Temps at night

Is it really necessary to turn the temps down at night? I do but some nights I forget (my memory is terrible). I wondered how many of you turn the temps down at night and who leave it the same too.
Thanks for any replies in advance.

I don't necessarily turn my temps down at night, but the temps in the room fall about 4 to 6 degrees some nights. They seem to do well.

Both of my vivs work on a habistat, so if the temps in the room drop, the light will come on more often so it stays the temperature it is set to.....

gthey should have complete darkness, I dont know how the light would effect yours though.

darkpbstar, your kinda right, snakes do need a night/day cycle, having a red light, or a dim coloured light however, will not make any difference to them though, they can be kept on 24/7 if needed to. having a white light on all night thogh may have some effect, am not quite sure on that one.

I use a red heat lamp 24/7 to maintain the 86-75 temp gradient and a fluorescent blub on a timer for the day light hours.

darkpbstar, I use red lights (as Missy was talking about) so to them, so the only light source is the window, and the light in the room which we don't turn on that often.

At the moment I have a white heat lamp for the day, then I switch over to a black heat lamp for the night(kind of annoying if i'm not home). Its about 80degC on warm side at night, and 82degC in the day. However, I think I'm going to switch over to a UTH setup and use a florescent light w/timer for the day/night cycle.

Daniel

I keep all my snakes (except one) at the same temp all the time...

Th one exception happens to be in my living room...which has 10 foot ceilings and tall windows and the front door opens directly into it...so in the winter it can be rather COOL...even with a UTH running full time...so I put a desk lamp with a standard 60watt bulb on top of the screen and hooked it to a timer...it provides photoperiod and keeps the ambient at around 80 in the daytime and drops to about 74-75 at night...
Seems to thrive...

Once it warms up I will take the light away...

The only thing I notice about using a light for heat is that it DEFINITELY dries the enclosure out...the relative humidity is MUCH lower...so be sure to use a moist hide/mister when the snake is going into ecdysis (shed cycle) or you may have problem sheds.

Alias47, I never mist the cage during sheds, and the snakes don't soak either. I've never had any problem sheds, I considered doing it but it would leave horrible water marks on the sides of the viv (glass walls) I don't mind if it's going to make a difference, but they have never had any problems, every single shed I have had has been whole and perfect. Do you think I should start misting the viv anyway?

"If it ain't broke...don't fix it!!"

If they are shedding fine like this...I wouldn't change anything.
The one snake that I have the light on never gets misted or any special moist hides...and she shed PERFECTLY yesterday...all one piece...nice shed.

I do know that using a light for heat dries out the enclosure and some snakes may need some extra help (some will need some extra help regardless!!)

If you do decide to mist your tank...use distilled water instead of tap water...the impurities in the tap water are what cause the water marks...distilled water (must be distilled...NOT spring or drinking as these may have some minerals, etc in them) will be spot free.

OK, thanks Alias. I'll leave it as it is, but if I ever get a problem I'll start misting. Thanks again!

I'll have to remember that about distilled water.
Nat i have a heatmat on 24/7 and a light in each viv, which comes on at 9am and switches off at 11pm, my temps are pretty consistant between 80 an 86 during the day and 7-8 degree less during the night (floor temp in both cases).