Kind of worried for this winter....

[BuckeyeSnake]

I purches(first time owner) 3 corns a month or two back(and very happy that I did). I got to thinking though that the house I'm in gets pretty damn cold in the winter. I'm in college living right of campus in an older house. The gas bills are insane in the winter(500 bucks one month) so my roomates often turn down the heat and we just use space heaters for the majority of our heat. I live in Ohio, so it can get pretty cold here.


What's the best way to prepare for winter and making sure my cages stay warm enough for my snakes? How much can a combined UTH and Heat Lamp raise the temperature in their tank?
Thanks in advance for any info. Just making sure to get all of this out of the way now, so I won't screw anything up this winter.

 

[Asbit]

Well I live in Saskatchewan and if you know anything about our winters, then get as cold as -40 and summer can get as hot as +40.

After having said that I use a UTH and if during the winter months (as I too keep the heat turned down) or in the summer (when I keep the AC turned up) it does not keep the temp in the tank steady enough I add the use of inferred light heat from the top. I have had no trouble managing temps ranging from 70ish-86ish.

I do run my UTH on a rheostat not a thermostat so I have to check my temps more frequently and do more adjustments than I would have to if I were using a thermostat.

I have chosen a rheostat for now because the snakes are spread all throughout the house and I am planning on getting a Herpstat thermostat, the one that allows for multiple heat sources to be plugged into it at once, but first I need to find an area for the snakes to all be together.

Also I have not had a noticeable increase in my power bill.

Hope that helps you some.