new rosy boa owner, question about heating

I just got a rosy boa yesterday and I was wondering if my setup is good. He's in a 10 gallon tank with a water bowl, a branch, and a hiding place. I use a 60W Sun Glo bulb during the day and a 75W Heat Glo Infrared bulb during the night. Does my setup sound good? I placed the lamp on the right side above the hiding place and the water bowl and the lamp on the left side. I was also wondering if heat glo bulb during the night is needed? I went back to the pet store today cause I was worried that it might not be warm enough for him (it stays around 70F during the night in that room) and they said I could use the infrared heat glo bulb during the night and that I dont really need a heat pad.

You need to put a thermometer directly under the hot spot to see how hot it's getting or, better yet, get a temp gun. 75 watts in a ten gallon is probably too hot, even 60 might be. They don't need to be kept as warm at night as during the day.

Get in touch with Scales.com or Matt Greybeal, both of whom you can find in the members directory and talk to them about heating options. Sounds like your pet store is more interested in selling you stuff than in truely properly caring for your snake.

Research, research, research. Google rosy boas or find one of the big breeder sites to peruse.

A temp gun is definately an excellent investment. Pet stores will try to sell you a lot of stuff you don't need. I use UTH's exclusively to heat my rosies and my room temperature is usually in the 70's too. I use a rheostat to make sure that the UTH stays in the 90's and doesn't get too hot. At least in 10 gallon tanks, I've found that 75 watt bulbs can really heat up the tank, a temp gun would be really helpful so that you could see what the temps actually are.

I've never tried using lights to heat a rosy's enclosure, but since they're nocturnal I wouldn't expect them to utilize the daylight bulb much. If it were me, I'd return the lighting if that was an option or save it for future use and get a good UTH (I love the T-rex Cobra heat pads). I think that it is a lot easier to establish a good gradient in a small tank with a UTH.

-Alice

Go to Walmart or a drug store like Eckerd and get a human heat pad. Snakes need belly heat to aid in the digestion of food. They sould run about $15 and make sure you get dry heat, with multiple heat settings. That should work great for your rosy.

Ok once I get a heat pad do I need the lamp anymore? Also what temp gun do you recommend? I've been doing a lot of research and everyone online recommends a heating pad, I dont know why my local pet store recommended a lamp instead.

Also what do you recommend for substrate? They told me to use T-Rex Bone Aid Calci-Sand, but now I'm reading that it isnt good for them. I plan on making a trip to a different pet store to buy the heating pad and the other things that have been recommended.

For temp guns, go to www.tempgun.com I think you can get one for around $25

I'm a bit leary of using human heating pads, I read about a few instances where they caught fire. I don't think they're designed for continuous use.

I use aspen shavings. I put about 3 inches in the tank and my snakes love to burrow through it. This also gives them a range of temperatures over the heating pad depending on how deep they choose to burrow. The aspen also holds the burrow structure a bit so I can kind of see a network of tunnels. I've also heard of people using carefresh, but this stuff seems a bit too dusty for my taste.

If you get the UTH, you really won't need the lights any more.

-Alice

This site has the cheapest price I've found on the cobra heat mats. These are the only heat mats I'd use without a rheostat or some sort of dimmer. http://www.herpsupplies.com/subcategory.cfm?id=2&sub=25

-Alice

Ok I went and I got "Scent Free" Premier Pets Aspen bedding, a Zoomed UTH for a 10 gallon, the only CHE they had was a 60W so I got that. Will Zoomed High Range Reptile Thermometers work on each end inside of the tank? I also got a T-rex Dome Home for a hiding spot on the warm side and a bottle of Zoomed Wipe Out1 to disinfect it. How does all of that sound?

Originally Posted by vision

Ok once I get a heat pad do I need the lamp anymore? .

No, just the one heat source should be fine, especially in a small tank.

Originally Posted by vision

I dont know why my local pet store recommended a lamp instead.

Cause you can get heating pads for cheaper, and with a heat lamp you have to buy their way way overpriced, way too expensive bulbs about every 6 months.