Radiant heat uses infrared rays to heat solid mass but not the air. If a snake were inbetween the heat panel and the cage floor it's body temp would be as high as the cage's floor surface is now. The snake would be toast, fried.



Under radiant heat panels you use mass temp (the temp of whatever mass is located underneath the heat panel) to regulate the temps. On the other end you should go by ambient temps. You're not using the lights as the main basking source so they're barely on (if they're on at all), heating only the air underneath and not the mass.



If the snakes are as far as they can get on the cool end you want to cool the cage down more to make sure they can get as cool as they want/need. To me, ideally, a snake shouldn't be all the way up against the hot end or the cool end. There should be several inches between the snake and the wall. This tells me that I'm not cornering them with heat or cold.



Floor temp (mass temp) under that radiant heat panel - Air temp (ambient temp) on the opposite side of the cage (cool end). Ambient temps should be measured aproximately half the diameter of the snake's body at it's thickest point, from the cage floor up. If your snake is 3in in diameter then measure the air temp 1 1/2in up the wall from the floor. 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 inches high - thereabout.



Always err on the cool side of temp ranges. Reptiles can recover a lot easier from low temps than they can from too high of temps.



Hang in there!

Mike
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,

this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:

Appalachian American





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