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Substrate depth and temperature difference?

S

Sarrix

New member
I am setting up my first vivarium for my new corn snake coming Wed and just wanted some opinions on why the temperature is so different at the top of substrate vs the bottom. I have my thermostat currently set to 90 and the thermometer probe right next to the T-stat probes reads 90 as well. Using a temp gun I took the temp at the top of the substrate on the hot side and it varied from 79-82ish. Tried to get the beam inside the hide and that was at 79ish as well.

I am using aspen for my sub and only idea I can think of is my substrate is too deep? It is about an inch deep. Cold side surface temp is 75.

Thanks for any help, trying to get this perfect in the next day or two!
 
That doesn't matter, you should set your thermostat at 85, 90 is way too high. Put it at 85 and if snake wants to be closer to that he can burrow, if not, he can go where he feels the temp is where he wants to be. 2" is good on substrate also.

Definitely turn that heat down. A snake can stand cooler better than it can stand being too hot and possibly getting burned.
 
Alright, thanks for the help, set the thermostat to 85. Guess il be able to tell how the temps are once I get the snake and seeing where he spends most of his time.
 
Checked my temps this morning and the cold side substrate surface was 71, hot side surface temp was 75. Temperature of the glass seems to be right around 86 which is what I have my T-stat set too. Any other ideas how to get the surface temperature a bit warmer or is that ok for my corn? Don't want him spending 100% of his time burrowed hugging the glass, that would seem to me that the temperature's would need changing.

Any help or info would be appreciated, thanks.
 
Unfortunately burrowing under the substrate to hide is what a cornsnake does ;). The deeper substrate will also allow him to tunnel thru it and serves as an extra large cage-sized hide. I'd leave everything "as is" :*)
 
Aspen is an amazingly efficient insulator (in viv's at least).
An inch to an 1 1/2 inches results in an easy 10 degree F difference in heat results.

Now, I'm not going to argue with the many folks on the forums here, but let's just say that there are differing opinions on setting the UTH to 85 and just leaving it at that.

First off, 90 is NOT going to burn your snake. It's not his optimal temp, which is 81-84 F, but it's not going to cause a burn.

1) Your skin averages 90-92 F - so if that was the case you'd never be able to handle your snakes safely.

2) Corns aren't Balls. Balls are dumber than a box of rocks and will happily lay on overheated areas burning themselves. Corns won't. They'll move off of it.

3) If the only spot in your tank that is at the proper temp is all the way down at the glass, then the ONLY choice the snake has is to burrow down to the glass. At which point there's not a lot of reason for a warm hide is there?

----
Anyway, I've now said my piece about this once, so I won't keep up about it in any other threads, but unless somebody can give me a better reasoning than I've already had explained to me, I'm going to continue to believe that 90 at the glass (but no higher than 90) and 80-83 at the surface under the warm hide, is the way to go.
 
Yep, the temps sound good. They like to burrow down for warmth. It's totally natural behavior.

This sounds counter intuitive, but if you want to see your snake more, add in some fake plants and ground cover. They like to think they are hidden and explore around.
 
Soulwind said:
Aspen is an amazingly efficient insulator (in viv's at least).
An inch to an 1 1/2 inches results in an easy 10 degree F difference in heat results.

Now, I'm not going to argue with the many folks on the forums here, but let's just say that there are differing opinions on setting the UTH to 85 and just leaving it at that.

First off, 90 is NOT going to burn your snake. It's not his optimal temp, which is 81-84 F, but it's not going to cause a burn.

1) Your skin averages 90-92 F - so if that was the case you'd never be able to handle your snakes safely.

2) Corns aren't Balls. Balls are dumber than a box of rocks and will happily lay on overheated areas burning themselves. Corns won't. They'll move off of it.

3) If the only spot in your tank that is at the proper temp is all the way down at the glass, then the ONLY choice the snake has is to burrow down to the glass. At which point there's not a lot of reason for a warm hide is there?

----
Anyway, I've now said my piece about this once, so I won't keep up about it in any other threads, but unless somebody can give me a better reasoning than I've already had explained to me, I'm going to continue to believe that 90 at the glass (but no higher than 90) and 80-83 at the surface under the warm hide, is the way to go.
Click to expand...

Soulwind, I, and many many other keepers, will respectfully disagree with your post. But to each his own, we simply are going by tested and true methods used by keepers are breeders across the industry.

Corns can and will over heat them selves. I have personally seen it happen.

It is natural for them to burrow. A corn will be happy with an inch to 2 inches of substrate they can root around in. 85 is the max temp you want to expose them to for extended periods of time.

It is not fair to the animal to raise temps just so you can push them closer to the surface. I would rather have a life long pet, than a stressed out creature.

Plus ball pythons are not stupid. :) I keep those as well, and a dare say they are much more the than useless lumps.
 
Thanks for all the info, I decided I will keep the T-stat at 85ish and I am going to remove a little bit of the sub and keep it at around an inch since the snake is about 8 months old so should be small enough to still burrow. If not, will add more!
 
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