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temps in summer and winter?

T

treesa

moocow
hi, i'm new to this forum and i'm doing reserach on corn snakes. I hope to get one after the research is done. anyway, i just had a question.

i live in the US in Massachusetts and i was wondering about the temps in the area and what to do. the winters are cold and the summers are very hot. to make things worse, my room is the hottest/coldest room in the house!

my question is. heating-wise, what should i do to cope with the temperatures? i don't want to put an ac in my room if it'll freeze the snake, but i also don't want to cook in my room. if i don't put an ac in my room the room will most likely reach about 80+ in the daytime, not to mention how humid it can get.

in winter my room can get cold, but we have the heat on so sometimes it cooks up the room..ugh.. and to cope with that i open up the window a crack.. how would i deal wih that situation with heating the snake's enclosure?


oh and since we're on the subject of heating the enclosure. do i need a light? i'm set on an UTH but i wasn't sure if i needed a light, maybe a flourescent one so it'll light up the snake's enclosure
 
If you use a UTH, you shouldn't have to worry to much about the room temp. Your snake needs a warm side and cool side. Since most rooms are usually around 70 degrees you shouldn't have to worry too much about having a snake in your room. I think the only thing I wouldn't do if I were you would be to keep the snake near the window you crack open to cool your room. Your snake won't need a light at all to survive. Corns don't require UV lighting at all. I find corns to be one of the easiest reptiles to keep because of the few requirements needed to keep them healthy.

Hope this helps you. Oh and BTW. WELCOME to the forums!
 
You need to provide a proper temperature gradient. Ambient temperatures are important (despite what you may hear). Low 70s on one side, mid 80s on the other, with a basking spot on the warm side at about 90. This will allow the snake the thermoregulate. If you can do that with just UTH, great. It may take a light as well. I keep my snakes in 40 gallon breeders and I have to use both.

UTHs are great at providing heat from below. But they have to be regulated as they can get very hot. You should keep the glass temperature where the UTH is at about 90 (a few degrees either way won't hurt). The problem I and other have run into is that usually the tank has some sort of substrate in it. And it is difficult to provide an appropriate ambient temperature using just a UTH. That's where a light is helpful. Lights are better than UTHs for raising ambient temperatures. They also can provide a basking spot that is above the substrate so the snake doesn't have to burrow to find a warm spot. If you use a light for heat, incandescent bulbs are best. If you want to leave ti on 24/7 without disrupting the night cycle snakes need, use a moonlight or black-light bulb. Black light bulbs emit a very little UVA light and a very little UVB light which may or may not be helpful to a snake - but certainly won't hurt. However, if your snake si albino, a blue moonlight bulb or red nighttime bulb may be better since albinos can be susceptible to eye problems from UV light.

If you have the flexibility and a large enough enclosure, provide your snake with some options with respect to heat. They have that in nature. But yes, as you will most certainly hear, your snake can "get by" on much less.
 
hmm okay. i was thinking about going with both a light and UTH. do corns avoid incandescent lights? ( do they like to hide away from light? )

what should i do in the summertime? i don't want to cook in the heat, but i also don't want the snake to freeze in an air conditioned room! :eek1:

i have three windows in my room the snake will be in the corner near the window i crack open, but i can always crack open one of the other two so it doesn't get a draft.
 
A proper sized UTH should be enough as long as you use a thermostat to regulate it. that will make corrections for varying room temperature.

I would go with the AC in the summer but don't set it too low, maybe low 70s.
 
And probably away from the window is best, so your uth doesn't have to fight against extremes of temperature coming in from outside.
 
treesa said:
hmm okay. i was thinking about going with both a light and UTH. do corns avoid incandescent lights? ( do they like to hide away from light? )

what should i do in the summertime? i don't want to cook in the heat, but i also don't want the snake to freeze in an air conditioned room! :eek1:

i have three windows in my room the snake will be in the corner near the window i crack open, but i can always crack open one of the other two so it doesn't get a draft.
Click to expand...

No, corns do not hide from light. They hide when they want to for various reasons. But they do not instinctively hide from light. Light is a source of warmth and when they want that type of warmth, they will expose themselves to it. When they don't, they will avoid it.

Incandescent light is no better or worse than any other artificial light source. The advantage is that it gives off heat that can be used to heat the ambient air in the tank. In this respect, it is better than flourescent.

Keep in mind that if you want to use a light, take care not interupt the nighttime the snake needs. If you use a bright light, you will need to turn it off at night. If you use a blacklight bulb, or blue moonlight bulb, you can pretty much leave these on 24/7.

The only think you need to do in summertime is to maintain the same temperatue gradient in the tank that you do in winter. It may mean turning down the light and UTH.

A good thermostat would go a long way and may lessen the "tweaking' that would othrwise be necessary. Even twith a thermostat, though, you will need to keep an eye on things.
 
so it would be okay to keep the ac in my room.. thank goodness.. lol

what kind of thermostat would you recommend? i don't have too much money so what is an affordable, but good thermostat?

oh yeah, what is the difference between a thermostat and a rheostat?
 
Yes, it's fine to leave the AC on. You will have to do som tweaking as seasons change to keep the temperature gradient where it needs to be.

A rheostat, aka dimmer, is a device that allows you to manually control the amount of power going to an electrical device, like a light or UTH. You plu you device into the rheostat, the plug the rheostat into the outlet. You simply adjust it so that your light is shining, or the UTH is heating, at the desired level. It's totally manual and if you desire any chages, you'll have the change the rheostat setting.

A thermostat is automatic. You plug the light or UTH into the thermostat, then plug the thermostat into the outlet. Usually, there is a probe that attaches to the thermostat. You place the probe in the area where you want to control heat. You set the thermostat to the temperature you want to maintain. The thermostate sill either cut power on and off to maintain that temperature, or it will adjust the power level to do it - depending on the kind you get.

You can get adequate thermostats for around $30, or really good ones for over $100.

Among the choices are:
http://www.zoomed.com/html/thermostats.php

http://www.bigappleherp.com/BAH-1000-Thermostat-1000-Watt-Triple-Plug-In?sc=2&category=15#

http://www.bigappleherp.com/Herp-Power-Proportional-Thermostat#

http://www.spyderrobotics.com/products/index.html
 
I use 3 of the ZooMed 500R thermostats to control 5 corn snake tanks. They work fine, been going over a year now with no problems.

It's the best thermostat deal for the money, only $19.99 plus shipping at reptilesupply.com.

You will still need a digital thermometer with a probe.
 
yeah i think i'll go with that one, but i was wondering about the thermometer.. do i have to get one with a probe? i was thinking about getting the flukers digital thermometer/hygrometer one.

what kinds of snakes do you have?
 
Most everyone agree's a thermometor with a probe so you can get the temps directly above of the heat pad is your best option. That way if your snake does bury itself under the substrate above the heatpad you will know for sure what temps your baby is laying on. Hope this helps.
 
ohhh lol that makes sense. lol where can i get the digital probe thermometers?

also, thermostats and rheostats, which do you think is better or which do you prefer?
 
You can get an indoor/outdoor digital thermometer with probe that also has a built in hygrometer and shows 2 temps for $12 at WalMart. There are others with single display and no hygrometer for only about $9. Look in the Hardware section near the electrical parts.
 
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