Heat Source

What is the wattage of heatmat and wattage of light bulb should I use? I plan on having both, but the heatmats at the pet store just say what size viv they are for and not the hottest it can get or an average heat. The ones I have mainly seen just say to buy a thermometer and try it but the one for 20 gals is 8 watts. Maybe you can give your common temperature for these kinds of mats... I am also debating a 50 watt bulb, or a 120 watt bulb (blue day bulb) I also live in CA which if you don't already know, has an average temperature in the WINTER of 55 and summer of 85

would i need a cooler in the summer...

Sometimes I use both lamp and UTH, but now I've gone full UTH (easier to control temps). What I would do is just get a cheap temperature probe from radioshack (they're like little LCD screens with a wire and you stick the end of the wire where you want to take the temp and it gives you a read out of the temp, I think they go for around 10 bucks), and then try out a buncha things and use which ever method that gives you the most stable temps. Remember cornsnakes like dark, keeping the lamp on 24/7 will probably drive your snakes mad, so you'll have to make some system to compensate for the drop in temps during night (which might not be low, or could be way low, which is why I like the UTH since the temp stays the same no matter what). If you need to control the UTH if it gets too hot, you can use a rheostat (also available at radioshack). You just plug your UTH into the rheostat, and plug the rheostat into the wall socket, and turn the knob on the rheostat to turn up or turn down the heat.

BTW, those stick on UTH's suck. They have sealed flex-watt type heat mats that run slightly more than the stick on type, and those seem a little more useful (easy to change from cage to cage, never gets wet when you clean the tank since it's not stuck on the tank, etc). The bean farm and big apple herp sell them, here's the link for bean farm: https://secure.ioncart.net/beanfarm/shopdisplayproducts.asp?page=4 (it's way at the bottom, called ultratherm heat pads).

-13mur 6

oops, forgot another thing. If your house temps go over 90 degs F, then you might have to do something to bring temps down, but if you live in an airconditioned house (I'm assuming you keep yoursnake in the house), then should be fine as long as the temps in the cage stay high 80's to 90 deg F on the warm side and between low 70's and low 80's on the cool side. Like I said, as long as your temperatures stay constant, shouldn't be a problem (that temp probe comes in mighty handy here. Those stick on thermometers are really off btw, I have one on my cage right now on the warm side basicly on the floor of the tank and it reads between 75 and 77 degrees, while my temperature probe says it's 90 degs F directly on the floor of the tank).

-13mur 6

I use Flexwatt tape and a digital thermostat for all of my set-ups. This is one of the easiest to use systems that I have found. The only part that is hard to swallow is the price of the thermostat. I have one viv w/UTH and it has too much temp variance.

Heat mat

I use a special heat mat made by Habistat that is just for herps, is is 20 watt and i use it to heat two vivs

The search feature here using various "keywords"

should help one in there Quest for knowledge.

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1469&highlight=Heat+Source
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=945&highlight=Heat+Source
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1749&highlight=Heat+Source
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1683&highlight=heating

I use a heat amt and a 60 watt bulb to light my viv as I live in Norht Yorkshire England and it's always cold in my bedroom.

I leave my heat lamp on 24-7 and I don't use a heating pad. My temperature is perfect all the time. But I only have a 5.5 gallon tank.(I need to buy a bigger one later).

we use both

The heat mat is on all the time to ensure a permanent thermal gradient in the tank, the lamps are only on in the day, and some of our corns do actually bask.

The secret is...Don't bake the Corn.

When experimenting with setting-up the tank heat gradient, make sure the Corn Snake (victim) isn't present for one doesn't toast/ broil their new little buddy.

Use a easy to read, at a glance, thermometer in your tank. They're cheap at a huge colossal mega mart.
Remote probe sensors are a nice feature, but cost more, are worth having, but are not a requirement, the important thing is to actually use a thermometer though.
If one doesn't have one, go buy one.

If one does this wrong, there is a good chance of one injuring or killing ones pet Cornsnake.
A "Big boo boo" is the technical term.

Keeping ones Corn at too cool of a temperature can be detrimental to their short & long term life expectancy, just as much as plain outright contact fryin' with too much heat will "fubar" them.
Fubar = Fried up beyond all recognition
Do your Corn Snake a Favor and don't learn the "hard way".

Seasonal fluctuations happen....
Perfect "in-tank" temperatures,
from season to season are unlikely without adjustment in most parts of the world... unless one has their homes/rooms environmental controls that are "always on" and consistent, whereby the same (snake) room temperature is essentially always maintained year round, eliminating the room temperature variability factor.
Throwing open the windows changes things.

