I see you already experimented - this is good. Covering the tank top except for a small vent area does wonders for keeping heat in. Also, your 64-68 deg background temp is perfect for mountain kings and even Cal kings. So you could keep one of those and not be concerned about the cool air temps. In the wild, these animals, when not basking, seek out temps below 70 deg, so your setup would be ideal. Wish I had that!



Perhaps for a big Florida king you might want to add more heat. I'll describe that at the end of the post.



That aquarium door idea is very clever. I've seen that done once using real glass with hinges glued on and the stationary piece siliconed onto the aquarium frame, but Lexan is certainly a great alternative.



I like your idea of using a ceramic socket in one of the vent holes, assuming the door idea so the vent hole is on top. I would use a compact fluorescent bulb and not bother covering it. Then you could adhere a piece of Flexwatt to the back wall (outside) and that will provide additional heat to the floor heat. No heat bulbs are really necessary, and you eliminate ultra hot surfaces and worrying about covering bulbs and such. Then deploy your front-opening door and you are good to go.



The myth is that air temps need to be really warm, and that is not true with many types of kings. I thing a mountain king or a Sinaloan milksnake would thrive in your basement, and you would only need one undertank heater like a 1ft piece of 11-inch Flexwatt max and that is it. If you want a Florida king, just add a 2ft piece of 11-inch Flexwatt to the back wall and you will have more heat. Pretty easy setup that way. Then your light bulb can be a compact fluorescent so as to not worry about heat from above. That setup described should provide plenty of heat for any kingsnake.



Pic below shows (barely) a milksnake basking against a heater on the back wall of the tank. Kings and milks are very good at using mass temps to warm up. Air temps do not mean as much to them.

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