| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Jacquie72 |
Posted - 24/02/2014 : 15:56:24
Ok I would post about this in the Rainbow forum, but I registered but haven't been able to log in, so I'm assuming I haven't been approved yet. I'm still struggling to get the heat up on my viv for Lily Lulu, my Columbian Rainbow Boa. At the moment it's 19.3C in the cool end and 22.5C in the warm end. Humidity is 94% cool end and 85% warm end. It is UTH with a Habitstat thermostat operating it. I have two digitial hygro/thermometers either end of my viv. She has two hides (I don't have a humidity hide as I don't have any moss until next week). I've completely covered the top of the lid (it's a Faunarium with the grid slat lids and slits all around the sides of the tank). No cling film so I've covered three sides and the top with foil. And STILL I can't hold the humidity/heat. What else can I do to help my little girl. She seems happy enough at the moment, going from cool to warm hides regularly to thermoregulate and is coming out and exploring actively at night as well as taking regular drinks. Do you lovely people have any ideas/suggestions/tips that I can improve things until I can order new vivs for my babies. (Being disabled and on a limited income, I wish the shops had sold me the proper vivs in the first place!) I should be able to ge them next week as I've seen some great deals online. Sorry if I'm worrying unnecessarily, I just want to do right by my little snakey friends. My Ts are thriving, I now have three slings and an sub adult female Chilean Rose! I would take pics but the newest slings are TINY! They are the Costa Rican Tiger Rump and Greenbottle Blue. |
| 7 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Jacquie72 |
Posted - 01/03/2014 : 14:05:16
It seems that the heat mat was faulty. BUT while it's an improvement, it's still nowhere near hot enough and it's not holding the humidity in the hot end. I guess I'm going to have to give up the faunarium and go straigh to a set up large enough for her to stay in permenantly. She's in fine health though, but as I'm taking Henry to the herp vet on Tuesday, I shall take her too so he can make sure she's ok and that she's not developing any resp issues. |
| Blackcat |
Posted - 25/02/2014 : 09:35:20
When I had my colombians in their temporary housing I used Really Useful Boxes (RUBS) with a few holes drilled in for ventilation.
I had my thermostat probe taped to the heat mat which the RUB was sitting on and my digital thermometer inside the RUB directly above the heat mat.
You could put a cork tile or polystyrene tile under the mat to try and direct heat upwards.
Are you on facebook? There are some good rainbow boa groups on there which you may get quicker replies on, the rainbow site is a little quiet these days  |
| Razee |
Posted - 25/02/2014 : 08:00:29
11 and 14 doesn't make that much difference, but I'd definitely try to get the mat in contact with the underneath of the faunarium, it might make a big difference. Don't worry about there being no air gap, as long as the heat can dissipate ( and it will - into the faunarium ), there will be no problems. Just make sure the thermostat and thermometer probes are in the faunarium, on the floor, above where the mat is.
Faunariums can be ok, if you can cover the extra ventilation, which you've already done, and if in doubt, you can always mist the faun once or twice a day - you want high humidity, but also, you don't want a stagnant air, so some ventilation is good, too.
Hope this helps :-) |
| Jacquie72 |
Posted - 24/02/2014 : 21:46:47
quote:
Originally posted by gmac
There are no pending members on the rainbow site for me to approve. If you want try and register again and shall sort for you.
Okey doke! Thank you GMac! Edit - Done! Thank you! |
| Jacquie72 |
Posted - 24/02/2014 : 21:46:01
quote:
Originally posted by Razee
Quick question ( sorry if you've already replied elsewhere ) - what wattage is the heatmat? It could well be too weak. First of all, try to measure the temperature on the top of heatmat. If it's getting warm enough, you can adjust the heatmat position.
If you have a faunarium ( which it sounds like you do have ) - they have little legs, and if your room temperature is cold, the air gap between the mat and the bottom of the tank might be where you're loosing too much of your heat. Try putting a tile ( or a half a tile ) under the heatmat, so that the heatmat is actually in contact with the faunarium. As you're running the mat with a thermostat, it should never overheat enough to do any damage, and you should only have a very thin layer of bedding on hot side, so the heat can come through well.
When I had my first baby corn ( Bazilishka ), I was sold faunarium, with way too strong heatmat - ( 20 Watts ), and was told ( despite me asking for one ) that I definitely won't need a thermostat, and to place the mat under the whole tank :-0 ! Fortunately, I knew not to do that, but I had to improvise, and managed to create quite a good temperature range, by partially pulling the heatmat out, and putting a small tile under it, so that it arched, and touched the faunarium floor in one place only. That place was too hot - I can't remember exactly, but I think it was around 37 C, ( remember, that was a strong mat, without a thermostat ) - but from there, the temperature gradually fell, so I had a perfect gradient to about 22C - 37C ( until I got a digi thermometer and thermostat , and corrected the 37 temp ).
Heatmats are contact heaters, so your problem could well be the air gap... you can also try putting some sort of reflective foil ( even just kitchen foil ) under the heatmat, so all the heat is reflected upwards, and you aren't loosing any to the underside.
Hope this helps a bit :-)
It's an 11 watt mat. I could swap with Henry's mat tomorrow which is a 14 watt. The shop said it would be adequate, but then they said the faunarium would be ok, which in my opinion isn't. Not for an animal that needs high humidity and mid range temps. I wanted to put some foil underneath but I thought that maybe a little dangerous, even with a thermostat installed. I don't have any tiles, but tried using cardboard to push the mat up against the tank and still it wouldn't get warm enough. Maybe I could use a hardcover book or something for now? |
| gmac |
Posted - 24/02/2014 : 21:44:24
There are no pending members on the rainbow site for me to approve. If you want try and register again and shall sort for you. |
| Razee |
Posted - 24/02/2014 : 21:16:46
Quick question ( sorry if you've already replied elsewhere ) - what wattage is the heatmat? It could well be too weak. First of all, try to measure the temperature on the top of heatmat. If it's getting warm enough, you can adjust the heatmat position.
If you have a faunarium ( which it sounds like you do have ) - they have little legs, and if your room temperature is cold, the air gap between the mat and the bottom of the tank might be where you're loosing too much of your heat. Try putting a tile ( or a half a tile ) under the heatmat, so that the heatmat is actually in contact with the faunarium. As you're running the mat with a thermostat, it should never overheat enough to do any damage, and you should only have a very thin layer of bedding on hot side, so the heat can come through well.
When I had my first baby corn ( Bazilishka ), I was sold faunarium, with way too strong heatmat - ( 20 Watts ), and was told ( despite me asking for one ) that I definitely won't need a thermostat, and to place the mat under the whole tank :-0 ! Fortunately, I knew not to do that, but I had to improvise, and managed to create quite a good temperature range, by partially pulling the heatmat out, and putting a small tile under it, so that it arched, and touched the faunarium floor in one place only. That place was too hot - I can't remember exactly, but I think it was around 37 C, ( remember, that was a strong mat, without a thermostat ) - but from there, the temperature gradually fell, so I had a perfect gradient to about 22C - 37C ( until I got a digi thermometer and thermostat , and corrected the 37 temp ).
Heatmats are contact heaters, so your problem could well be the air gap... you can also try putting some sort of reflective foil ( even just kitchen foil ) under the heatmat, so all the heat is reflected upwards, and you aren't loosing any to the underside.
Hope this helps a bit :-) |
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