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Is my cage too hot?

L

Little Miss

New member
Hello! I have a 5-6 month old corn in a 10 gallon aquarium. I use about 1/2 to 3/4 inch of aspen bedding. I do not use a heat lamp, but have an under-tank heating pad from ZooMed. I have a hide on each end of the cage, and my house temp is between 65-72*F. My digital probe thermometer is on top of the substrate (as my snake never burrows) and the temp on the hot side reads between 91-94*F. My snake spends most of her time on the hot side and has had no trouble eating or digesting, but being my first snake I wonder- is it too hot? Thank you for your help!
 
Wow, yes! Too hot! Ideally, temperatures for corns shouldn't exceed 85 degrees, unless they need a little extra heat when feeling ill. And if your temps on the substrate are that high, the glass will be around 100 degrees! Those can be lethal temperatures, and just because you never see your snake burrow, doesn't mean she doesn't. Better safe than sorry.

It'll probably be recommended by many that you get yourself a thermostat or rheostat for your UTH. I have 2 that I purchased from Petsmart for about $45, but there are cheaper alternatives.
 
Indeed, well said jlindp. My experience with the Zoo Med UTH is that the ZM rheostat does not get the temp low enough. Therefore, if you're not going to get a thermostat which regulates the heat for you, I'd recommend a lamp dimmer ($10 @ Wal-Mart) that's the same as a rheostat in that you'll have to monitor the temps and adjust manually but allows more variance in the setting.
 
Marica said:
Indeed, well said jlindp. My experience with the Zoo Med UTH is that the ZM rheostat does not get the temp low enough. Therefore, if you're not going to get a thermostat which regulates the heat for you, I'd recommend a lamp dimmer ($10 @ Wal-Mart) that's the same as a rheostat in that you'll have to monitor the temps and adjust manually but allows more variance in the setting.
Click to expand...

I will second this suggestion. For me, the ZooMed Rheostat did not regulate temperatures enough and I ended up using a lamp dimmer. For me, it was actually cheaper. Out of curiosity, I hooked a 40Watt Incandescent light up to both the ZM Rheostat and my DIY Dimmer and noticed a considerable difference. The DIY Dimmer allowed a much greater range of control. You can Find instructions to build a dimmer here.
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19168
 
Thanks for the suggestions! I certainly don't want to burn my snake!!!!! I haven't yet gotten a dimmer or thermostat, but for some reason, the warm side is now at 86*F. Why would it have changed?
 
Yes house temp is what would change it. Anything 90 or under substrate heat is not too hot.
 
An UTH without a thermostat/rheostat can easily reach as high as 115 degrees.

I found a plug-in lamp dimmer at Home Depot for $10 and it works great!
 
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