Making New Friends

[-MARWOLAETH-]

If you are worried about them overheating get a thermostat their a life saver...literally

[Lisa4john]

My husband said to wrap the card board with aluminum foil, so we are going to try that. I don't know what else to do. The lamp is not enough, the pad is not enough, a ceramic heater may be too much heat, so I can only do so much. I want them to be safe and warm. We will find a way. Thanks

[guidofatherof5]

If you are worried about them overheating get a thermostat their a life saver...literally

Amazon.com: Hydrofarm MTPRTC Digital Thermostat For Heat Mats: Patio, Lawn & Garden

[Lisa4john]

Thanks Steve. I'll look into getting one of those. Then I can get a bigger pad, any brand pad better than another? The zoo med is what I have. They do not have very good reviews on Amazon...

[guidofatherof5]

When I used them I had good luck with zoo med.
I make my own with flex-watt heat tape.

[Lisa4john]

Anyone ever used the Fluker's pad? This pad says it will increase the heat 15-20 degrees. It is made to put out a steady 100 degrees. I would use the thermostat too, that seems too hot if they burrow over it. The small zoo med I'm using is only adding about 3 degrees difference to the warm side at night, and I have a day lamp over that side too, but there is only 6 degrees difference with the lamp on in the cool and warm side, is that normal to be such a small range? I'm surprised at how little it is helping, although I expected it to go down at night, I wasn't expecting it to be that close to the same with and without the lamp on. I now have our radiant heater in the room to warm the whole room to 75. At least that will help until I can get the other things I need for them. When we woke up it was 70 on the warm side and 67 on the cool. I have a 20L tank, 30x12x12. Which pad size would be ideal for that tank, the Fluker's comes in 11x6 and 11x11 for the smaller tanks? One says for 10 to 20 gal, the other for 20 to 30 gal. Sorry to keep coming back to this, it is just hard to figure out for this newbie on a budget. Thanks again.

[Lisa4john]

Yay! Turq ate a couple pieces of worm today, I didn't see it, but he had a LITTLE lump, and Sam didn't so... Anyway, we cut the worms into quarters and put them in a little water to keep them moist last night cuz they seemed afraid of the whole worm. They had 6 pieces last night, and some time this morning there were only 4 left in the dish. (My son drop half a worm down the drain... oops.)

Turq and Sam.jpg
You can barely see that Turq is a bit bigger around... but not much.

[ProXimuS]

They're very pretty The orange and blue looks good together(they're complimentary colors).


You can definitely tell who did and didn't eat

[jitami]

What a fun herping trip! I Love Turq, but they both look great! I wouldn't worry too much about heating at this point. 67 overnight is fine. When you can afford it, the thermostat that Steve recommended is awesome. It just takes all of the guess work and tinkering out of the equation. The small heat mat is likely fine for the 20L as well. I don't use extra heat for my garters and they seem to thrive. That said they absolutely love a basking lamp, so you're off to a good start there Just remember, especially as adults, these guys really are pretty hardy. Too cool is better than too warm, within reason of course

[Lisa4john]

What a fun herping trip! I Love Turq, but they both look great! I wouldn't worry too much about heating at this point. 67 overnight is fine. When you can afford it, the thermostat that Steve recommended is awesome. It just takes all of the guess work and tinkering out of the equation. The small heat mat is likely fine for the 20L as well. I don't use extra heat for my garters and they seem to thrive. That said they absolutely love a basking lamp, so you're off to a good start there Just remember, especially as adults, these guys really are pretty hardy. Too cool is better than too warm, within reason of course

Thank you, that helps. We are ordering a couple things for them to stay more comfortable, more easily. I finally put the radiant heater in the room and warmed it all up. Now it is 75 and 83, just turned off the heater for the night... tomorrow I will not turn it up quite so high. I'm aiming for 72 and 82-85ish. They seemed much happier today. They got up and explored for the first time. The rest of the time they have been just laying on the top of the tree, under the lamp trying to stay warm. We are getting there, I just wanna get there right now ... it's a patience thing, I'm working on it.