Heating tank

[JakeMiller13]

Hi everyone,

I have my first snake coming via UPS tomorrow, so I set up his cage yesterday to see how things would work out. I have a hide on either side of the cage, with a UTH on one side. That hide was at 88 degrees F this morning, but the other hide was only 65. We tend to turn the heat off in our apartment at night to save energy, so would you recommend getting a heating lamp for the cage? If so, any recommendations on wattage? It's only a 10-gallon tank with aspen bedding. Thanks in advance.

 

[jlindp]

Howdy, again!

Getting a new baby is so exciting! Assuming it's a hatchling! I think the lower end for the cool side is generally 70 degrees, while hitting temps at 65 degrees is starting to get into the brumation range. I think as long as they've got a nice warm side to migrate to, corn snakes can do fine with nighttime temperatures that low. Not positive on that, though. Lights aren't usually recommended for corns, but if you did need to use one to bring the temp up slightly, I probably wouldn't go over 25-30W. :}

 

[JakeMiller13]

Thanks for the response.

Just an update, we've had the heat running for a few hours this morning, so the warm side has risen to ~91.5 F and the cold side to ~67.5 F. I'm a little confused as to what to do because the cold side seems to be too cold and the warm side seems to be to warm as far as the ranges I've read about.

 

[jlindp]

How is your UTH hooked up? Is it regulated with a thermostat or rheostat? If not, that could explain why the temperatures are fluctuating with the ambient temperature.

 

[Fatman608]

Hi Jake,

Do you have some type the temp control on the UTH? If you do not please looking into one.

You really do not need to worry about the cool side temp because the snake will take care of his body temp. All he needs is a nice warm place to hang out and he will do the rest.

When I used a 20gal long tank at my daughter's school to house an adult corn. I had a light dimmer(rheostat) to control the UTH. I know the school turned the heat off at night and weekends. So the cool side had to get below 40 and the warm side must have dropped below 60 on top of the aspen. I would find him under the aspen next to the UTH where the tank was the warmest and he is still going strong. He just moved to where he needed to be. The only problem was his schedule feeding times were thrown off.

 

[JakeMiller13]

Thanks all for your replies. Unfortunately I'm at work all day, so I can't be monitoring the temp to see just how high/low it gets, but I'm going to try to scoot out and pick up a thermostat during my break.

 

[robeyeshua]

it will come with time

my 5 month old corn in 10 gallon on aspen with zoomed uth powered through lowe's bought $10 tabletop lamp dimmer - maintains warm side about 83-87 - kool side runs from 67-71 depending on room temps - worried a little about it at first but after one month i'm not concerned at all - he cruises the entire viv - rambles off and on all night and anytime lights are out or low unless he's just ate - which has him on warm side for 24 - 36 hours - i firmly believe that if we provide the elements - they will figure it out - pictures attached

 

[JakeMiller13]

That's a nice looking tank. Thanks for the advice

 

[spud]

I have an on/off thermostat so the heat mat goes off at around 86F and then the temp goes up a bit more then goes down to around 82F then it comes back on and starts to heat it back up. The cold side ranges from 68-73F and that all depends on the temp of the room. The snake knows how to regulate its temp so will move between the warm and cool sides to get the temp it wants. Just don't let the warm/cool side get to extreme ie high 90 and low 60