Walt remember that with snakes there is a cause and effect. Or a If... then... For instance.

If the snake spends all its time on the warm end under the mulch then the snake is trying to heat up and the cage is to cold. If the snake is under the mulch on the cool end all the time then the hot end might be a little warmand the cage might be to small. If the snake is fossoral and spends all its time in a branch then something is wrong down below. If the snake is fossoral and spends its time under the mulch going from one end to the other depending on its feed schedule and only comes out at night to roam around then things are OK.



In other words you are at your house and you can look at the cage and the snake. What do you see??? What does your mind tell you the snake should be doing?? What is it doing compared to the heat source and other factors involved.



As far as the heat source goes I like a small UTH and a bulb with a climbing branch or something going right up to the bulb. It gives a wider range of temps for the snake to choose from. A UTH alone only goes up to 90-100 degrees but with the bulb and small UTH the range on the hot end goes up higher and depending how the climbing surface is set up it can get to 140 degrees at the very top. The snake may never use it but it is available. The problem with this setup is you need a big cage. Like a 55 gallon.



I had a setup like this before I moved and whatever I put in it grew like mad. For the most part the bulb was not used much at all but the option was there. I also didn't watch it all the time. I also never had any health problems out of any snake in this cage. The cool end was at about 75 degree which is a little warmer than I would have liked but my house never got any cooler in Florida. LOL I am thinking about setting up a multi level cage with a best case scenario having a cooling device in the bottom and a very hot upper level. Like about 100 degrees ambient and about 5 feet from top to bottom. The levels being 6-12 inches top to bottom. I just need to get off my butt. Anyway am glad you are interested in your snakes health and I hope it goes well.



Later Jason

[ Hide Replies ]

• Quality of life question... - wpglaeser, Mon Jan 16 16:22:18 2006
• RE: Quality of life question... - kingsnaken, Mon Jan 16 21:05:20 2006
• RE: Quality of life question... - snakesunlimited1, Mon Jan 16 21:31:32 2006
• RE: Quality of life question... - markg, Tue Jan 17 15:55:56 2006
• a couople quick observations - Rtdunham, Wed Jan 18 18:50:46 2006
• RE: a couople quick observations - wpglaeser, Thu Jan 19 16:41:24 2006