If someone could please look over Frost's house...

[nightmaredisco]

Ok, after a couple weeks of following everyone's generous advice, I believe I have everything where it needs to be for my little guy. I'd really appreciate it if someone could go over my set up and see if there is anything else that needs improved upon.
29g viv. I have the UTH for 20 g viv because the next size was 30-40 and I was told that more cool is better than more hot. I have a warm side hide over the UTH with a heat safe place mat and towel covering it making his warm temp 88-90 F. His cool side is only reading 69.6 F, this is all that concerns me. Any ideas on how to tweak that temp up by just a couple degrees? I lowered my A/C so hopefully that will make a difference in the reading. My temps are taken with a zoo med digi thermometer with probe directly on the viv floor. Oh, and his viv is sitting on a wooden board with the little rubber feet attached, so just like it would be if it were on a stand.
Here is a pic of his house

And, for the cuteness factor, here he is exploring my computer

Thank you thank you for reading and for all of your help!

 

[nightmaredisco]

Edit: Lowering the A/C brought the cool side to 71 F

 

[Farmgirl]

looks good!! The cool side is fine, if it is too cold for snakey, he just wont go all the way over there. And it sounds like your hot side is great. But don't count on a heat mat and towel in keeping the snake off of the direct heat of the UTH, as he will burrow into them. If the hot side is too hot without those 2 things, get a riostat (you have to control yourself) or a thermostat (set and walk away) to keep it at the right temps.

 

[HeavenHell]

I'd replace the paper towel with aspen, knowing how much mine like to borrow. Looks good otherwise.

 

[Farmgirl]

True, Khuno does love to burrow into his aspen!!

 

[Shelby Craig]

Personally i would lower the warm side down to around 85 to 86. I like to keep it here because if the room warms up then so does the viv, and the same if it cools down so you have 3/4 degrees of play with it.

 

[Fatman608]

Like Shelby said I would lower the warm side down to 85. The cool side temp does not really matter. My cool side only gets to 78 in the summer and 68 in the winter when we have cold weather most of the time it is about 78. In South Texas you run the A/C all year long.

Fatman

 

[nightmaredisco]

Ok, will do, thank you guys

 

[AliCat37]

Just so you know.. I also originally used towels when I first got my snakes because that's what my friend kept hers on. However, I started to notice that my snakes' scales were very dry and started to flake. I talked to the breeder I got them from and he said towels, even if washed and changed regularly, hold bacteria and can cause issues. I switched to paper towels and all issues went away with a shed

 

[nightmaredisco]

Ok, can someone elaborate on using aspen for me? How often do I change it? Doesn't it make it hard to spot when he's gone poo? What will keep him from burrowing to the bottom of the aspen and getting burned? Also, do I need a moist hide?

 

[Fatman608]

Night - You change it once a week to once every two months. I can say i change mine about once a month for my younger snakes and every two months or sooner for the adult snakes. I also spot clean once a week which means at feeding times I search for poo and dirty aspen and remove it. The poo shows up as black poo not hard to miss unless the snake poos under the aspen.

Nothing will stop the snake from burrowing to the bottom of the cage. The THERMOSTAT that controls the UTH will stop the snake from getting burned. The UTH does not get hot enough to burn the snake because you have placed the probe of the T-stat on the UTH and set it at 85 degrees.