• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Heating... whole room or rack?

Cattsy

Cattsy

New member
Okay so my basic question is this.

I know alot of people have racks with flexwatt or other heat source along the back of the shelves, I also know that some people heat the whole room, instead of the racks themselves.

SO my question is, snakes need belly heat to digest, they also require a heat gradient in order to self regulate, so how are these two conditions met when you are heating the whole room???

Thanks for any clarification!

Trina
 
I've wondered the same thing, but this is my basic understanding. The belly heat can be met through the ambient temperature. Whatever the air temp is, the ground temp is pretty close to the same. The temperature gradient makes the snake more comfortable, but if the temperature is kept in between the min and max, the snake will do fine.
 
Corns are pretty tolerant of NOT having a gradient. I just heat my room to about 80 degrees. I do give back heat to my hatchling rack (set to 84) where I keep the ones I am growing out. I figure it can't hurt to have a little extra warmth on the babies.
 
The belly heat thing is "silly talk." Corn snakes need to be at a certain body temperature to digest their food. It does not matter if the heat is coming from above or below - or completely surrounding the snake.

The idea behind heat tape is to create a gradient so the snake can choose the temperature it wants to be at. Whole room heating does not allow for a gradient, though I know several people who use that system and do just fine.

So while a think a gradient is better, I agree with wax32, corn snakes are pretty tolerant of not having any gradient at all (though that's not my preferred way of keeping them).

rack.jpg
 
The only problem with heating the entire room is if you have different species that require different temperatures i.e corns and ball pythons. Although, I suppose this could be remedied by heating the room to the lowest temperature needed by the snakes and then using heating on the tubs/tanks of those snakes that need a higher temperature (a.k.a heating the room to 80 and then using UTDs or flexwatt for the bps).
 
Raptor said:
The only problem with heating the entire room is if you have different species that require different temperatures i.e corns and ball pythons. Although, I suppose this could be remedied by heating the room to the lowest temperature needed by the snakes and then using heating on the tubs/tanks of those snakes that need a higher temperature (a.k.a heating the room to 80 and then using UTDs or flexwatt for the bps).
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I do, my balls have a separate tape under them set to keep their hotspot at 95.
 
That's what I am doing for the summer! UTHs are off for the colubrids, Marbles has a 94-95F warm end. Room temps are running 75-85F, usually about 82F, and everyone has been digesting fine so far!
 
My room is running lower 70s, so my girl has a UTH. Eventually, I'll probably be moving into a two room mobile home. So, one room will be the snake/rodent room. I'll probably do something similar. Heating the room and then doing heating for any snakes that need higher temps.
 
For me they go by room temp from about May to October, then it gets cold enough to need heat so I heat the house, somewhere in December it gets to where I need the heat tape until some time in April when it warms up again. I not only monitor the temps in the cages but in 3 places around the room they are in. Paranoid? Maybe, but after how this summer started? I think it justified. (AC went out the temps around the room helped get them cool enough til it was fixed)
 
Think of it this way... snakes in the wild don't have heat pads that follow them around and provide them with a gradient. Though I suppose a rock in the sun might qualify as such. But really they just use the air around them to keep their temps in the right range.

That being said, I do use belly heat. But I'm going wstphal's route and keeping the heat off. This summer has been really hot and my pads are just getting too hot!
 
in my opinion, room temp will not suffice.

you, as a human, will "do fine" at a constant temp of 80 degrees F with no air conditioning, but will you be happy about it? no. you'll make it through by drinking some extra water, you'll get a headache and feel sick from dehydration...but you won't die. you will definitely be okay and continue to survive, but wouldn't you much rather a place where you could cool down a little bit?

you would probably make it through at a constant temp of 50 degrees F, too. a couple extra layers, blankets, gloves, etc. but wouldn't it be nice to be inside, in a nice warm cozy place?

i am a big advocate of temp gradients, that's for sure. it's not about survivability, it's about comfortability.
 
