“At 118 degrees, the naked flexwatt plastic sheet does not have enough stored thermal energy, nor enough raw power, to cause any discomfort when I place my hand firmly on it, and keep it in contact.”



I believe the analogy between your hand and a snake’s body is a false one. Let’s try this instead – fill your bath tub with 118 degree water. Climb in and sit down. Feel any discomfort? Have someone hold you in this position for 10 – 15 minutes. Burned yet? I think so.



The following example might be more amenable to your way of approaching this issue. I just went back and checked on one of my sand boas. The hottest temperature under the substrate in this cage was 106 degrees (ssshh, don’t tell anyone); the sand boa had its chin resting just outside that hot spot and its head registered 91, while the rest of its outstretched body registered 81. I don’t normally expose sand boas to hot spots much over 95 degrees and wouldn’t recommend that anyone else do so, but I’ve never had a problem with this particular animal. But what might happen if I allowed the temperature in most of its cage to plummet in order to cycle it for breeding, and left it with only a small hot spot of, say, 118 degrees to lay on? Well, I don’t plan to, but it's certainly possible that it might suffer a burn. And if it were a ball python, I’d be even less surprised if the result were a burn.



“But having people who have never burned a snake tell me what it takes to burn a snake is not as believable as someone who has suffered a tragedy sharing the details.”



Go to the Search page, type in burn as the Keyword, Search in either Current or 2003 Archives and you should find plenty of depressing stories from people who were honest enough to share them. Also, if you care to, you can access the “Old Forum Archives” from the Main Page and search various forums for still more depressing accounts.



You haven’t said anything about the ambient temperatures in the room where your cages will be, or how large the cages are, so any specifics we give would be speculative. But if the cages are large and your room temperatures low, you will have difficulty heating them with just flexwatt. It is under those conditions, I believe, that many reptile burns occur – too low ambient air temps forcing the reptile to seek warmth from a too-hot heat source.



No one can guarantee that one of your snakes will not be burned if you allow it access to temperatures that burn flesh. Don’t use these flexwatt-type heating devices that can reach 130 degrees under some conditions without some sort of heat controller. It’s that simple! A lamp dimmer may not be the Mercedes of controllers, but it will do an adequate job when room temperatures are stable if you don’t want to spend the money for something like a Helix or Big Apple proportional thermostat.



Good luck,

Joan

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