I have a heating pad on the warm side and am currently using UV lights. The warm side is 90 with the heating pad. My snake is about six months old. Is this too hot? He is always under his water bowl on the cool side so im thinking it may be too hot with the light and heating pad on at the same time. He doesnt have a good hide on the warm side either though... so ill get on that. The cool side is sixty five. Do i need lights for proper growth? I give him vitiman supp. every other meal because he is still pretty small so i dont want to give him too much. Im hearing mixed reviews and im confused. I need some advice please! Thanks!
-
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.
Straight up: is lighting necessary?
- Thread starter Prattj
- Start date
Chip
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒ&
Lighting is not necessary. A good thermometer IS, though. It's not normal to have a 90 to 65 gradient in an open topped tank. I'd double check the temperature. Not saying your thermometer/s is faulty, but I suspect it might be less than ideal.
Shiari
Blutterer
Corns are crepescular: typically active dawn, dusk, and through the night. They do not need UV. Also, mice will supply all the nutrients he needs, so the vitamins are not necessary and can actually cause toxicity if given in too high a dose.
What sort of thermometer are you using?
What sort of thermometer are you using?
Shiari
Blutterer
Proper temps are very necessary. If you have the stick-on thermometers, they can be off by up to 10 degrees, or more. And an unregulated heat pad can get up to 130 degrees.
Temps should be about 85 warm side and ~70 to 75 cool side. My corns do fine with my ambient house temperature for the cool side, and that's typically about 72 or 73 degrees.
Temps should be about 85 warm side and ~70 to 75 cool side. My corns do fine with my ambient house temperature for the cool side, and that's typically about 72 or 73 degrees.
bitsy
Owned by Corns since 1991
No lights - especially UV. If it helps, my 24 year old has never had any sort of light and he seems to be doing well. Some reptiles are dependent on UV to produce vitamin D. This helps them metabolise calcium, so without UV these reptiles will develop skeletal deformities. However with Corns, as has been said above, they're active at times of low or no sunlight and have never evolved this dependency. General pet stores can trot out the "all reptiles need UV" line as a default if you don't speak to the right people - it covers their behinds for some species and allows them to sell extra equipment and consumables.
As far as a day/night cycle goes, as long as the room they're in gets some kind of natural light through windows or skylights, then they'll be absolutely fine.
I'd advise getting the max floor temp to 85. 90 is their safe maximum. If it gets to 90 or above for any length of time and they can't get into a cooler zone of the correct temp (low-mid 70s), then you risk neurological damage to the snake.
Corns like it surprisingly cool. When you think about it, human core body temp is around 96 - over their safe maximum. Whilst the surface of our skin is cooler than that, if you put your hand on a heat mat which is set to 85, it should barely feel warm to you. It took me years to feel comfortable with how cool Corns need it.
I'd echo advice about getting a good thermometer. One of my nephews got one of those plastic dial types with his starter kit and it didn't even move when the heat mat was accidentally switched off at the mains. They're very inaccurate. If one of these (or a cardboard strip type) says 90, then the actual temp could be anywhere up to 110 and beyond.
As far as a day/night cycle goes, as long as the room they're in gets some kind of natural light through windows or skylights, then they'll be absolutely fine.
I'd advise getting the max floor temp to 85. 90 is their safe maximum. If it gets to 90 or above for any length of time and they can't get into a cooler zone of the correct temp (low-mid 70s), then you risk neurological damage to the snake.
Corns like it surprisingly cool. When you think about it, human core body temp is around 96 - over their safe maximum. Whilst the surface of our skin is cooler than that, if you put your hand on a heat mat which is set to 85, it should barely feel warm to you. It took me years to feel comfortable with how cool Corns need it.
I'd echo advice about getting a good thermometer. One of my nephews got one of those plastic dial types with his starter kit and it didn't even move when the heat mat was accidentally switched off at the mains. They're very inaccurate. If one of these (or a cardboard strip type) says 90, then the actual temp could be anywhere up to 110 and beyond.
Okay note to self : get a digital thermometer! He is going to shed soon anyways so hes acting pretty antisocial and slugish lately. I might go get a smaller heating pad then. I do have things around and on the heating pad though so he can choose whether he wants to heat up or not. I just picture where they originate from- like pretty hot and humid places and so i want to make his home as close to that as possible but i guess they can go both ways! I really wanna purchase another one soon- but adopt an adult this time.
bitsy
Owned by Corns since 1991
Bear in mind that they come from places like Florida, which frequently have torrential rain and hurricanes. They've been found as far north as New Jersey. Corns are temperate rather than tropical, so definitely don't need things unremittingly hot.
Getting a smaller heat mat won't really help. The surface of the heat mat will still be the same (high) temperature, it will just be in a smaller area of the floor. About one-third of the floor surface ideally needs to be heated to around 85 degrees. If you're going to buy some new kit, your very best investment would be a thermostat to control the mat with.
Getting a smaller heat mat won't really help. The surface of the heat mat will still be the same (high) temperature, it will just be in a smaller area of the floor. About one-third of the floor surface ideally needs to be heated to around 85 degrees. If you're going to buy some new kit, your very best investment would be a thermostat to control the mat with.