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Unexpected Dormancy

A

AmelEP

New member
Our heater broke last week and we have not been able to contact our landlord or the company they have a contract with. Last night a cold front hit the area and this morning when I woke up it was 36 degrees outside!!
I think my baby corns had gone into a light dormancy. They didn't even flinch when I opened the cage top!! They're still alive alright. When I picked them up they'd hang loose on my finger and poke their tongues out at me. I'm just worried that it looked like they still haven't digested all their food from last week. The heat pads I have for them seem to be working fine but with the house only 50 degrees, they can only maintain the warm side in the tank at 60 degrees at best...
What should I do? Buy more heat pads and stick them on all sides of the tank? Put on a heat lamp? Or would a sudden change of temperature be too big of a shock and causing further damage? But then what do I do about the undigested food in their bodies?
 
Would it be possible to get a space heater in your snake room to raise the temp of the room a little higher?
 
there are actually a couple things you can do to try to keep the heat in the tanks as Short term help.... one you can wrap the tanks in a blanket (not coming in contact with the heating source) or as you were thinking a heat lamp... dome with a red bulb. If the snakes are little and have undigested food inside... the cold may make them regurge it so that it doesnt spoil in their bellys. I wish you luck in getting your heat on! brrrrrr
 
Makes me shiver just reading about it. I think the blanket idea is great. Adding any sort of layers around the tank will really help to conserve the heat and insulate.
 
I got a heat lamp for them...although now I'm worried this would mess up their photoperiod
Right now they're sitting on top of my night stand in the warmest room out of the entire house with three layers of blankets around, thermometer reading...78 degrees
they do look a bit skittish though after having the lamp on overnight...could this have any ill effect on them?
 
you could always use a red heat light :) gives off heat and a little light but I dont think they can see red so it will be less disruptive to them :) Atleast you are able to get them warmed up :)
 
LOL now my entrance area looks spooky. Anyone ready for Halloween? :p
Thanks for the advice you guys! Now...anyone got advice for reluctant landlords?? j/k
 
I have this problem with my large tanks every winter as i live in england and it can become a problem to heat the tanks in the cold. I just use standard red lights to heat the tanks for 12 hrs a day and works perfect. Just put the lights on timers.
 
I don't know if you already know this, but don't feed now until you get the heat straightened out.

Nanci
 
Yeah, I'm going to watch until the bumps from last feeding go away before offering more food. Good thing is they didn't seem ill or regurge after all these. Ahh, I love my babies.
 
any time you need to bump the temps up a little bit try putting a towel on half of the screen top usually over the cool side. This works especially well with heat bulbs as a source of heat.
 
Yeah, I'm concerned about the humidity too...with two heat source and one heat lamp that's practically on 24/7 now their humidity has gone down to 25% ish...and looks like one of them is about to shed. How can I improve that? And it's still getting colder and colder, this morning their temperature reading was 71 degrees with both heat lamp and pad on (including three towels wrapped around the tank).
 
To help the shedding just buy some moss to put in the hot end of the tank and this will help greatly... Also use a water spray bottle and give the tanks a spray twice a day
 
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