Is a basking light necessary for a corn?

[Monty]

I set up my corn snake with a UTH heater on one side of the tank, with hides on both cool and warm sides. My temperatures luckily for me read 81-87 on the warm side (respectively, depending on whether the heat in the house is on or not) and 68-76 on the cool. I also have a heating lamp that I used to use for my anoles before i gave them away.
I had trouble getting the little guy to eat for about two weeks, and was starting to worry. Every person/petstore in my area that i've asked said his non-eating problem was from me not having a heating light. So I had dug out my old heating light last night and was ready to go out and invest in a thermostat today so i could lower the heat of the UTH AND have the light. But to my surprise, this morning Monty was peeped out of his hide with the unmistakable little pink legs of a pinky sticking out of his mouth. I was so excited I nearly screamed!

So now I'm not sure what to do. Should I still go out and invest in a thermostate (which i would be stretching my dollar to do), or should he be okay with just a UTH? I'm so relieved that he ate, but i want to be sure that he continues to eat. Thanks for the help, I'm a new owner and a bit confused with all the mixed advice I keep getting from people.

 

[Joba]

I'm sure some more experienced folks will be along shortly with their opinions. But corns don't need to bask; they need belly heat, so no lamp is necessary.

 

[Monty]

Thats what I keep reading, however all the people at the pet store argued with me otherwise. I'm starting to think they don't know what they are talking about.

 

[Joba]

Thats what I keep reading, however all the people at the pet store argued with me otherwise. I'm starting to think they don't know what they are talking about.

Either they don't, or 99% of the very experienced corn owners here are wrong. I'd put my money on the former. When I got my corn, the guy at Petsmart, who seemed knowledgeable) sold me the lamps and the wall hanging thermometers. Nanci took the time to talk me through setting up the UTH, thermostat, and thermometer into a warm side, cool side, with proper temperature measurement. There may be room for disagreement between the UTH and lamp folks, but I'm going with the people here.

 

[Joba]

OK, here's my setup:

• attach the UTH to the underside of the viv on one end to create a warm side
• tape the probe from the thermostat and the probe from the separate thermometer directly to the glass over the UTH
• stick the main part of the thermometer on the far side, the cool side, facing out so you can read it

http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTP...UTF8&qid=1353690192&sr=8-1&keywords=hydrofarm

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Taylor-Wi...-Thermometer-with-Humidity-and-Clock/20837429

These links are for the hydrofarm thermostat (many people use other products such as lamp dimmers, or brand-name reptile thermostats) and a thermometer. I use one similar, which then shows you the warm side temp, the cool side temp (the unit itself measures that), and the humidity inside the viv.

It's important to have an independent thermometer from the one on the thermostat, just as a back-up, for the sake of your snake.

 

[knox]

Necessary? No, as long as a suitable temperature gradient is obtained with belly heat.

Usable? Absolutely.

I am one of the few that believes overhead heating is as good as belly heat, because both sources do the same thing - heat the area above / below the heat source.

I have used both and have never seen an advantage of one over the other. With a heat lamp, you might need to monitor humidity a bit more. However, here in east TN, it is so humid that I only mist occasionally. In a dryer climate, misting would be more of a concern.

 

[Susan]

Corns aren't baskers as a general rule and do prefer to get their heat from underneath. However, depending upon the size of the enclosure, the ambient air temperature within the enclosure may be too cold, especially during this time of year, without the addition of a heat lamp. However, heat lamps can also bring the temperature in the viv up to levels that are too high, so you need to do a lot of monitoring if you decide your snake needs a heat lamp in addition to the UTH.

 

[HermesMom]

For us, during the winter we use both the mats and lamps. It's just too cold here and I keep the house very cool. Spring, summer and fall we only use the mats. It takes a lot of tweaking to get each of their vivs' temps right at first but it works for us this time of year.

 

[AliCat37]

I don't like using lamps because of the fire hazard and it dries the air out too much.. not enough humidity as is in CO

 

[megg]

Has anyone had any issues regarding varying temperature readings between the thermostat and the other, independent, thermometer? I have the Hydrofarm thermostat prob over the UTH, both at the warm side of the tank, and a Zilla thermometer at the other, cool, side of the tank. I temporarily moved the Zilla thermometer to the warm side, right over the UTH just to make sure they both were reading similar/consistent temperatures. But they are 12 degrees off. The Hydrofarm thermostat reads about 80 degrees and the Zilla Thermometer reads about 68. Anyone else have any similar experiences? Which would be more accurate?

 

[Joba]

Has anyone had any issues regarding varying temperature readings between the thermostat and the other, independent, thermometer? I have the Hydrofarm thermostat prob over the UTH, both at the warm side of the tank, and a Zilla thermometer at the other, cool, side of the tank. I temporarily moved the Zilla thermometer to the warm side, right over the UTH just to make sure they both were reading similar/consistent temperatures. But they are 12 degrees off. The Hydrofarm thermostat reads about 80 degrees and the Zilla Thermometer reads about 68. Anyone else have any similar experiences? Which would be more accurate?