Well... how do you know it makes your snakes uncomfortable? Did they whisper in your ear or send you an email or something? :shrugs: Just because you, a mammal find varying temps to be comfortable doesn't mean a reptile does. I know little of science, but still trying to play Devil's Advocate here.

I'm not saying I disagree. Just looking at the other side of the coin. How do you know that the heat gradient doesn't make them uncomfortable?
 
Also how do you provide one when outside temps are 90+ and its all you can do to keep the house at 85 and if you put on the heat pads for the snakes they hit 100? Doesn't it make more sense to lose the gradient rather than kill them? Its a LOT easier to provide heat than a tiny AC unit for the viv (which is funny when I picture it lol). Got to remember not everyone lives where full time belly heat is a possibility.
 
Heat

Our snake room is at about 82. We just shut the door and turn off the AC vent. We provide Heat mats for the boas and pythons. The only one I worry about is the Andean milksnake who really doesn't like heat at all so he is on the lowest shelf where its more like 79. With temps in the 108-110 index range for the 26th straight day, we keep the whole house at 82 so the A/C doesn't blow up! I know way too many ppl right now who have no AC because it could't keep up in this heat including a few reptile ppl who lost animals because the AC broke when they weren't home and between no AC and heat mats/lights their poor babies were dead when they got home. most were lizards and very few snakes but if the house goes to 95 and there are mats.... I think my guys are okay with just room heat for the summer.
 
I heat the snake room, which is easy to do in the summer. I keep the air temp at 80 - 85 on some days. It gets cooler at night, maybe 77F. I also have heater tape on the corn's cages, but it is hooked to a t-stat. I set it to 82 - 85 if they've eaten recently, but generally it isn't on because of the room temps.

I find this to be sufficient for them. They're very active, and digest their food no problem. I also have boas in the room, because it is my snake room. The air temp of 80 - 85 is okay for ambient, but they're given a heated side of 92F to bask. Though generally they don't unless they've just eaten, they typically enjoy the cool side of the cage.
 
Em Wright said:
Think of it this way... snakes in the wild don't have heat pads that follow them around and provide them with a gradient. Though I suppose a rock in the sun might qualify as such. But really they just use the air around them to keep their temps in the right range.

That being said, I do use belly heat. But I'm going wstphal's route and keeping the heat off. This summer has been really hot and my pads are just getting too hot!
Click to expand...

No, but they use their environment. At night you'll find snakes on the road because it holds heat. During the day, they may retreat because it is too hot, or bask in the sun or on a warm rock.

In a cage, they're dependent on the owner to achieve proper temperatures. They need a heat pad or something like it because there is no sun or warm rocks/roads in their cage.

And is 1/3 of the cages is heated with a heating pad, they can choose when they want to bask, and when they don't, just like in the wild.
 
I said as much Heretic. ;) I also said that I do use a heating pad. I just don't have any of them turned on because of the heat. The heat index here was between 110*F and 115*F and it's supposed to be hotter tomorrow. Within a few minutes of having the heating pad on the thermometers read well over 90*F.
 
Em Wright said:
I said as much Heretic. ;) I also said that I do use a heating pad. I just don't have any of them turned on because of the heat. The heat index here was between 110*F and 115*F and it's supposed to be hotter tomorrow. Within a few minutes of having the heating pad on the thermometers read well over 90*F.
Click to expand...

Mine are setup similar, but my heating pads/tape are hooked to a tstat so I don't need to manually unplug or switch them off.

I was just pointing out the way they use their environment. I know you said warm rock, I wasn't trying to outwit you lol.

I have noticed corns enjoy basking spots after they've eaten though, so I crank the T-stat up a bit after they've had a meal.

How do you measure ground temps, and how do you control your heating pads? I know some pads can exceed 100F when not controlled with a thermostat or rheostat/dimmer which is dangerous for any snake.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top