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Lighting question???

A

anime&snakes4ever

New member
I'm a new member :wavey: , and i had a question.
I'm about to get a new snake, and i have tested the temp...
I have a 10 gallon tank,and the temp is about 75...
is that good????? :wavey:
 
What does that have to do with lighting? And 75 is good for the cool side, but you will need to give the snake a warm side of 85, or so.
 
BeckyG said:
What does that have to do with lighting? And 75 is good for the cool side, but you will need to give the snake a warm side of 85, or so.
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Ohhhh, you flammer you :flames: hehe
 
Lennycorn said:
Ohhhh, you flammer you :flames: hehe
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That wasn't a flame. *makes innocent eyes* The title said lighting question, but the post was about heating. And what was it doing in the administrative forum to begin with? I'm really confused... :shrugs: :grin01:
 
The best way to heat your tank is with a under tank heater or UTH. With the UTH you will need a digital thermometer with a probe put right over the UTH under the substrate. You will also need a lamp dimmer or a thermostat to control the temperature of the UTH.
 
For what species of snake are you talking about? If it's a corn snake then it will be fine at 75. A lot of people sware they need higher temps but I have been keeping them for years and it isn't necessary. It probably is btter because they would digest their food faster with warmer temps, but not a need. As for boids, you will definitly need to bring up the temps. Snakes don't need full spectrum lighting and their is no proof that it does anything to them, but you can use lighting for a heat source although it tends to dry the tanks out a bit more. Hope this helps.
 
A 10 gallon tank is small. Screen top? If so, a lamp is all you need to get the heat you need. I'd skip a UTH. Corns like to burrow in substrate and it will either avoid a part heated by a UTH, or will not and could burn itself.

For a 10 gallon tank with screen top, I recommend a 5.5" light fixture from ZooMed. I recommend a 75 watt red or black light bulb you can leave on all the time. Plug it into a dimmer you can buy at just about any hardware store for under $15. That way, you can dim or increase the light as needed to achieve proper heat.

I like to have the cool end of my cage at about 72-75 degrees, and the hot end at about 85. These are daytime temps. They will drop naturally a little at night without adjusting anything. After eating, my corn will bask in the heat. She moves back and forth throughout the day, just as she is supposed to.

Have a hide at both ends of the tank. Make sure you have a water bowl big enough that she can get in it if she wants too. I like to place my snakes water in the center between hot and cold sides. She seems to like that, too.

What I have suggested is not a very expensive solution. Easily well under $50 (fixture, bulb and dimmer). I suggest at least 2 thermometers, both at the back of the tank, and one on the hot and the other on the cold side. You need to pay attention to the heat readings for several days at different times during the day until you are confident you gotten it where you want it.
 
A burrowing snake can't burn itself on a UTH if it is regulated properly. That's what the thermostat or rheostat is for.

ZooMed 500R thermostat 19.99
ZooMed 10-20 gal UTH 10.99

31 bucks plus maybe $8 shipping at reptilesupply.com
 
Yes, that's right. But in my case, I like cypress substrate. In order to get the top of the substrate to the proper temp using a UTH, the temp at the glass has to be fairly hot. That might be fine for a boid that loafs around at the surface, but IMO that's not a good thing for a snake that likes to dive under the substrate. In my case, I can get the top of the substrate, as well as the ambient air temp, to the proper temp using only a light. The glass under the substrate might be a bit cool, but I really don't care. If the snake doesn't like it, she'll come out. But I know she won't lay down there and bake.
 
It isn't necessary to worry about the surface temps of the substrate anyway. Just control the hottest spot the corn will come into contact with. If they need more heat, they will burrow. Most of mine wallow down to the glass surface anyway.

UTHs are recommended over heat lamps for many reasons. If you will read through some of the past posts, these are enumerated many times so I won't repeat them all here.
 
Well, that's certainly your opinion. My opinion is that a snake should not have to burrow to get the warmth it needs.
 
SkyChimp said:
Well, that's certainly your opinion. My opinion is that a snake should not have to burrow to get the warmth it needs.
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This is no lie,
Today I went to a store to do some repair work and I been here before, anyway there was a amel corn in a 20L tank with aspen, water, a cheap thermometer, branches hides and such but.... no heat.
Where was the cornsnake???? Cold, under the aspen and this snake is a year old. So I think some snake perfer to burrow under the substrate and some not. Or it might be their "mood" their in. :shrugs:
 
It is a cornsnakes instinct to burrow. They will do it whether they need to do so to reach the heat or not. My opinion is that you need to control the temps at the hottest point the snake will come into contact with. Again, that is just my opinion, but I'll bet my Christmas present most of the people on this forum will agree with me.
 
