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Should heat lamps be turned off at night?

NonVenomous

NonVenomous

Bronny
Hi there!

Well, I'm asking if heat lamps should be turned off at night? Not only for the heat aspect, but so that the snake gets some form of night, and not lightsd on 24 hours a day.

This is my first year in my new 3rd floor apartment in a multi family home, and for the last two weeks it has been terribly cold. Nights normally are 50 - 68 degrees. I've been getting up at random hours to check the thermometor and it gets no higher than 60 in the night, and 74 in the day in the hot side. So I'm getting a heat lamp tonight, but should I be turning it off? Cause if it gets turned off, I know it's too cold for my corn. We're going to be using a space heater pretty soon to so hopefully that will help out.

Thanks
 
Oh I guess I should have stated that I do have an undertank heater and those are the temps with it. I'm not sure why it's so cold, but it is. I'm assuming the age of the house is making it drafty. We are doing the best (without turning the gas heat on) to make it as hot as possible.
 
I do the same thing: have a UTH and a heat lamp. My lamp is on a timer and turns on a few hours after sunrise, and shuts off at sunset.

My snakes are in the basement, and it is very difficult to keep the temps warm enough without the lamp during the winter. During the summer, it is very humid, and the the lamp helps dry out the air in the tank. I also have to mention that the lamp is not sitting on the lid of the tank, but actually mounted higher and pointed at the "cool" end.
 
Just get the night heat lamp, the red-lighted bulb. You can keep that on all the time, day and night. (if the snake is getting his day light from another source)
That's what I do.
 
Thanks. The red night lamp sounds prefect since he is getting some sunlight in the day.

It's a stick thermometer (sorry about the lack of knowledge on this) that my boyfriend got at the pet store. We leave it next to the cage when its not in use to we can get a general temp of the whole room. about 4 times a day I'm sticking it in the aspen (not touching the bottom though - don't want reading to be affected by heat pad) in a few areas to get hot and cold side temps. I'm sure to only touch the top so that my body heat doesn't affect readings. It's pretty accurate for the room reading (always matches the gas thermostate) so I'm assuming the substrate reading is right too.
 
Hi there
I live in Conn. too and am having the same issue. It got down to 40 degrees last night. I have to supplement with a lamp. I use a black or red bulb and the snake can't see the light so it does'nt disturb them at night. Hope this helps. :wavey:
 
It's good that you are trying to be so diligent with reading the temps, however, you haven't quite got the most effective method. The only truly accurate reading you're going to get is with a digital probe, and the probe should be touching the glass over top of the heat mat. The reason for this, is that if your snake likes to burrow or snuggle up to the warmth, it could be seriously injured if it gets too hot there.
I would also strongly recommend something to control the flow of electricity to your UTH. An inline dimmer switch works well, once you have it set.
I'm thinking that the 'stick' thermometer is the kind we use to take our temp when we think we have a fever...is that right? I'd keep it for that purpose. Before I got my digital thermometer, I tried the stick on ones (useless in my opinion), and I also took a shot at using one of my old aquarium ones, just laying it on the substrate...also useless (I can't believe I'm admitting this 'outloud' :shrugs: )
Anyway, you can get a digital thermometer for under $10 at Walmart. I got a dimmer switch at Home Depot for $16. There's also a link on here somewhere for a DIY dimmerswitch (search 'rheostat' and you'll find it).
 
i have a 50 watt basking bulb at night with a uth heater and i also have my snake in the basement, my walls are all concrete it's cold, is that ok???????
 
i actually have one, but it is 150 watt and i can figure out what to clamp the light to, so they are just sitting on the top, its in a 10 gallon
 
spoolin83 said:
i have a 50 watt basking bulb at night with a uth heater and i also have my snake in the basement, my walls are all concrete it's cold, is that ok???????
Click to expand...

What exactly are your temps on the cool side and on the glass over the UTH?
 
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