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Whhhy does he want to be cold?

centauri_aiuken

centauri_aiuken

New member
This is an odd question but I'm such a newbie that I just want to ask about everything. Bear with me here!

I just got my Orpheus the day before yesterday. He's an anery. motley corn and he had a very full belly when I got him. It's only gone down a little. Now, I thought that when they were digesting they would seek out the warm spot?

I corrected my thermometer problem and I now see that the warm side of the tank is at aruond 80 where it should be, and the cold side is closer to 70-75. Shouldn't he -want- to be warm to digest his food?

I'm so new at this that I just ask about everything. xD (I already said that. Wow.)
 
My first thought is that the temps may still be off. How did you correct the problem? In the other thread, you said you're using a regular thermometer. To get the most accurate temps, you need one w/ a probe to check temp under the substrate.

If there's a hide on both sides, and your snake is still on the 'cool' side, maybe it's not as 'cool' as you think.

Oh, another thought: maybe your snake prefers the hide on the cool side better. If you're sure temps aren't the problem, try switching the hides (put the one he's in now on the warm side, and the one there already on the cool side). If he leaves 'his favorite' hide and goes back to the cool side, then I was suggest to get a proper thermometer ASAP.

But basically, the snake knows what temp he needs. Good luck.
 
Don't worry about it. Snakes know where they want to be and will seek out the correct temperature.
 
Wow, you covered everything! I "corrected" my problem by using a standard science thermometer (compliments of 10th-grade Chemistry class!) and putting it down under the substrate like I've been told to do.

I realized that my "cool" side is 82 degrees. And the warm side is 89. I also realized that I had been reading my stupid thermometer wrong for my original post.

Either way, I'm very happy with this forum! Very helpful, attentive people!
 
I have already talked about this all over the place, but it worked so well for me that I thought I would mention it to you too. If your snake is a small hatchling maybe you can think about cutting a long cardboard paper towel roll in half longways, so that it forms two "logs". Cut a little notch in the middle of one and set that in the tank so that half of it is over the warm side and half of it is over the cool side. Then he won't have to come out of hiding to choose his temperature. I hope I explained that right. You don't cut the roll vertically in half so that you have two small rolls. You cut it in half horizontally so that when you put one in the cage the snake is still able to burrow into the substrate with a dome tunnel over his head. I read about this in Kathy Love's book The Corn Snake Manual. I thought it was an ingenius idea and my snake loves it.
 
I have found that many of my snakes digest on the cool side. They seem to do just fine. I even had my amel lay in his water dish for some reason. No problems. They know what they need, but glad you got your temperatures worked out.
 
Yea, mine sometimes lays on the hot side, sometimes the cold. I guess they know what temp they want so I just let her get on with it.
 
Just wanted to point out that folks here have said their snakes have a definite preference for certain hides, so it may be a good idea to have the same hide on both sides, esp. for a hatchling that may not regulate as well as an older snake.
 
Good point, lass. Most of my hatchlings have toilet paper rolls for hides and substrait. They're in their hides maybe 30% of the time. One of my babies has each half of a yogurt cup. She's under one of the halves about 80% of the time. Looks like I need to go out and buy some more yogurt! Or use up more paper towels ;)
 
MegF. said:
I even had my amel lay in his water dish for some reason.
Click to expand...
Mine sits in his humid hide after eating. :shrugs:

Think about it this way: If the snake ate a warm pinky, it might make his body temp too warm right after eating. So he'll go to the cool side.

Also - I thought 85 degrees was optimal for the warm end. Not 80.
 
centauri_aiuken said:
This is an odd question but I'm such a newbie that I just want to ask about everything. Bear with me here!

I just got my Orpheus the day before yesterday. He's an anery. motley corn and he had a very full belly when I got him. It's only gone down a little. Now, I thought that when they were digesting they would seek out the warm spot?

I corrected my thermometer problem and I now see that the warm side of the tank is at aruond 80 where it should be, and the cold side is closer to 70-75. Shouldn't he -want- to be warm to digest his food?

I'm so new at this that I just ask about everything. xD (I already said that. Wow.)
Click to expand...

mines around 74 on the hot side, so both ur sides are hot to me, unless my temps are wrong?
 
It should be about 70-75 on the cool side and 80-85 on the warm side. Blaise, of course, gets a wider variety than that, especially with the weather. I pick up temperatures in the 60s in some places on the cool side, and right near the lamp, it can get close to 90. Anyway, as long as the right temperatures have been provided, it works out. What I always try to remember is "He knows more about being a snake than you do."
 
i only have a heat mat and i cant controll the temp on there it just seems to stay around 74 on the warm side and i donno about the cold side, any suggestions cuzz i dont want it to be too cold for him
 
ummm... i think mine likes to be cold cuzz even tho the hot side is only at 74 he still sits on the cold side more, and when i felt him earlyer he was cold, is this a bad thing or normal?
 
How are you measuring your temps? If you're using a stick on thermometer it won't be accurate. The probe needs to be at the substrate under the hide. I'd bet that your temps are WAAAAY higher than you think. Air temperature means nothing. They don't lay on air, nor are they living in the trees. They should feel cool to the touch, and if your temps are too high he would spend more time on the cool side.
 
Ditto to what Meg said. I've seen lots of threads of people stating their UTHs didin't get warm enough, but when they started measureing the temps correctly, they were astounded at how hot the tank really was.

And like Meg also said, ambient air temps mean nothing. You need to be measuring the temps on the ground, where the snake lives. The only thing I'd add is to put your probe directly on the glass under the substrate. This is the hottest point the snake can come into contact with, and this is what needs to be monitored.
 
Tad low, but not out of line. Usually around 85 is best. How are you measuring the temp and where?
 
i measured the temp ontop of the bedding above the heat mat i left it a few seconds still it got to 81, then i moved it to the cold side and it droped to around 74, he seems to be spendng more time on the cold side tho, and he feels cold but ive been told my hands aint a thomomature so i wont complain lol, mabie hes spending time on the cooler side cuzz the plants are there... and ontop of that he burys himself alot.. i gues hes just exploring i'am totaly new to snake so mabie everythings not 100% perfect but he seems happy, i felt the bedding and its warm and kinda coldish on the otherside so i guess he'll have to use his common sences to go to the warm side when hes cold, ive been told i need a thermostat but the temp seems to be staying at around 74 and thats in the middle of the tank half way up..
 
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