queensrook

Hello, heating question! I live in the pacific northwest where it's quite cold, and none of the rooms in my available living space get above 70 on their own, except maybe during rare summer days. The more usual ambient temperature is somewhere in the 60's, especially at night.

Poising hypotheticals here, since I don't have a snake yet and this is information-gathering: Assuming a yearling-to-adult sized animal in an appropriately sized tank, would a heat mat be able to combat this temperature level and keep the tank comfortable? Would I need to heat the whole length of the tank to maintain the environment, or would the temperature difference be negligible between a half-tank mat and an unheated side? (am I making sense?)

I worry that the mat would be constantly struggling, or overheat and burn the surface under the tank trying to keep it at temperature, or that it would fail entirely and never get the tank warm enough and thus cause sickness. I know my fishtank heater is constantly kicking on and off to keep it at 78*, and that's for water temp.