Well, I'm certainly not going to get into a match with you. But there isn't a captive bred corn, rat or king snake alive that isn't just a stone's throw away from its wild roots. The simple fact is wild corns burrow for a number of reasons, but they don't burrow to obtain their primary source of heat. They may go underground to den, to look for food, for protection, and to cool off. But they don't naturally burrow to bask in heat. Yours may burrow for heat, but then you've got them doing something to cope with its unnatural environment, and not what comes naturally to them. My viv simulates nature - the primary source of heat is above. When my snake wants to cool, it goes to its cool side, its hide, or under the substrate. When it wants to warm up, it lays on top of the substrate, or it climbs higher on a perch to bask nearer the heat source. That's the way it works in nature.

If you have a way that works for you and your snake(s), great. But there are other ways. More natual ways, in my humble opinion.
 
SkyChimp said:
Yes, that's right. But in my case, I like cypress substrate. In order to get the top of the substrate to the proper temp using a UTH, the temp at the glass has to be fairly hot. That might be fine for a boid that loafs around at the surface, but IMO that's not a good thing for a snake that likes to dive under the substrate. In my case, I can get the top of the substrate, as well as the ambient air temp, to the proper temp using only a light. The glass under the substrate might be a bit cool, but I really don't care. If the snake doesn't like it, she'll come out. But I know she won't lay down there and bake.
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I don't like the way you say "loaf around" as in to say they are "lazy". Boids are way more advanced then colubreds and save energy well. They are ambush predators, this is why they "loaf" around.
 
SkyChimp said:
My viv simulates nature - the primary source of heat is above. When my snake wants to cool, it goes to its cool side, its hide, or under the substrate. When it wants to warm up, it lays on top of the substrate, or it climbs higher on a perch to bask nearer the heat source. That's the way it works in nature.
If you have a way that works for you and your snake(s), great. But there are other ways. More natual ways, in my humble opinion.
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In nature, the snake would look for a nice sun-warmed rock on which to lie and from which to absorb heat. An undertank heater provides a similar source.
 
Shogun said:
I don't like the way you say "loaf around" as in to say they are "lazy". Boids are way more advanced then colubreds and save energy well. They are ambush predators, this is why they "loaf" around.
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No offense intended. Boids aren't as active as Colubrids because they are, as you say, ambush predators. Colubrids tend to actively hunt a little more.
 
jaxom1957 said:
In nature, the snake would look for a nice sun-warmed rock on which to lie and from which to absorb heat. An undertank heater provides a similar source.
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That's surface temperature, isn't it?

Rocks in nature aren't heated from below, they are heated by the sun. And in many parts of the corn's natural range, there aren't many rocks to bask on. For instance, my my area of tidewater Virginia, there is no rocky terrain.

UTH's are fine. If that's your choice so be it. It works. My way works, too. No viv is going to perfectly simulate nature. In nature, temperatures fluctuate, sometimes greatly, and much more so than in the typical viv. Snakes in both settings mostly adapt.

But there is no denying that in nature corns don't, as a general rule, burrow to obtain their primary source of heat - except when denning, which captive corns don't do (unless simulated for breeding snakes). They stay on the surface.
 
SkyChimp said:
That's surface temperature, isn't it?

Rocks in nature aren't heated from below, they are heated by the sun. And in many parts of the corn's natural range, there aren't many rocks to bask on. For instance, my my area of tidewater Virginia, there is no rocky terrain.

UTH's are fine. If that's your choice so be it. It works. My way works, too. No viv is going to perfectly simulate nature. In nature, temperatures fluctuate, sometimes greatly, and much more so than in the typical viv. Snakes in both settings mostly adapt.

But there is no denying that in nature corns don't, as a general rule, burrow to obtain their primary source of heat - except when denning, which captive corns don't do (unless simulated for breeding snakes). They stay on the surface.
Click to expand...

Rocks, in nature, obtain heat from the sun, but then retain much of that heat after the sun sets. Just like the soil. That is why snakes will lay on them. They like belly heat. Using a UTH simulates the belly heat that they would get from a sun heated rock, or heat from the earth from burrowing. Heat from an overhead source will not give the same affect, especially when it is only heating substrate; a material which will not retain the heat once the corn is laying on it. Do as you wish, I don't care. But you have to think, with so many people on this forum deciding to go with UTH's... there must be something to it. And, in my humble opinion, corns will burrow in captivity. My corn and king do all the time. My corn has a completely enclosed cave to lay in, but it still pushes all of the aspen out of the way to get to the UTH. And it's not to get to the heat. When I first set up my enclosure, like most noobs, set my probe on top of the aspen and obtained a temp of 84. When I noticed my corn burrowing down into the aspen I measured the temps there. It was 95, much to hot. I had to adjust the position of my probe *that line makes me giggle* and turn down the heat. My .02
 
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