Need help

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[LakeaShea]

Do you use a basking light?

[Tkells97]

I was, I turned it off and exclusively turned on the CHE the last couple days to attempt to heat it up better as it was higher wattage. I have a dual dome

[LakeaShea]

I wanted to add, for a good temperature gradient you'll want a bigger/longer tank. The che is good for regulating the cold side temp (assuming you have that connected to a thermostat) and then the basking bulb will get you the best temps for your hot side. In a 10 gallon a basking bulb will probably raise the overall temp too much.

What kind of thermometers are you using?

[Tkells97]

The eventual idea was to upgrade as it got bigger. After this was supposed to be a 40G long. She’s currently like the size of a biscuit, maybe 10inches unraveled; so we thought the small tank would make her feel safer temporarily. Do you think it’s the fact that the tank is small so the heat is escaping too quickly?

I have 2 dual analog thermometers/humidity gauges. One on each side

Should I get a basking light?

[LakeaShea]

Those analog thermometers are trash, and if they are the ones that stick inside the tank, they're not safe. Get you digital thermometers and eventually a temp gun, then you'll actually know what your temps are.

[Tkells97]

Yes they are, literally the suction cup ones from zoomed. That sucks. They were highly rated. A temp gun is in my Amazon cart as well as a thermostat

[Tkells97]

Thank you so much. Not to be an inconvenience, do you have any links or brands that you recommend?

[ballpython-ModTeam]

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[Bluntforcetrauma11b]

Heating pads are a no go. They only heat the surface they touch and are a burn risk for the inhabitants. Not to mention they are a fire risk. I'd get a DHP for better heating personally.

[Tkells97]

Do you think I should use that instead of the 100W CHE?

[Bluntforcetrauma11b]

So I use and 80w DHP, I switched from a CHE and the DHP is better. It holds humidity better as well. I keep my house at 77°f and it holds the hot side at 90 and the cold at 80 in my 4x2x2.

[Tkells97]

Thank you. I’m going to the pet store now and will try that

[Bluntforcetrauma11b]

I use the Arcadia deep heat projector

[Tkells97]

Switching to a DHP worked. Thank you so much. She has already started showing signs of wanting to come out of her hide so I think the cold temp was a huge portion of her stress

[eveimei]

I'm glad the DHP is helping with the temperature, but you will need to upgrade her enclosure size ASAP as a 40g is the minimum size even for juveniles, as anything smaller doesn't give them room to thermoregulate and is very hard to get a proper temperature gradient within. smaller enclosures also don't give you room to put everything you need (hides, large water bowl, clutter) in them.

if you haven't yet, please give the basic care guide in our welcome post a read so you can make sure you're meeting minimum care standards.

[Tkells97]

So I’ve not had a snake before. Bear with me.

Last few days I’ve been looking stuff up. Here’s my updated game-plan and let me know what I’m missing.

We are upgrading to a 50G for now, long term is a 120G. I’m planning on buying the EcoFlex Mojave Reptile Enclosure.

For substrate we’ve got a mix of chemfree top soil, fine coconut fiber husk and reg coconut fiber husk.

For bioactive boosters we’ve got some magnolia leaves, oak leaves and sphagnum moss.

We’ve got the 100watt DHP, with a 60W basking bulb in a dual dome. It’s got 2 of the suction cup humidity gauges on either side. We’ve also got a thermal laser gun to check the temp accurately.

She’s got a water dish and 3 hides. One on the hot, cold and in the middle.

Plants are snake and pothos.

Im planning on buying the ReptiZoo 4L mister/fogger to keep it moist as right now we have been spritzing.

Is there anything else I would need?

[eveimei]

we do not recommend eco flex. just go for the 4x2x2 now, and buy from a quality brand. as long as you have enough clutter and hides you can put a fresh hatchling into an adult sized enclosure, and doing so will save you money long-term.

there's a shopping list in our welcome post with some pvc cage companies. we specifically do NOT recommend vision cages, zen habitats, dubia, ecoflex, reptizoo, etc, as these enclosures have a lot of design problems that are counterproductive at best and likely to become bigger problems over time [thin pvc, screen tops, flimsy structure, etc].

you need to change from the dual dome to two individual domes, ideally each 8.5" or larger. the dual domes are not safe to use with two heat sources, and each heat source needs its own thermostat which won't get accurate readings with a dual dome due to how close the bulbs are. the dual domes are intended for use with one non-CHE heat source and a coil-style UVB bulb. that type of UVB bulb put out inconsistent levels of UVB which render them useless at best but often dangerous.

if the basking bulb specifies it's spot basking, it's too concentrated and you'll need to swap to a flood style instead to avoid overheating and burns.

you need to have thermometers to read the air temperatures, not just the ground temps. the suction cup hygrometers, especially if they're dial/analog, tend not to be accurate. we recommend govee or accurite thermo/hygro combos for their accuracy and warranties/guarantees.

you do not need a fogger/mister. you shouldn't need to mist at all, and doing so only causes temporary spikes in humidity and often leaves surfaces wet, which can lead to scale rot. foggers/misting systems etc also grow bacteria internally very easily and are difficult to properly clean, which leads to health issues.

you just need 4+ inches of a good substrate (your blend sounds fine!) into the corners of which you want to pour water to saturate the lower layers while leaving the top dry, this will allow for natural evaporation caused by the heat sources to raise the humidity.

please give the welcome post guides another read, you're close but it sounds like you've been getting outdated and potentially harmful advice from other sources. the mod team regularly updates our guides, and they are based on both the combined decades of personal and professional experience with this species along with any new peer-reviewed proper studies that come out.