| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| JanieW |
Posted - 30/12/2011 : 10:12:13
I have our Python and Boa in fauns and i'm not happy with the temp. Slinky is ok as he's in a very warm room, but my boa's faun only reaches an ambient temp of 80C and that's only after Steve placed an oil filled radiator beneath the table.
The problem is I believe in the edge on the botton..there is a rim all the way around the base of the fauns so the mat doesn't touch the bottom. The other possible probem is the mats themselves..they are oblong and fairly narrow..and as I can't fold them it'd have to go along at the moment I have Fea's across the warm end.
Without upgrading to a viv, i'm not sure what is best to remedy this.
Any idea? |
| 7 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| JanieW |
Posted - 30/12/2011 : 21:43:26
ooOO thanks Bob, i'll do that now. Its like a mercury thermometer but uses alcohol inplace of..supposedly more accurate. |
| Lotabob |
Posted - 30/12/2011 : 20:52:48
The aquarium thermometer (either strip or a 'mercury' thermometer) are almost totally useless but as a temporary fix lay the thermometer on the mat, you need to have an idea what your hot end is doing and just leave the cool end to do whatever its doing. Using the thermometer reading as a guide aim for around 32oC (as it will be reading low most likely as the air around it will reduce the reading). If you have room on the mat put the thermometer laying on the mat with a upturned glass over it, it will help its accuracy a little bit but really a digital thermometer is a key piece of kit. |
| JamesA |
Posted - 30/12/2011 : 20:20:58
There is a good guide to setting up fauns over on thecornsnake.co.uk forum which ive used to set up both of mine for the corn and the royal.
http://www.thecornsnake.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9878
Its worth getting some polystyrene to sit the faun on and stick the heat mat to those. There should be an air gap between the mat and the faun as specified in the instructions that come with the mat and that's why the fauns have the lip round the edge. Get a couple of digital thermometers with probes on wires, I have a couple of these http://tinyurl.com/8x2awzz .
Elastic band one probe to the probe of your mat stat, then make sure they both sit next to each other right on the floor of the faun above the mat. The cool end should take care of its self and the snakes with find the temp they need between the 2 ends.
For my royals faun i have a sheet of plastic that goes over the top to keep the humidity up a bit higher. Normally its just lose over the top and humidity sits at about 55% but for his last shed i taped it over the top firmly and bumped it up to 80+ % once his eyes cleared and he had a nice clean shed a couple of days later.
Hope that's some help :)
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| JanieW |
Posted - 30/12/2011 : 18:35:18
I have the temp probe at the cool side, and now its reading 78. Fea is in his hide the warm side..and he doesn't hide normally. Its the type used in aquariums, I'll order a couple of digitals to monitor more accurately.
The mat worried me because due to that rim, its a couple of mm away from the base. The table is warm, but not hot as is the mat. |
| Lotabob |
Posted - 30/12/2011 : 18:23:02
Yeah your looking at incorrect thermometer/thermostat use as even the smallest of mats can easily hit 35-40oC (that's why we use thermostats).
To measure the temperature of the hot end you need your thermometer probe if its digital as close to the mat as the snake can get so basically stuck to the bottom, inside the faun under the substrate. If your using dial they only ever measure ambient temperature (the air temperature) and they don't even do that very well. If you are using dial thermometers at the moment as a temporary fix put the thermometer directly on the mat as your setup may be running too hot at the moment. The digital thermometers are available for a few quid. |
| boomslang |
Posted - 30/12/2011 : 18:12:29
Depends on the temp of the room to,but if you placed an oil filled radiator near it etc,that should have pushed the temp up.
Where abouts do you have the temp probe within the faun? |
| acd1984 |
Posted - 30/12/2011 : 13:04:08
The mat should be ok as it is but i would suggest putting a towel over the lid as fauns have too many vents so the heat just goes straight out the top.
no matter what the ambient temp is you dont want the floor of the hot end to be so hot that it is uncomfortable for the snake |