Wow! I also use the Hydrofarm thermostat, and the readings on my tank used to vary a few degrees, between the thermostat and the independent thermometer, but I'm talking a degree or two. Plus, that was when I was using the little suction cup for the Hydrofarm probe, meaning that the probe was just OFF the glass. I have since placed it directly ON the glass next to the thermometer probe, and my readings are spot on, in fact, I just checked and the hydrofarm reads 80.2 and the thermometer reads 80.

IDK which would be more accurate. Sorry.

 

[epicdoom]

Megg an easier way to do it is use a bread tie tie both the temp and thermo probe together set them where you want them on the warm side of the tank I usually place mine inside the warm side hide 1/4 inch under the top of the substrate I then set my hydrofarm based on the temp reading at the temp gauge. If you want to measure the cool side just buy a stick on and set it just above the substrate on the cool side. 80 Deg is a bit cool I would shoot for 83-84 I like 83 personally. Ok that said I'm sure I'll have folks dissagree with this but I set temp as close to the substrate surface as possible. WHY? Because that's where the snake is. I know snakes borrow under and can get burned because the temp at the glass is much hotter, I get that. There is a way to prevent it if you buy one of the liners that are sold they look like carpet, they are fuzzy and velcro sticks to them well. Cut a section off the liner that covers the UTH by 3 Inches use the hook part of velcro to stick to the glass all around the edge of the liner. Press the liner down onto it the hook part of the velcro. It will grab the liner well this makes an impenitrable barrier between your snake and the glass. The temp difference between the liner and the substrate top is around 2 Deg, so your temp will only be 85 should the snake burrow down to the liner, if you set the top at 83. Still in a safe range.
If you need I can make a picture tutorial of exactly how to do it step by step. Actually I been thinking about it anyhow so I will make it tomorrow and post it as a new thread here. As for the issue your having with the temps being so far off that seems pretty extreme most times even if not locating both probes exactly in the same spot you will only be 1 deg or so off I would check both against a known good one I am assuming the zilla you are using is digital with a probe as apposed to the analog dial type if your using a dial type there can be major difference because not on the substrate next to the hydrofarm probe.

 

[megg]

Thank you for the replies. Epicdoom, great idea with the velcro, the same thing was suggested by an employee at my local Petsmart, I just implemented it yesterday. The independent thermometer is a Zilla Humidity & Temperature Dial Gauge (stick on). I have it placed about 1/4 inch from the bottom. I have the probe from the Hydrofarm thermostat sitting on top of the aspen shavings. What's weird is that if I put the Hydrofarm probe between the aspen and the liner it shoots up to about 95, if I put it under the liner, directly on the glass it jumps to over 105. So I'm wondering if it might be reading a bit high because I'm pretty sure the UTH isn't that hot (it's a Zoo Med ReptiTherm SMall UTH 6X8)

 

[Joba]

Those UTHs do get that hot. I'd trust the thermometer on the glass. I place the probe right on the glass because my girl is a burrower, and I need to know the hottest place that she can get to. I would get a walmart indoor-outdoor-humidity (digital with probe!) thermometer, stick the probes from the hydrofarm and the thermometer right next to each other on the glass, and set it for 83 (because it's a thermostat that turns on and off based on the temp, there will probably be about a five degree fluctuation. Mine kinda fluctuates between 80 and 85 when I set it to 83)

Then, stick the thermometer itself on the ground on the far (cool) side, then the probe will tell you the warm side temp, the unit will tell you the cool side temp and the humidity. I hope this makes sense.

 

[Joba]

In the pic you can see the lovely Sophie passing by my thermometer, whose probe is traveling along the bottom to the warm side. Don't know if you can see it, but it's showing me the warm side temp (from the probe), cool side temp, and the humidity of the viv. And now that I have the probes for the thermometer and the thermostat on the glass right next to each other over the UTH, they are both reading exactly the same temp, which gives confidence in their accuracy. Sounds like you're going in another direction, but just wanted to show you what's working for me. Good luck!!

 

[bitsy]

if I put the Hydrofarm probe between the aspen and the liner it shoots up to about 95, if I put it under the liner, directly on the glass it jumps to over 105. So I'm wondering if it might be reading a bit high because I'm pretty sure the UTH isn't that hot

Unregulated UTHs can easily get to 120 - they're made for use with a range of reptiles, many of which need higher temps than Corns. If the UTH feels warm or hot to you, then it's likely to be over the mid-80s that you need to aim for. I'd trust the thermometer as well.

 

[epicdoom]

Agee uth can get very hot I have measured 133 deg with a raytek laser Iwould put the gauge you have on the cool side and buy a digital with a probe so you can put bboth probes together I bet your temps wl be spot on then or at least within a deg.