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UTH temps?

toonytrolly

toonytrolly

New member
I recently bought a thermostat along with a UTH for my corn because I've been reading that belly heat is important for digestion, but I'm not quite sure what temp to set it to. I know that a good ambient temp is about 80-85, but what's a good underbelly temperature? Is it the same, or should I set it higher?
 
the snake lays on his belly on the bottom of the cage. You want the snake's temp to be about 85. I have my glass directly above the UTH set at 84 - 87. (The temps fluctuate slightly, you can't avoid that. You'll just have to play with it a bit to get it dialed in.)

The cooler side of the cage is basically room temp, 70 - 75. (I have a secondary UTH on the cool side in case the temps drop below 70). You don't have to do that, but it gets cold here and I have chosen to do that.

The temp of the top of your cage or your (Ambient Air Temp) is not that critical unless your snake grows wings and begins to spend lots of time floating about.
 
In the wild the mainly nocturnal corn snake does get heat from the ground as it cools throughout the night. Heat rises making the air just in contact with the ground warm as it dissipates. With all that said is belly heat important for digestion ? NO.
It is more efficient in single snake setups to heat from the bottom with UTH's but not required for digestion. As long as ambient temps which is the air that immediately surrounds the snake is the proper temperature then the snake will digest its prey properly. A lot of rack systems use back heat. Most of the large commercial snake breeders heat entire rooms to 82 degrees for proper digestion. NO belly heat in both instances. These are tried and true by long time experienced herpetologists.


Karl, here's the definition of "ambient" and your flying snake :D :poke:
When we use the term "ambient temps" we are referring to the same thing as you!:cheers:


am·bi·ent.

[ˈambēənt]
ADJECTIVE
1.of or relating to the immediate surroundings of something
 

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so should the top screen of the cage, the middle of the cage, or the bottom of the cage be 84 degrees? I fail to see the point of your previous post or this picture as it relates to the proper heating of corn snakes.

I've raised snakes since I was 17 (and I'm 58 now) and I have always heated with a UTH, and never worried about heating the upper layers of the cage.

I guess no matter where you go on the internet, there's always a moron who wants to pick apart everything posted, interject his ranting and opining and in the process make no sense or logic whatsoever.
 
Well, I wish I could heat the whole enclosure. My kings like to climb. (I'm expecting the new corn probably will like climbing too.) After this last cold spell, we can not seem to heat the house up properly, so only the hides are well heated. (Heating a chilled adobe house is a bit like trying to raise the temp of the Pacific Ocean.)

The screen tops are insulated with foam, and for the cooler tank there is a second UTH running.

FedEx Tracking says the new radiant heat panels will arrive on the fifth.
 
Karl_Mcknight said:
so should the top screen of the cage, the middle of the cage, or the bottom of the cage be 84 degrees? I fail to see the point of your previous post or this picture as it relates to the proper heating of corn snakes.

I've raised snakes since I was 17 (and I'm 58 now) and I have always heated with a UTH, and never worried about heating the upper layers of the cage.

I guess no matter where you go on the internet, there's always a moron who wants to pick apart everything posted, interject his ranting and opining and in the process make no sense or logic whatsoever.
Click to expand...

Holy crap ! LOL Your the one who keeps saying forget this "ambient crap" and I'm just pointing out that when you say "a snake doesn't fly through the air it crawls on the ground and that's where we care about the temp" THAT"S WHAT AMBIENT MEANS !!! You obviously don't know the definition of AMBIENT ! Ambient temp is NOT room temp or the upper air temp in the Viv. It is the temp of the air that contacts the snake!! WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE SAME THING ! The air where the snake is. HOLY CRAP DO YOU GET IT ! I've been AGREEING with you but just trying to correct your seemingly ignorance of a word so it is not perpetuated !!!
BTW the snake pic was in humor !
I'm 57 and have kept and bred aquatics, mammals, birds and reptiles since I was 12. I've worked, ran and owned pet stores. I've STUDIED herpetology for the better part of 4 decades. I've set up test Vivs and also have tested out many situations with reptiles over the years. I build my own rack systems and Vivs. At this moment we keep 25+ species of reptiles for educational purposes and teach proper care of reptiles. In my lifetime I've probably kept 100+ species of reptiles and amphibians.
This moron might be somewhat new on here but I've been on reptile forums since the AOL chat room days.
Your last paragraph for the most part is describing yourself! ;)
 
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