Belysning och värma för kungspyton

NellyNiklas skrev:

 

Well, if the mat was (wrongly) placed (which it often is) in the enclosure and not under it, with enough substrate for the heat to net penetrate through, with a burrowing snake, say Hognose snake as an example - both instances are true Magnus. No heat through substrate and getting burned. High probability.
Having a mat on the back wall (outside) changes (possibly) the scenario somewhat.

NellyNiklas skrev:

 

Well, if the mat was (wrongly) placed (which it often is) in the enclosure and not under it, with enough substrate for the heat to net penetrate through, with a burrowing snake, say Hognose snake as an example - both instances are true Magnus. No heat through substrate and getting burned. High probability.
Having a mat on the back wall (outside) changes (possibly) the scenario somewhat.

TS personal view of heat mats and the issues the bring with them in some circumstances isn't unfounded. 

As for thermostats. I use a habistat digital dimming thermostat for my Antaresia and DHP at night. Can be found at Cyberzoo. This one if I'm not mistaken: www.cyberzoo.se/sv/articles/2.390.18823/habistat-digital-temperature-thermostat-dagnatt-600-w

The zuVB alone will not be enough light for plants. It lacks a lot both brightness and visible light wavelengths for plants to grow. The LED complement (I.e Jungle Dawn) will do both the plants and your animal good. The plants will get tons of light and the snake a proper circadian rhythm.

latasia skrev:



Thanks for the help with the dimming thermostat! I looked it up online and think i found a fitting one! One more thing that i am a little confused about: If i understood correctly, the dimming thermostat would only regulate the temperature of the heatlamp, right? Since i want a temperature gradient in my terrarium, i still need to purchase a seperate termometer (+ hygrometer) in order to be able to correctly adjust the overall/hot+cold areas in my terrarium? Sorry for the confusion, this is my first time actually surrounding myself with all of these concrete device's functions!

Tropfrog skrev:


There are not one technical devise that cannot be abused and turned into something dangerous.

Do ball pythons burrow themselves? 

Br
Magnus 

 

NellyNiklas skrev:

It's not a matter of abusing technology, heat mats in this case, resulting in dangerous circumstances. It's a matter of using that same (and old) technology with outdated information and bad recommendations. 

That was the way heat mats were used back in the mid to late 90's. Heat mat in the bottom, substrate on top. Still today, those same recommendations pop up now and then.

Seasonally ball pythons spend time in borrows. If they dig those borrows them selves or hi jack them from something else I do not know. 

BR
Niklas

NellyNiklas skrev:

 

Correct. The one I have has 2 outlets. One has a probe connected to it and the other is an on/off, controlled digitally. Your setings for the outlet with the probe will control your heat source for example.

The enclosures cool side will most likely have what ever ambient room temperature you have in the room (depending on the size of enclosure, heat sources and placement of said heat sources.)

There are a few different ways to use the thermostat though. You can either have it directly control the basking surface temperature, OR, it could control the ambient temperature on the cool side, like a fail safe, where it shuts off when the cool side temperature reaches the upper limit. Doing it this way means you need to dial in the basking temperature manually as the bulb will most likely run at 100% until the probe tells it to either dim down or shut off. You need to monitor what happens at the basking spot that way.

I run mine the first way. I have the probe in a metal tube under a piece of slate rock. This way the surface temperature on the basking spot is controlled within a ~2-3 degree difference.


probe for a normal digital thermometer 

probe for the thermostat in a metal tube like the above picture. 


Halogen 50w to the left - UVB tube (Shade Dweller 8w) - DHP 80w at the rear. The DHP is the one controlled by the thermostat, even at night. The Halogen runs at 100% during the day and maxes out at ~36-37. 

Surface temp on top of the slate with the normal thermometer probe that showed 33 C's. 

Regarding thermometers. I have 4 digital thermometers in this enclosure, mainly for monitoring temps and relative humidity both in the cool end and the warm end. I also have one in a humid hide.

I highly recommend testing and trying out your equipment, lights and heat lamps outside the enclosure before you start planing the vivarium. 

Try different bulbs and wattages and measure surface temps at different heights. That way you will get a clear picture what you need to do in the vivarium, how high or low you need to place the basking area relative to the bulbs etc. 

A quick note on the UVB. If you have a mesh top on the vivarium, and the UVB laying on the mesh, the mesh will filter out a percentage of the UVB. I believe I have a table over distances and mesh filtration for the ShadeDweller UVB in my "Antaresia album" if you want more details about it. 

BR
Niklas

Tropfrog skrev:


I totally get it with long lived wrong advices and myths. There are a lot of them out there. For example we have two already in this thread.

So your recomendation is a technology that is newer, better and cannot harm the animal no matter how it is used? I don't think so. The same goes with any heating device. If used wrongly they all can be dangerous, even deadly to our animals. 

Tropfrog skrev:

Heat mat is a cheap and reliable heat source If used correctly. Heat lamps are expensive, termostat for it is more expensive. But still it is also a reliable technology If used correctly. None of them will be safe If setup wrongly.
/M

NellyNiklas skrev:


Nope. I am recommending new tech for example a Halogen bulb, (although a traditional tungsten would work just as well), together with a possible optional DHP. One or the other controlled with a digital thermostat used properly and the right way, tried and tested outside the Vivarium beforehand. That is what I am recommending. It is obvious that I am not recommending a heat mat for this specific application even when used correctly.  



* A new reptile branded ("Habistat") 35W heat mat costs roughly 450 SEK vs. a new reptile branded ("Arcadia") 35W Halogen bulb costs roughly 170 SEK. The mat isn't really cheaper at the store. Second hand it is most likely cheaper than the bulb. 

* The heat mat produces IR-c only whereas the halogen bulb produces IR-a, -b and -c, UVA (for basking) and some visible light (for circadian rhythm), both of which are advantageous and beneficial. 

* Thermostats are most definitely expensive, unfortunately.

* Basking heat from below with a heat mat placed underneath the enclosure is un-natural and even if placed on one side it will most likely only heat the ambient air closest to it and I can't se it as a viable option as basking heat for a ball python.

There is no real point in debating heat mats any further, atelast not here, seeing as OP has chosen beforehand to step away from them for this enclosure.