a probe on a corn that you would place inside the hot hide to read the basking temp! If it doesn't have a probe it may just be measuring the air temp!
Just a thought, when I googled the flukers one it didn't mention a probe.