One could research Undertank heat mats online, and decide what brand has the best features and price.
Here is a link to a inexpensive Heat mat and rheostat source who is reliable, quick, and wont rip you off.
They stock "Zoo Med" Products.
I have successfully ordered from them several times in the past, (Ebo-Jaeger aquarium heaters), they had the best delivered prices.
I believe they have a 5 star reliability rating with yahoo.
Take my word for it, stay away from the heat rocks! They're evil! imho.
http://www.petguys.com/reptile-stuff-heating.html

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5381&highlight=Heat+tile
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1587&highlight=Heat+tile

would the Zoo Med Rheostat be required?

I use a rheostat on my adult corn tank and lamp dimmers on my yearling tanks. The heat mats can get too hot sometimes and I find that having a way of controlling them is a lot better. PetCo ...has the rheostat on clearance for 9.95. But I prefer the lamp dimmers, the wattage is lower and therefore it won't allow the heat mat to get too hot (something like that, don't really know or care, just know that that the mats aren't as hot with them). Since you are in Orange County, the Ikea in Tustin has lamp dimmers for around $8, I think...they really work great.

Lamp dimmers work well

a Lamp Cord Dimmer
Converts any table lamp or portable incandescent lamp (or U.T.H.) into rheostatically controlled device.

0-100\% brightness control with positive On/Off. Plastic housing with reliable solid state electronic circuitry. 200W/120V AC. UL listed...
install inline to existing cord for low wattage reptile heat mat applications, not higher wattage human type heating pads. They shouldn't be to hard to find.
http://electrical.aubuchonhardware....mers_and_switches/lamp_cord_dimmer-518905.asp

How to build a DIY heat mat controller

These directions were written by a fellow named Jeff wagner over at usenet at rec.pets.herp.

A Do It Yourself heat mat controller.

Some basic electrical knowledge may be required as to not burn ones house down or terminally zap oneself...
"Danger Will Robinson"- zzzzzzzaaaaaaappppppppp

I say buy a ready made unit if these directions in any way sound like a foreign lanquage to you.

To build it you will need the following:

1 basic Dimmer switch

- Just the basic household light switch dimmer.

1 outlet box

- the blue plastic ones that come with the nails on them is what i used. Just remove the nails.
Buy a box to hold 2 outlet thingys.
(this will allow you to mount the outlet and the dimmer switch in the same box)

1 outlet cover

- One that has the big rectangle for the outlet on one
side and a small rectangle for a toggle switch on the other.

1 AC outlet

- A normal 2 plug outlet unit like you have in your wall

1 AC plug

- one that can be wired up yourself.

16 guage lamp cord,

(medium duty) buy a few feet more than you need.

All this will cost about $12-$15 or so, probably.


1) Strip both wires on one end of the lamp cord.

2) Hook one wire to the outlet, the other to one of the dimmer switch
leads

3) Hook the other dimmer switch lead to the unused outlet hookup

-- At this point the outlet is wired to the lamp cord with the dimmer
switch in series with one of the leads to it.---

4) mount the outlet and the dimmer switch into the outlet box and put
the cover on it.

5) Strip the other side of the lamp cord and attach the plug to it.

Use a lamp or something to test it with so you can tell which position on the dimmer switch is on or off.
Then I put some marks on the knob.
Then plug the heatmat into it and slowly creep up on the current until
you reach the desired heat.

This is meant as a guide for someone with some basic electricity experience.
Not as a how to for a beginner.
In other words if one burns ones house down don't sue me. I make no claims that this is safe.
Go buy a ready made unit if in doubt as to your expertise in electrical component assembly.
( Thank You Jeff Wagner for the assembly directions )

And some more details on the subject;

A "single pole" dimmer should be used.

Any type of dimmer used should be rated so to be able to handle 120% of the heat pad's wattage.

In other words,your standard type
rotary dimmer is rated for a maximum of 600 watts.

Your heat pad should not be rated more than 480 watts (or 80% of the dimmer's maximum rating), otherwise
you should opt for a higher wattage dimmer.

Lighting dimmers are available with
ratings up to 2,000 watts.
(1500 watts max through a rooms circuit /plugs or one will be poppin breakers (fuses) and also heating up the wire in the light guage, medium duty cords).

Size dimmers accordingly so one doesn't have any unfortunate accidents or burn up your dimmer prematurely.

Safety first!
One last time, Electricity can be deadly if one "No Comprendes" what ones is doing, I.E.,
If done wrong, their is only one deadly electrocution to a customer (fubar).

Whoa- someone's been doing some digging!!

Nanci

I think when topics this old get bumped due to voting they should get the poll locked to prevent that from happening.

Sometimes old threads come in handy, I just built a dimmer based on this info. :grin01:

Well, this new guy is still learning and found this post pretty useful. Just now testing out a cage. Want to get a maimi phase corn within the next week or so. Think I got all the research / homework done. These lil info items sure help, even though they're a tad bit old

Maybe it's because of the area I live in (California Valley) but I don't use a heat source on my tank. The tempature inside my house hovers from 69 to 76 all year long. Frankly, when I put a heating pad under one side of my viv, my corns stayed away to the opposite side.