hello, new to owning snakes

[sketh]

sorry didn't mean blow! i was typing too fast meant bowl. form now on referring to it as WATER DISH lol.heres basically how i would go about the day with the tank. i would turn my rooms light on at dawn and then the heat lamp. when the sun went down, off go the main lights and heat lamp. the temp stayed above 65-69 at nights, never got above 80 during the day. for winter im going to get that under heater. i never covered the tank, just read that it can help combat the over head lamp dehydrating the tank. wont do it now that you guys confirmed by findings that they really don't need a constant high end humidity.

[ConcinusMan]

Humidity helps at shedding time.

[sketh]

k, got the humidity thing written down. now the water dish was filled with distilled water. originally i had put filtered water from our tap. read that chlorine isn't good for them so i switched it to distilled. is filtered a no good in the future?

[guidofatherof5]

It you let the tap water sit out for 24 hours the chlorine will be gone. Tap water does contain essential minerals that distilled doesn't. Then I think tap is better then distilled.

Just my opinion.

[sketh]

thank you guidofatherof5, i was worried about buying jugs of distilled water. I'll to start putting a gallon of tap water out for a bit and stuck up from my tap. im going to look into a bottom heating pad for the tank. with winter coming soon, that top heating lamp may not be enough for the tank. there are some out there with a regulate-able thermostat or something to keep the temp at or below 80 right?

[guidofatherof5]

You need a heat pad and a thermostat with a sensor to monitor the temp. It will switch on and off as needed.
ZooMed macks a good heat pad and Hydrofarm has a very economical thermostat. Both can be purchased on Amazon.

[ConcinusMan]

It you let the tap water sit out for 24 hours the chlorine will be gone. Tap water does contain essential minerals that distilled doesn't. Then I think tap is better then distilled.

Just my opinion.

I agree. The chlorine you smell in tap water is just a very small amount to kill microbes, and it's gas. It leaves the water and dissipates into the air fairly quickly. Time required really depends on surface to volume ratio and temperature. A shallow large pan won't take long at all. Charcoal in tap water filters absorbs it. I use water right of the tap. It doesn't hurt them. But my tap water isn't fluoridated. Yours might be.

ZooMed macks a good heat pad and Hydrofarm has a very economical thermostat. Both can be purchased on Amazon.

I would do it the other way around. Zoo med thermostat and hydrofarm seedling heat mat. But I don't even use a thermostat with that heat pad. It doesn't get too hot like reptile pads can. Just make sure the pad doesn't cover more than 1/3 of the bottom and it should be OK. Use 1-2 inches of substrate on top.

[sketh]

k will be making an amazon purchase soon, with 2 opposite opinions from you guys i will see what happens when price and availability are know, along with own research into the items. yes my water is a little fluoridated, just checked our local water & sewer department. guess i'll filter a pan of about a gallon and leave it to sit for a while, put it in a jug for storage.

[chris-uk]

thank you guidofatherof5, i was worried about buying jugs of distilled water. I'll to start putting a gallon of tap water out for a bit and stuck up from my tap. im going to look into a bottom heating pad for the tank. with winter coming soon, that top heating lamp may not be enough for the tank. there are some out there with a regulate-able thermostat or something to keep the temp at or below 80 right?

I keep a couple of 2 litre drinks bottles of water for the snakes. I fill them when empty (but not to the top, I fill to where the bottle neck narrows so there's a larger surface area) and leave them until the next day for the chlorine to evaporate.

In some parts of the US I've read (on fish forums) that chloramine is used in water treatment instead of plain chlorine, and chloramines don't evaporate off so easily.

[sketh]

great idea chris-uk, i will use the 2 liter containers. i'll be calling my water company today to check which is used, a quick Google search didn't show anything for my area/state that i could find.