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Just a few questions about my viv (new owner)

J

jedimasterclinton

New member
Hello all!

As of just yesterday I am a brand new corn snake owner! I'm super excited, the snake I got is beautiful and just a wee lil' baby. Maybe a month old is my guess. Still don't know the sex just yet, I'll try to figure that out later.

Anyways, my main question is about lights and heating. Now I didn't realize most corn owners use the heating pads. I have a small one that I used last night for the feeding container (lovely lil snake ate the pinkie no problem, yay!). I bought a tank kit that came with heat lamps and such, the pad I bought separately for the feeding. Now I am giving the snake 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark. So far, with the heat lamp (which is off to one side of the tank), it has been maintaining 80F and has been on for about 10 hours now. Humidity has hovered around 30% or a bit above. The room temp of my house is around 70F. So long as the snake is healthy and temp and humidity stay well within the proper zones, is it so bad to have a lamp as the heat/light source?
 
You'll have to turn the light off It can't just stay on all the time. When the light is off, the heat will go away.

Corn snakes (all snakes) need heat to digest their food properly. Specifically, Corn Snakes need a temp of between 82 and 88 degrees. Most of us opt for a happy middle around 85 or so. But if it's a degree or two warmer or cooler won't matter.

The problem with your light is you have 80 degrees right now (which is still a bit cool) but when you turn the light out, the temp in the tank will be whatever the room temp is. If the room is 68, 70, or 72, it may feel ok to you, but your snake can't digest its food at that temp. When snakes get cold they get sluggish, their metabolism slows down and if it gets too cold will even brumate (sort of like Hibernate).

Also, your snake should be able to pick and choose when it heats up or cools down. Snakes do this in the wild, but because they are stuck in a confined space in your home, they can't do this. In the wild they will look for warm spots when they get cold, and on the days when it gets too hot for them they will look for cool shady spots.

The best thing we can do with a pet snake is try to make Half of the cage warm (85 degrees) and half of the cage cooler (around 74 degrees.) That way the snake has a choice. The heat is necessary especially right after eating. There should be a place for the snake to curl up and hide on each side of the cage. One on the warm side and one on the cooler side. Typically after a snake eats it will curl up on its warm side for 2 to 4 days to digest its food.

That's the reason for the heating mats (pads) placed under the tank, they create a warm spot. But the pads alone get very hot, some of them over 115 degrees so they should be used with a thermostat as well.

Good Luck.
 
Thanks for your response! I forgot to mention that the kit did come with a UV light for night time that does give virtually no light but keeps up the temperature to mid 70F or so. If a pad will work that better and benefit the snake that much more, I suppose I should look into them, any recommendations on the pad and/or thermometer type?
 
Instead of a thermostat (which are awesome), a rheostat can work as well. A rheostat limits the amount of electricity being delivered.
Basically, if you have a thermometer on the heat pad, you can regulate the heat by plugging the heat pad into a dimmer. The temp will vary with the temp of your house, so it's very important to watch it closely for a day or two. A house usually varies 5ish degrees, so you can have your pad changing between 80-85 between night/day without ever needing to adjust it.

A rheostat is just a cheaper option and good if you can keep an eye on it, I use one on each of the three tanks I have.

Home Depot always has these in stock.. Plug-In Dimmer
 
Welcome to the forum! There is tons in info already here for you to read when ever you have time. Check out the 'Stickys' at the beginning of most topics. There is also the FAQ section you can see at the very top. And a SEARCH feature. So look around and have fun! Send us a pic! We love pics!
 
Thanks everyone for your input! I'm excited to post some pictures. I'll attempt to do so on Sunday (let the lil guy/gal get acclimated to his/her new home). I'm not gonna lie, my corn has some gorgeous coloring. I hope not to make anyone too jealous! ;-)
 
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