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Buying some new kit..Any good?

D

dRb1983

New member
Hi, after doing some reading, ive come to the conclusion that i need to buy some extra kit for my new corn snakes..

Is this a suitable thermometer?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Digital-H...e_Garden_Weather_Stations&hash=item2a2b1e6728

What is the best sized/powered heat mat for the size of my viv? The one that is in the tank doesnt have any labels on it, so i dont know how powerful it is? It doesnt seem hot to touch, just warm, the pad is around 12inches x 8 inches?

Are LED lights suitable? Not to give heat, just so i can see them..

Thanks
 
Any digital hygrometer/thermometer is great! That one will be awesome as well. If you need ideas to safely stick it to the bottom of your vive, there are threads about that on here as well.

You will need a thermostat for any UTH you buy. This is the one I have http://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_ss...hermo,aps,199&rh=i:aps,k:jumpstart thermostat

Get a UTH that covers about 1/3 of the bottom of your tank and no more. I personally go a little smaller. There are usually sizes right on the label of the UTH packaging (for gallon tanks).
Our hot-to-touch is not the same as a snake's!! Someone on here said that our skin radiates at about 90F, and that would be too warm for a snake to sit on.
YOu DEFINITELY need a thermostat to regulate ANY heat mat.

How large is your tank? That will ultimately depend on the UTH size.

Everyone uses different ways to light the tanks. I personally use a dome with a 13W day light for reptiles, as reptiles have different lighting needs than humans (something to do with the way the bulb is made). I would not use LED, but some people do.
Just remember to keep the lighting overhead to not hurt the eyes of the snake (they have eyebrow ridges for a reason) and outside of the tank.

Good luck :)
 
Hi, thanks for your reply :wavey:

The vivarium is 48 inch long, 26 inch high and 18 inch deep, it is made of wood and has sliding glass panels on the front, I bought this setup from somebody, it had a 60watt spot bulb inside the viv on the roof with no bulb guard on it! I was scared it would burn the snakes so ive replaced it with a low wattage energy saver for now, or should I just turn it off till I get a guard? Ive just looked at the bulbs you mentioned and will be ordering one very soon, when the 60 watt was in, the temp was a bit on the high side, pushing over 31 degree C on the warm side and 24 on the cool, now its dropped to around 21 - 22 degree C on the warm and 17-18 on the cool, the thermometer that came with it is a little plastic thing with a dial on it, ive read you should have one with a probe on both sides near the hides, how else could I raise the temp a little bit with out burning the snakes? The pad that came with it has no thermostat so it must be pushing its full power out of it which doesnt seem enough to get it to a good temp..
 
Definitely do NOT have a bulb inside without a safeguard, regardless of the wattage of the bulb!!

I'm not sure about the UTH with a wooden bottom cage... I don't have any experience with that, unfortunately. Hopefully someone else can better answer your heating question. But I do know you can get other heating sources for wood structures that will not be as risky.

Even though I'm Canadian and use Celsius for myself, I always resort to Fahrenheit for the snakes as it's a more precise form of measuring heat.

Make sure to have some sort of lock for the sliding glass as well :) snakes can and will find a way out...
 
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