Effects Of Too Cold And Too Warm Temps?!

Originally Posted by bitsy

The danger point is at the upper limit you quote. 90 should be seen as the safe maximum - 95 is too high and could be dangerous. If the snake can move away from that zone to a cooler one then in theory that's OK. It's just that in captivity, sometimes Corns don't seem to behave exactly as they would in the wild. For example, if a surface is hot enough to burn them, they won't move away from it but can remain in contact with it even if it causes them injury.

Obviously you won't get a burn at 95, but it's still possible that this sort of temp for any length of time can be harmful if the snake doesn't react as we expect i.e. move to a cooler spot. We need to protect them as much as possible, hence keeping the temps within their safe tolerance. That way, there's just no risk of them being harmed.

Thanks for the help full info , so in theory for damage it would that the whole heathmate would go over the safe temp and not a spot as small as a fingertip (altought it could hurt a spot as small as a finger tip then on the snake but that would be more rare ) what about the cool side? why is it dangerouse if the cool side is under 75 if the corn snake can go to the warm side when he's cold ?

thansk every one very informative posts!

A heatmat should never have "hot spots" and should give an even temp across the surface. If yours is doing this, then it's faulty and needs to be replaced.

The cool side isn't such an issue as long as there's a safe warm side. With recent snowy weather in the UK, most of my vivs have cold ends that dip below 75 and a lot of my crew are holed up in the middle or warm zones. As long as they have an appropriate warm area to move to, then the cool side dipping below the ideal low temp isn't a problem. Your problem starts if the cool side gets too cold and the snake moves to the warm side, but the warm side is above the safe maximum.

My cool side is never 75 degrees. It is barely 70. I run my UTH at 88 degrees on average. This is the temp at the glass, not at the substrate.

My substrate temps are near 77 on the warm side, and 70 on the cool.

Since I never see my snake burrowing, and don't see any indication that he does this when I am not watching, I assume that he is happy with these temps...

That being said, i am dealing with a delicate snake who has trouble keeping a full pinkie down. He can't even keep a decapatated pinkie down. He is able to keep down a pinkie head. Does this imply that the temps are OK? If they weren't would he even be able to keep the head down?

your in the same situation i am with my corn, but no i don't think its a case of bad temps, not in my case at least since my ball python also has a cool side like that and she doesnt have problems keeping a fully adult mice down.

I think, that if your having issues, the first thing to fix would be the temperatures...At least then its one less thing to be concerned about. If they are delicate snakes as you describe, this COULD be the problem.

Originally Posted by Nroc

My cool side is never 75 degrees. It is barely 70. I run my UTH at 88 degrees on average. This is the temp at the glass, not at the substrate.

My substrate temps are near 77 on the warm side, and 70 on the cool.

Since I never see my snake burrowing, and don't see any indication that he does this when I am not watching, I assume that he is happy with these temps...

That being said, i am dealing with a delicate snake who has trouble keeping a full pinkie down. He can't even keep a decapatated pinkie down. He is able to keep down a pinkie head. Does this imply that the temps are OK? If they weren't would he even be able to keep the head down?

That's really not normal. I've only had one regurge with mine and that was entirely my fault, just fed her way too much... But something is wrong here...

What's the size of your enclosure? What temp is the room? What's the humidity? What kind of substrate are they on? Plenty of hiding spots? Do you use tap water? Any other animals or a lot of activity around the terrarium?

My corn loved to burrow... She would dig up her substrate and that's the behaviour I've seen with my friend's too. Your snake sounds lethargic (probably from not being able to eat properly)... You should give us some more info... Those temps are at the low side, but still...

Originally Posted by Amun

That's really not normal. I've only had one regurge with mine and that was entirely my fault, just fed her way too much... But something is wrong here...

What's the size of your enclosure? What temp is the room? What's the humidity? What kind of substrate are they on? Plenty of hiding spots? Do you use tap water? Any other animals or a lot of activity around the terrarium?

My corn loved to burrow... She would dig up her substrate and that's the behaviour I've seen with my friend's too. Your snake sounds lethargic (probably from not being able to eat properly)... You should give us some more info... Those temps are at the low side, but still...

This snake died last week. It ate a pinkie head Sunday, and by Tuesday, I noticed that he was in the exact same position in his hide...and later discovered that he was dead.

I have since disinfected everything and the silicone holding the temp probe onto the glass will be cured this evening. I bought a larger heating pad for my 20 gal long (was using a Zoo-Med 8X6, now I have Exo-Terra 10X11), and this is now attached to a piece of glass for mobility.

I will add the aspen tonight, and turn on the heat pad...and maybe by mid-week, I will have the temps back to the mid 80s. My house temps vary from 66-71 degrees depening on the time of day. I am not really sure if we ever hit 66 as I am either asleep or at work when our house's thermostat drops this low...we have pretty good insulation.

I am going to get another snake soon...and have my eye on either a butter motley, sunglow motley, or a striped amelanistic.

Originally Posted by Nroc

This snake died last week. It ate a pinkie head Sunday, and by Tuesday, I noticed that he was in the exact same position in his hide...and later discovered that he was dead.

I have since disinfected everything and the silicone holding the temp probe onto the glass will be cured this evening. I bought a larger heating pad for my 20 gal long (was using a Zoo-Med 8X6, now I have Exo-Terra 10X11), and this is now attached to a piece of glass for mobility.

I will add the aspen tonight, and turn on the heat pad...and maybe by mid-week, I will have the temps back to the mid 80s. My house temps vary from 66-71 degrees depening on the time of day. I am not really sure if we ever hit 66 as I am either asleep or at work when our house's thermostat drops this low...we have pretty good insulation.

I am going to get another snake soon...and have my eye on either a butter motley, sunglow motley, or a striped amelanistic.

That sucks... sorry to hear you lost the little guy Hope your next snake does better!