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2 Questions????

H

HypoMotley1

New member
Hello,

I will hopefully be purchasing my first snake this week, but had a couple questions.

1. Where should I check for temperature on the hot side, on top of the bedding or dirrectly on the glass? (I am ussing aspen)

2. This may be a dumb question, but what type of water should I use? Is bottled water fine?


Thanks!
 
You can measure the temperature either place. As long as it is regulated the glass can be in the upper 80's and on top of the aspen in the low 80's. As long as there is a cooler area for the snake to go to, it will find the best spot.

Any clean, fresh water is fine.
 
I measure the temp on top of the glass. I don't want the glass to be hot enough to burn the snake.

I have well water. You probably won't, almost definitely won't hurt the snake by letting it drink chlorinated water, but if you yourself drink spring water and have it around, then I'd provide that for the snake, too. They don't drink chlorine in nature.
 
I measure on the glass. I put that at 85 so that the top of the substrate will be 83-84. That way I know for sure the snake will not get burnt. Less worry for me...I am sure he knows what he's doing with his own body for the most part. LOL

I use tap water and treat it with a reptile product that takes out the "extra stuff" sometimes....LOL Depends on how busy I am.
 
1- On the glass. Corns frequently burrow, so while the top may be "cool enough"... the glass can be incredibly hot.

2- My corns get normal tap water. I dink it, my cats drink it, my dog drinks it and thus, so do the snakes.
 
You've gotten great advice so far. I just wanted to add that distilled water is (oddly enough) not a good choice for your snake. Their comparatively slow metabolic rate means that they drink less that a warm blooded animal, and the trace elements not present in distilled water can lead to deficiencies over time.
 
I havent seen any studies on types of water, but I tend agree distilled would be stripped of just about everything.
I switched my collection over to bottled spring water because I'm not so thrilled with the idea of snakes getting chlorine and fluoride.
I think the only way to get the facts would be to do at least 5+yr experiment with many corns young to old on bottled spring water vs city tap.

I think this topic comes up every now and then, kinda interesting to read ppl's views on the subject.
 
1. When I started keeping snakes I was told to "NEVER" let the snake be able to touch the bottom glass. I would buy white posterboard and cut it to fit the bottom of whatever tank size I was using. Then add the aspen or whatever substrate you choose. Recently I have switched to Letter Size Manila File Folders. They fit very well in many tank sizes, sometimes you may need to cut the top tabs off. When using more than one I tape the seams with Scotch Tape. They are pretty cheap and I just throw them away at each cleaning.

2. My first choice is Spring Water (not Distilled) but I have also used plenty of tap water and never had any problems.

Todd :dancer:
 
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