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Heating question...

G

glassitis

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Alright I have a heating question.
Right now I have a 10 gallon tank with news print and a shirt on bottom of the tank to try an insulate a little.
I got a water dish for the snake and a little retreat he likes to go in.
Now the problem is I am in a basment wich is on the cold side and I don't want my new snake to die!

Right now he is inside my winter hat wich he realy likes,the hat is inside the hut/retreat box thingy,I have a 40 watt lamp/light on top of the sceen top for light and hopfully a little bit of heat but I am not sure.

I basicly got every thing but a under tank heater,I don't realy have the money for one because I need to feed myself to but I may be able to get a cheap one tomarow.

Can snakes survive in 60 deegree temps?I am sure it is wamer then 60 inside the winter hat,inside the box with a shirt on the bottom and a light on top of the cage but I don't want anything to hapen to my newest friend!
Thanks for any help!
 
Prolonged exposure to those temperatures will kill the snake.
Most likely the temperature inside that "hat" is room temperature, which from what I gather is around 60. The reason you stay warm in such clothing is that it traps your body heat, but the snake has no body heat being ectothermic, so it is at the mercy of external temperatures. A 40 watt light bulb will have little effect in those temperatures anyway, but even less when the heat needs to penetrate all that insulation to get to the snake. Any heat generated will dissipate in the cool air long before the snake inside all that will ever benefit from it.

You will not only need an undertank heater, but also a thermostat to control it. Ideally you should get that snake out of the basement and into an area with an ambient temperature about 10-15 degrees higher. With the room temp that low, the snake will spend pretty much all his time over the heater, and this only increases the need for a thermostat to avoid thermal burns.
You may want to put a decent light bulb in the fixture to generate some heat and warm the air in the cage.
To put it bluntly, you should not have brought that snake home until you could properly house it. In my opinion, you have now taken that responsibility and if it means you eat peanut butter and crackers for a week, that snake needs a heat pad.

I also read in one of your other posts that you just fed the snake. He will not digest the meal at the temperature you are forcing him to live in. One of two things will happen if you don't supply the proper environment, he will either regurgitate the meal, or it will putrify in the gut which will quickly lead to death.
 
Alright

Alright thanks for all that info.

I know now I should have atleast bought an undeer tank heater!
I am getting one tomarow morning.
I think it is like $20 for the smallest size pad at the pet shop.Do I still need somthing else to control the temps besides the heating pad?
I would think they would com with eveything?
I can put in another light tomarow,I don't think regular lights do much for heating much,except like flod lights and halogens but the will be so hot that the snake could get burned.

I still have the money to get everything but diden't have time to do the laundry mat and everything else and then straight to work,I was an hour late today.
We have heating vents in the room but it's at the ceiling so it doesn't do much and isen't on all the time.
When it did come on I put a t shirt on it and let it warm up,then but it back in the cage and the snake seemed to like the heat from the tshirt,so I put the winter hat over the heater and got it warm then he just crawled in so he got a little warmer,atleast for a minute.

I know now that I should have had and bought everything before I got the snake,I just diden't think it would be this cold yet!
I will defently get a heating pad tomarow some how.
How do they work,and dod I need a tempeture controll thing?
Thanks again for all the info Clay.
 
I found a plan I can use for tonight.
I have a big rubermade container and I mounted 4 2 foot flouresence on the top on the lid,now flouresence don't produce alot of heat but in a container I think 4 will raise the temps up quiet a bit.
I know that this container usealy stays about 70-80 with the lights on because I had tomattos growing in it last spring,even if the aquarium is on the bottom it will still get some heat.
I could find somthing to put the aquaruim on to get it closer to the lights?
Are flouresence bad for snakes,do they like light in there face or only certain light or what?
I am sure the snake won't mind the light being on if it provides more heat!
What do you think?
Should work till morning.
 
Generally any heat pad you buy will get too hot if uncontrolled. Many people get the ZooMed heaters, which are advertised to reach a "herp related temperature". This may be true if you plug them in and lay them on the table, I don't know. If you put them under a cage though, they will easily break 100 degrees, and often 110, so they will need some form of thermostat or rheostat for the safety of the snake.
The heater will plug into the temperature controller and that will plug into the wall.
ZooMed makes a rheostat that runs about $15. It will work, but you'll have to keep a regular check on the temperature and adjust it every so often.
They also make a Repti-Temp 500R which is an on/off thermostat, and works much better that the rheostat, although it's a little more expensive.

Balls are secretive snakes by nature, and he won't appreciate the bright flourescent light on 24 hours a day. They prefer to be active after dark so try to get the lights off him as soon as you can.
 
Alright thanks....

Alright thanks again for the info.I am going to check out that heating pad and controller unit.
I know for $20 they have some type of heating pad but it's only like 5" by 5" or somthing small like that.
The biggest one I saw was like the size of a 10 gallon butt was $50 without the controller.
I was planning on getting a 20 gallon tank atleast next pay day because this guy is already around or a little over 2 feet.

Again thanks for the help!
 
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