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heating question

S

serpentservant

New member
hello, newbie here and i was wondering where most people put there thermeter probe..its a yellow zoomed one...i know ofcoarse over the center of the heatmat and under the warm side hide...but how far under the aspen? its amazing how much the aspen absorbs the heat, if i put the probe right against the glass at the botton it reads 102 degrees F middle is 95 and top is at 84..i have the aspen at about 2 inch and have a zoomed heatmat hooked up to a helix thermostat set at 104 degrees ...i never seen my snake bury under the aspen of the warmside hide..from time to time i peak in...so i have the probe at the top, sprinkled alittle bit of aspen over it and the probe thermometer reads 84 ...so does this seem right??? btw hes doing great no other concerns except for this one...
 
Sounds like you need a rheostat or a dimmer...I lose a lamp dimmer from home depot. Its $12 and works great. Just gotta mess with it to get the temp @ 85-88 degrees. I have the same thermometer and probe! My probe lays in the bedding & I keep the temps @ 88.
 
The Helix thermostat should be set to 85 degrees. And the probe for the thermostat and the thermometer should be on the glass over the UTH. Once you get your thermostat set to 85 and the probe in the correct place then you should be perfect.
 
Oh and the helix thermostat that you have is going to be much better than a dimmer. So stick with what you have and get your temp right. Warm side should be as close to 85 degrees as possible and the cool side 70-75 degrees.
 
The OP is seeing a 15 - 20 F temperature drop across the Aspen bed. So if he sets the temperature control at 85 F on the glass, won't the temperature on top of the substrate be too low? I know this is done to prevent a hot surface that could burn the snake, but if it doesn't burrow, then it won't get the proper belly heat. This is something I've been wondering about - does this seem like a concern to the others here? I realize he could minimize the temp. drop by decreasing the amount of substrate though. Or should the temperature be set to something like 90 F, so that the top of the substrate would be closer to 85 F?

I haven't had to deal with this yet, because I keep my snakes in a room that I keep warm, so I haven't had to turn my UTHs on. Of course, I may change that after I get my first real heating bill! I live in Houston, so it normally doesn't get too cold here.
 
Tinkerbeller87 said:
The Helix thermostat should be set to 85 degrees. And the probe for the thermostat and the thermometer should be on the glass over the UTH. Once you get your thermostat set to 85 and the probe in the correct place then you should be perfect.
Click to expand...

I might be in the minority on these boards, but for our snakes which we've had for about a year now, I simply use a zoo med heating pad under the tanks, along with a 50 watt basking/light lamp (which is used sometimes); I've never messed with anything else other than checking every couple months with a quick thermometer. Although, our snakes are kept in our living room and our home temps in the winter never dip below 70 or so. The warm side always falls within the proper range.
 
Your a little on the high range for the warm end and is probably preventing the other end from cooling down unless its a long cage. I would drop it about 10 degrees and you should be fine. Your warmer temp won't harm your snake. It will just find the spot it likes best and stay there. Measure the temp at the spot where your snake spends most of its time to see what his comfort zone is.
 
85° is about the maximum for a corn, so that is what you want the glass under the substrate to be.
The snake will find where it is comfortable for digesting.
I guess if you are very concerned, you could remove some substrate on the warm side.

If your snake decided to burrow now, it could be burned with the temps being over 100°.
Too cold is safer than too hot.
 
JohnnyK said:
I might be in the minority on these boards, but for our snakes which we've had for about a year now, I simply use a zoo med heating pad under the tanks, along with a 50 watt basking/light lamp (which is used sometimes); I've never messed with anything else other than checking every couple months with a quick thermometer. Although, our snakes are kept in our living room and our home temps in the winter never dip below 70 or so. The warm side always falls within the proper range.
Click to expand...

You have nothing to regulate the heating pad??
And what do you use to check the temps every couple months?
 
Naagas said:
If your snake decided to burrow now, it could be burned with the temps being over 100°.
Too cold is safer than too hot.
Click to expand...

Lets use a Little common sense. Your body temp is 98.6 degrees and 105 degrees is warm water. So your saying if your sick and have a high temp you better not handle your snake. Do you really think a snake is going to stay where it is too warm when he knows there are cooler areas to go to?
 
Dickdeuel, I'm not attempting to argue.
If you want to keep your snakes at 102°, fine.
I've seen burned snakes. It isn't pretty. I've heard of corns suffering neurological damage at temps in the 90°s.
Can a snake be burned by sitting for hours on glass that is 102°? Is that comparable to holding your snake?
P.S. 105° is hot water. I hope people realize to never put your children in a bath that hot. It can cause brain damage. And if you are pregnant, definitely stay away from temps that high.
 
dickdeuel said:
Lets use a Little common sense. Your body temp is 98.6 degrees and 105 degrees is warm water. So your saying if your sick and have a high temp you better not handle your snake. Do you really think a snake is going to stay where it is too warm when he knows there are cooler areas to go to?
Click to expand...

Oh...it happens!!...... I know.
Now maybe my snake wasn't in the viv but I would think where ever he was he could of moved away for the heat source.
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79921
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86375
 
I don't have a very recent picture of him but he is heal and the """scar"" area seems to be getting less and less with time.
Thanks for asking.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Naagas
If your snake decided to burrow now, it could be burned with the temps being over 100°.
Too cold is safer than too hot.

