[the-tick]

my dear Fluffy is very happy in his plastic tub inside his 2foot viv (he's a bit too small to be let loose in the 2 footer) and I have a 25w red bulb on a 12 hour on 12 hour off timer plug and a heat mat on a 100w matstat (habistat one)

Before I bought Fluffy I ran the viv with everything running and the warm end was a constant 30c and I kept a thermometer on the heat mat to dial the matstat in, now after a week the warm end has dropped a couple of degrees.

So I've been looking at bulbs ( i have a porcelain BC bulb fitting but changing to an ES is no hassle) I can find a red 40w and I feel that 60w (ES reflector spot) would be way too much for the viv

Any advice ?

 

[DeanThorpe]

what about the temps actually inside the tub?

 

[pythonmorphs]

A 60 watt would be fine for a two foot viv but would need a dimming stat.

 

[mark67123]

Anything higher than a 25w would ideally need to be on a dimming stat in a 2ft viv. If it's in a cold room you may get away with a 40w in there but it'd be risky in such a small viv.

As long as the air temp is in the mid-high 70'sF I wouldn't worry.
You've got the heat mat/stat so you can give a properly controlled warm area that way - for a corn all the bulb really needs to be doing is just boosting the air temp by a few degrees.

 

[rossthedon]

iv notice with placing tubs in a viv that the temp in the tub can spike 10 degrees f more than the viv so be carefull, also humidity and heat in a small tub can become a real sweatbox. not too pleasant for the snake!

 

[the-tick]

no condensation so I think the humidity is at ok levels (plenty of air holes for ventilation)

I've ordered some more thermometers that should be here tomorrow to double check the tub temps and the mat temps.

As a side note he's feeding fine and happy to be handled and he took a nice crap on me the other day (which I was happy about) so that should indicate that temps are within ok margins

also got some 40w red bulbs just in case

 

[the-tick]

UPDATE

Liquid crystal thermometers turned up this morning popped them in and they are recording 30c at the warm end outside and inside the tub (all within the viv) and 24-25c in the cool end. That's with the 25w bulb so I'll keep hold of the 40w ones for when fluffy is ready to be in a bigger viv in a year to eighteen months time

So that's ok phew

 

[DeanThorpe]

good stuff.