Using a secondary heat source

[acetone]

Hey,

My girlfriend and I are planning on buying a cornsnake in a few weeks so we've set everything up to make sure it's all working. We just moved into a basement apartment and it is pretty cold. The other day it was around 70F and I'd say it gets lower at times. Right now we have the UTH set up with the thermostat and it can maintain the temperature of that spot at between 81-85F, however off the UTH the temperature will just be the room temperature, which I think is too low for a corn. So I'm thinking about buying a secondary heat source, I know that corns get their heat from underneath but I'm thinking the best choice to heat up the entire tank would be a small heat lamp. Would this be fine?

I've owned a corn before when I was a teenager but during it's second winter it stopped eating and I couldn't get it to eat afterwards, eventually it died. When I went to port credit pets to talk to them about what happened they said it was likely too cold even going into the spring time. So living in a basement now, which is cold during the summertime, I can only imagine how difficult it will be to maintain temps in the winter time.

 

[NH93]

I would think that an overhead light, maybe with a small wattage (13W?) might help. Make sure if you go this route that it's a reptile specific bulb. If you want it on at night, red bulbs work better, because snakes can't see that colour as well when it's not in the full spectrum lighting. Depending on how big your tank is, I might put that light in the middle/closer to the heat mat, so there is a definitive heat gradient for your snake. The temperature can drop at night, and some people say 15C (I don't know what that would be in F, maybe 64F?) is alright.

I hope that helps a bit! It's just what I would do, but maybe other more experienced handlers will have better suggestions good luck.