Quote:
Lets use a Little common sense. Your body temp is 98.6 degrees and 105 degrees is warm water. So your saying if your sick and have a high temp you better not handle your snake. Do you really think a snake is going to stay where it is too warm when he knows there are cooler areas to go to?
__________________
Dick Deuel
http://dickdeuel.webs.com/


I have to agree with Naagas. I think anything over 85*F. is unnecessary. Temps over 100* over the heat mat are ridiculous, imho. Corns snakes digest very well at temps bt. 80 and 85*. The rest of the time they don't need temps quite this high, and are adapted to cooler temps at night.

Let me just give this example. My back porch gets pretty warm in the summetime here in southern AZ. Usually it only gets down to about 78-80* at night, if that. By the time I check in mid-morning the temps are usually 80-82* already. I sometimes have a hard time keeping the temps from getting over 84*, and may even have to use air-conditioning in the room to keep the temps at 85 or less. I don't use any extra heat sources in the summertime and all my snakes digest perfectly, never any regurges. As a matter of fact, by the time the temps get to 85*, the snakes are starting to show signs of a little stress, like cruising the cage or soaking in the water jugs. That's because they don't have any other cool retreats.

In the wintertime, now, I use UTH's on the warm end of tanks, which raises the temps to about 83-85*F. above the glass, and then there's different levels of temp as snakes move through the various substrates. When digesting they sometimes lay right on the bottom of the tank, but they can digest at cooler temps also, and often choose them. When not digesting they often choose other areas of the tank to hide or relax.

One more thing I'd like to relate. In summer when I get eggs I incubate the clutches on a shelf in my summer snake room. There's no extra heat. Temps vary from about 78 to 83*F. in the closet and I've had 100% success the last couple years. This tells me that the snakes are at their optimum temp level and are digesting in the eggs. What would happen if they were subjected to 100*, even for a few minutes?

I think Naagas had some good points, based on what I know and practice.

Terry :cheers:
 
Lennycorn said:
You have nothing to regulate the heating pad??
And what do you use to check the temps every couple months?
Click to expand...

No. But I have a reptile carpet for substrate so the heat (to my knowledge) stays about the same - certainly to touch it feels the same and our snakes have never had an issue. The temperature in our house doesn't get that hot, nor does it get really cold either - our inside temps likely hover around 70 this time of year. I have a thermometer I bought from a pet store and I put it near ground level to check where the temps on the floor area are at.

John
 
JohnnyK said:
No. But I have a reptile carpet for substrate so the heat (to my knowledge) stays about the same - certainly to touch it feels the same and our snakes have never had an issue. The temperature in our house doesn't get that hot, nor does it get really cold either - our inside temps likely hover around 70 this time of year. I have a thermometer I bought from a pet store and I put it near ground level to check where the temps on the floor area are at.

John
Click to expand...


Well John,
Sorry to say but that's a poor setup. You don't really have a clue what the temps are but you should. The idea is to have a set up with the ideal conditions and then... settle for a little off.
Your snake will be ""fine"" till there's an issue then it won't be fine.
It dosen't have a choice in the matter.
 
Kronos said:
The OP is seeing a 15 - 20 F temperature drop across the Aspen bed. So if he sets the temperature control at 85 F on the glass, won't the temperature on top of the substrate be too low? I know this is done to prevent a hot surface that could burn the snake, but if it doesn't burrow, then it won't get the proper belly heat. This is something I've been wondering about - does this seem like a concern to the others here? I realize he could minimize the temp. drop by decreasing the amount of substrate though. Or should the temperature be set to something like 90 F, so that the top of the substrate would be closer to 85 F?

I haven't had to deal with this yet, because I keep my snakes in a room that I keep warm, so I haven't had to turn my UTHs on. Of course, I may change that after I get my first real heating bill! I live in Houston, so it normally doesn't get too cold here.
Click to expand...


Snakes are very good at searching their cages for the proper conditions. If they need heat they can pretty quickly find the warmest spot in the tank; unless there's some condition that makes it difficult for them to move around, like maybe the cage is too big for them, or they're afraid to leave their only hiding place, or whatever. If the snake is comfortable moving around it'll find the proper conditions.

There's no point in tempting fate, imho. If the warm end is 85* above the UTH, there's that whole end of the tank where the snake can get warmed up. If the room temps ave. about 75*, like mine do in my Herp Room, then the cool end will be about 75*, unless the tank is keeping in some warmth from the UTH, then the cool end might be slightly higher. Then, if the cool end is 75*, that will be the coolest temp in the whole cage, which means the viv will be bt. 75 and 85*. The snake will be able to choose temps anywhere in that range, providing there are some good props to use. Also, in my Herp Room, the temps drop at night to about 68-70*, which cools the tanks, except the warm end is still 83-85*F.

So, to answer your question in short, NO, the temps will never be too low, if your snake has a choice of temps from 70-85*F, but it has to have good access to all those temps. Hope that helps...

Terry :santa:
 
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