Switching the Ambient Lighting?

Hey everyone, lately my snake has not been out in his terrarium very much instead spending all the time on his heating pad underneath an old log. If that is what he wants that is fine, I just want him to be able to be seen at some points through the day that don't involve food. My plan is to hook up an ambient lighting system to his tank so that maybe he will bask on the rocks and that a bit more during the 'daytime'. Does anyone here have experience with this? Other than the not being out he seems to be fine, eating normally and I can see he is not shedding right now which makes sense, he just wants to hang out on his heat mat it seems.

Can anyone suggest a good ambient lighting system that I could use to make it more realistic in the tank so that maybe I can see the snake during the day more often? Or anyone with a better suggestion, please feel free to let me know how silly I am being

for the most part, corn snakes do not bask. If you think hooking up lights will draw him out into the open more, you'll probably find it has just the opposite effect. Most of the folks around here use no lighting at all and their snakes do just fine.

I use normal room light, nothing on the cage itself. I just make sure the light in the room is on 12 hours a day and then off 12 hours a day to simulate a day/night cycle. I have put the light on a timer to make sure the cycle remains steady and I don't have to worry about remembering to turn it on and off.

Karl_Mcknight said:

for the most part, corn snakes do not bask. If you think hooking up lights will draw him out into the open more, you'll probably find it has just the opposite effect. Most of the folks around here use no lighting at all and their snakes do just fine.

I use normal room light, nothing on the cage itself. I just make sure the light in the room is on 12 hours a day and then off 12 hours a day to simulate a day/night cycle. I have put the light on a timer to make sure the cycle remains steady and I don't have to worry about remembering to turn it on and off.

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Okay, I will keep that in mind and not spend the money on the lighting system. I have not really done that with my room lights, but the wiring is easy enough so I will take a look at how hard it would be to put them on a timer, thanks!

CornyBill said:

Okay, I will keep that in mind and not spend the money on the lighting system. I have not really done that with my room lights, but the wiring is easy enough so I will take a look at how hard it would be to put them on a timer, thanks!

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You don't have to over complicate stuff and mess with any wiring. Just buy a 20 dollar plug in timer and a lamp. Plug the lamp into the timer and you're done. Just make sure the lamp is far enough away from the cage that it lights up the room but adds no heat to the cage itself.

CornyBill said:

Hey everyone, lately my snake has not been out in his terrarium very much instead spending all the time on his heating pad underneath an old log. If that is what he wants that is fine, I just want him to be able to be seen at some points through the day that don't involve food. My plan is to hook up an ambient lighting system to his tank so that maybe he will bask on the rocks and that a bit more during the 'daytime'. Does anyone here have experience with this? Other than the not being out he seems to be fine, eating normally and I can see he is not shedding right now which makes sense, he just wants to hang out on his heat mat it seems.

Can anyone suggest a good ambient lighting system that I could use to make it more realistic in the tank so that maybe I can see the snake during the day more often? Or anyone with a better suggestion, please feel free to let me know how silly I am being

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Thanks to the advice I got from Karl I have put a timer on my room lights so they better emulate day time and my snake seems to be enjoying it, he comes out more often and has been more and more visible every day, so thank you so much Karl!