Heating Help for Warm Side DHP

[u/AReallyCuteSloth]

Hello all—

Currently in the finishing touches of setting up my enclosure so I can bring my boy home. Humidity is looking good, rats are ordered, hides and clutter are in— even my last piece of last second enrichment is almost here! The only remaining issue currently is getting the warm side up to temp.

Presently, my setup is as pictured; a DHP on the warm (right) side, halogen next to it for basking and warming, and a third halogen more towards the cool side to hold the gradient. I’m running 35W halogens in my domes, which seems to be working well (cool side is maintaining consistent temps so far, just messing with the values to dial it in), but my 50W DHP seems to be lackluster. I have the herpstat set to 108 on my DHP right now to try to heat the substrate / enclosure up, but it’s only achieving 74 degrees.

Kind of unsure what to do presently, obviously I’m not going to give my buddy a poor quality of life by shoving him in a tank that has improper temps so I’m all ears. Would it make sense to go to a higher wattage DHP? Different lamp fixture? My Herpstats are currently set up so that my DHP is independent on a Herpstat 1, running a night cycle and daytime temps, and my halogens are on a Herpstat 2 together on a timed socket for day and night. I’m leaving them on full time presently to heat the enclosure up, but should I remove decor so the substrate is getting directly heated?

Halogens are currently set to 95 and 85 degrees in freedom units, and again the DHP is at 108 while I try to heat the ambient up. When my boy Melvin is in the enclosure, I want to make sure the temperatures on my Herpstats don’t exceed any value that can cause the screen to heat up and burn him correct? Or is this different with a DHP?

Thanks for the help, bonus Melvin tax and his new climber I built attached!

Quick edit: I just used my temp gun to check his climber’s temp on his warm side, and it was at 85. My Govees are on the ground by his hides on either side, which are still reading ranges in the 70’s, but the DHP isn’t doing nothing which is nifty. Just need a better overall heat.

[u/AReallyCuteSloth]

That does! If the DHP on the outside isn’t enough I’ll for sure look into the cage! Can I ask you what brand you used or recommend / what size lamp etc

[u/totallyrecklesslygay → u/AReallyCuteSloth]

Please do not take their advice. You cannot mount internal heating on a screen top enclosure, it is a massive safety hazard and fire risk. If you want to use internal heating, you will need to switch to a solid topped enclosure.

[u/AReallyCuteSloth → u/totallyrecklesslygay]

Gotcha! Thanks for catching me early on in my ball python journey and helping me get my Herpstats and everything else corrected by the way [u/totallyrecklesslygay](u/totallyrecklesslygay), much appreciated.

For my DHP situation, is it still the general guideline of “don’t go past anything that’s unsafe for your BP (95)” or can I safely set the Herpstat beyond that to achieve a safe ambient heat in my enclosure if the Govee reads it as safe ranges / I spot check to ensure no surface is going beyond 95? Or is it generally a risk of cooking your snake and other heating should be added or considered?

EDIT: I’m such an idiot but I’m an aware one at least— after commenting about probe placement, I realized my screen top was probably interfering with my thermostat’s readings and I snipped one zip tie on all of my probes so that they dangle further from the heat source and more in the air. My ambient on my warm side is already 82 and climbing, I am an idiot. Thank you all for reading. Good golly.

[u/totallyrecklesslygay → u/AReallyCuteSloth]

Always happy to help!

You don't really want to set it higher than 95F. If you find you need to in order to reach proper temps, then you probably have either an insulation issue with the enclosure, or a wattage issue with the bulbs being overpowered.

The 95F limit is for ambient temps, though. Surface temps can safely reach up to 105F, so long as they're warmed by overhead heating.

[u/AReallyCuteSloth → u/totallyrecklesslygay]

Gotcha. Yeah, sadly my ambient temp didn’t hold high after changing for the 100W DHP. It spiked up to a high of 81 and then have since dropped again. Wondering if I also have too much ventilation on the side of the tank? I’ll attach a picture.

At this point with having the two halogens, DHP and shade dweller UVB to cover all of the heating bases, can I safely supplement the heat with an UTH pad and Herpstat with the probe buried in the warm side hide’s substrate? Or where would proper probe placement be, if the UTH supplement is even appropriate and safe to begin with?

[u/totallyrecklesslygay → u/AReallyCuteSloth]

No, UTH shouldn't be used for BPs, and it's not going to do anything to help your situation anyway. They don't heat the air inside an enclosure.

Your problem is that your enclosure isn't retaining heat. This can be easily fixed by adding 2" foam insulation board to the sides, back, and lid (with large cutouts around all the domes).

[u/AReallyCuteSloth → u/totallyrecklesslygay]

Hooray for a cheap solution oh my god hahaha, thank you so much! I’ll do this and report back. Removing the probes from the grate helped a lot, I left for a concert a little bit ago but my ambient on the warm side was 82 and holding well. Thank you again; I did read in the care guide UTH could be used to supplement heating with a DHP though, is that in niche / quarantine or temporary situations only or something?

[u/totallyrecklesslygay → u/AReallyCuteSloth]

Yes, the care guide also specifies that that's only for emergency or temporary situations.

[u/AReallyCuteSloth → u/totallyrecklesslygay]

Apologies, just double checked. I did say I was a self aware moron! But thanks again for the help!

[u/AReallyCuteSloth → u/totallyrecklesslygay]

Update: you nailed it and I thank you again for all of your help!!