some questions

[johnnyfamous]

do red tails need a basking light or just an area of the cage that is hotter then the rest... im using a infared bulb now on a dimmer so i can adjust the temp. he really seems to like basking under it. or would a heat pad be fine as longs as one side is hotter..... the basking area is around 92 and the rest of the cage is around 81 and between 50% and 60% humitity on the cooler side he is always on the basking side i never see him on the cooler side are are my temps right? i have hides on both sides of the cage.. he ate 3 days ago so the heat might be helping with the digestion. hes just a juvie at about 20in long



thanks for the help.... ill try and get some pic ups

[Tammy]

Heat tape on a thermostat....

I hate lamps...

But everything sounds pretty good.

[johnnyfamous]

thanks for the quick reply

[Ian]

Infared bulbs have a nasty habit of drying the air out, as well as causing burns to animals. A radiant heat panel (Ultratherms are top of the line!) work well, and are quite cost effective (i.e. no bulbs to replace)

[PanamaRed]

Heat tape will heat the right kind of cage just fine. Glass with a screen top doesn't work very well for keeping Boas or just snakes in general. The way a open topped (screen coverd tank) gets heated with a bulb causes the radiant heat to rise off of the floor causing cool air to rush in constantly. It's kinda like having a boa live in a food dehydrator..

[leobreeder]

my red tail has a heat pad on her warm side. And a 60 watt infrared bulb on the cool...the cool side stays around 80 and the warm side she has two levels to lay on the lower(which is the hottest can get to 100 and 100 percent humidity about.....i have found her on the warm side maybe 5 times....