My digital therm/hygrometer has just turned up, and I'm getting the following readings in a large, flat exo-terra:

Humidity: 90%. I mist once a day and cover the lid with a damp towl (done 2 hours ago). Dunno how much this will drop before the next 'misting', but theres a humid box full of moss too.

Temp - supplied by heat mat under 1 third of the viv.

Firstly, the mat stat sensor is buried into the substrate, under a hide, and is set to 32c / 90f. It turns on / off periodically, so is getting up to temperature.

Before today, a dial thermometer on top of the substrate in the warm end was reading just over 80f. The digital reading, both taken a couple of inches above the substrate read 24.5c/76f an 23.4c/74f.

Snake seems happy - spends time at both ends.

This ambient seems a little low to me. Should I turn the mat up? Don't wanna cook the snake! There is currently a baby CRB in there, but swapping to a BRB at the weekend (slight mix up at the shop...).

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This is how I have my BRB's. Ceramic heater 1/3rd from 1 end of the viv. A humid box with loads of pin holes around the bottom and some in the lid, also a hole big enough for the snake. This provides an air flow and stops any mold growing in the substrate, I use that compressed co-conut stuff. I place half the box under the heater and cover the box to make it dark inside. The viv floor is covered with newspaper and a water bowl is placed at the cool end. The temp in the box directly under the heater is 86f during the day and 80f on a night. The only difference for the CRB's is they like it at 90f during the day.

I would've thought 76 ambient temp would be ok, as long as the floor temp is higher so that the snake can digest properly and warm it's body when it needs to.
Ideally the ambient temp would be higher, but if you turn it up too much the floor temp will get way too high and the snake may end up avoiding the warm end completely.

It's really the air temp measurment thats important. A rock that the snake may bask on in it's natural environment would get way over it's own personal requirement. I like to keep control over the Day Time High so that the basking air temp above the floor directly under the heater is the hotest the snake requires. I also like to control the maximum temp the snake can get on a night ( this is called the night time low). This is particularly important when brumating. If a snake, during brumation, can move to a hotter part of the viv it will which means the snake will not reach it's correct low temp. So in actual fact I can garauntee the snake during brumation on a night will be directly under the heat bulb. :wink:

The problem here is that the snake is in a faunarium-type container on a heat mat - if you turn the heat mat up to a level where the air is at the ideal temp, the floor is going to be way too hot.

Only way around it that I can think of is to keep the container in a heated viv (heated by ceramic ideally), so that all the mat has to do is provide a slightly warmer spot.

Faunarium??? Do you mean a glass tank with a hood on? Get rid of the heat mat or turn it upside down and put it on the inside of the roof. Heat always comes from above. Snakes usually go under something to cool off.Trust me I'm just waiting for my 4th clutch from my BRB's. :wink:

I think this is what Deano's using:

http://www.camzoo.co.uk/pd-1959201571.htm?categoryId=10

Mounting the mat in the lid is definitely worth a go I suppose, but I never seem to get much heat from mats unless they're on a solid surface directing heat upwards.
I think it can depend on the make/type of mat though.

Mounting it in the roof would also help keep the humidity up - but the mat would have to be running warmer than usual to get the temps up and could be a burns risk, so how could you stop the snake getting between the mat and the lid? Maybe trap some kind of nylon mesh between the lid and the base?

The faunarium is never going to hold much humidty for long because of the holes round the lid. Trapping a mesh between lid and viv might work to stop the snake burning itself but I would be worried about the lid melting. My first batch of babies were in plastic tubs on top of my other vivs and the heat came from below. The first day I went in to check them I thought all 16 babies were dead because the were laid upside down. I supose they were trying to bask with their backs towards the heat. I changed the system to a tubular heater in a 6ft viv and put all tubs in there.