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Red lights?

M

mforminio7

New member
Hey everyone.

I currently have a 20gal long setup for my corn snake and an UTH on one side. Hot side temps read about 78-81 and cold side reads about 72-74. I wanna supplement the UTH to add alittle more heat, as well as be used for night viewing so keeping the light on 24/7 is a possibility. SO my question is will my corn be bothered by a regular 40w red incandescent bulb or should i got with, say, a 50w infrared? I hear alot of mixed things on what bothers them and what they can see or cant see. I want it very low vis for the snake so shes as comfortable as possible while adding some heat and viewing pleasure for me. Thanks!

P.S I don't know what the temps are directly above the heat mat but ill be getting a probe thermometer this week but id guess around 88ish
 
I have infrared over my boa, doesn't seem to bother him any though I can see his pupils change a little when I turn it on. When I turn the lights off in my room he's wide awake and roaming, even with his bulb on so I don't think he really sees that much of it, at least it doesn't disturb him anyway.
 
Where and How are you measuring your temps?

With only a 5 or 6 degree difference between warm and cool sides, in a 20L tank especially; you're either measuring wrong, have things setup wrong, or you've got a defective heating pad.

If your cool side is sitting at mid-70's then you shouldn't need any kind of supplemental heat, the UTH should be more than sufficient for the warm side (and in fact should be regulated or it will/should be getting too hot).

If you are just determined to add nighttime heat, use a low wattage CHE, set a bit away from the cage. But again, you shouldn't have any need for it.
 
I have 2 dial thermostats on opposite sides of the tank about an inch or two off the aspen (digital therms are on the way) and now the hot side is about 75 and the cold 69. Everything's set up correctly as the uth is only covering about a third of the 20gal and the uth is warm to the touch so its not defective. Also, why a CHE? Wouldn't a low watt infrared provide a small amount of heat plus nighttime viewing for a fraction of the price? Just curious here
 
OK, well first take those dial thermometers and throw them away. I have yet to see one that isn't junk. [FYI testing has shown that many of those dial types can be off by 20 or more degrees]

You want to measure your temps with a digital thermometer with a probe or one of the heat-gun type thermometers. Measure warm side at the hottest spot the snake can get to, typically at the glass floor right over the heat pad.

A thermometer set on the side of the tank is just measuring air temps ... which for the most part don't mean diddly squat to a snake (within reason of course). Snakes want/need belly heat.

Look around a bit, there's tons of threads on measuring temps and why you want to use a probed digital type (or the heat-gun type).

As for the CHE, I was under the impression that you were just worrying about night-time heat levels and not night-time viewing. I like CHE's (although I don't use them for my corns as they aren't needed) since they don't put out any light and won't disturb the reptile's night-time schedule.

As I said, I only use my CHEs on the dragons (and then only during winter when it gets really cold in the house), my corns are just fine with only the UTH for belly heat and ambient air temps.
 
Thanks for the reply. Wow if my dial thermometers are off by that much it scares me to think of the temps actually inside the tank. Like I said I have digital thermometers on the way so ill take more accurate readings in a few days.

..I was wondering how the temps were that close together on opposite sides of the tank..

How hot should the spot right above the heat mat be? 85-90F?
 
Before I had a thermostat, temps above the mat were 110+. I shut the UTH off until my thermostat came.
 
spyderk said:
Before I had a thermostat, temps above the mat were 110+. I shut the UTH off until my thermostat came.
Click to expand...

Yea I just don't wanna leave her with no heat since my house is pretty cold so I just added more aspen over the mat. She should be fine until it comes since she never burrows over directly on the mat
 
If she's not burrowing, it's probably becuase down any deeper is too hot for her.

(although some aren't burrowers....most are though)

Temp should be around 85 F or so at the hot spot. I keep my hottest spot (glass right over the UTH) at 87-88 (it's set for 87, but fluxes a little bit). That gives them a nice warm place that's just a hair too warm so they don't have to burrow all the way down, but leaves it in a safe temp if they do decide to go all the way to the bottom.
 
Soulwind said:
If she's not burrowing, it's probably becuase down any deeper is too hot for her.

(although some aren't burrowers....most are though)

Temp should be around 85 F or so at the hot spot. I keep my hottest spot (glass right over the UTH) at 87-88 (it's set for 87, but fluxes a little bit). That gives them a nice warm place that's just a hair too warm so they don't have to burrow all the way down, but leaves it in a safe temp if they do decide to go all the way to the bottom.
Click to expand...

She burrows, just not directly over the heat mat. OK thanks for all the advice when the digital therm comes ill make sure the temp reads around 85 over the uth. :smile:
 
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