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I never thought this was a problem before untill I picked her up the other day. She was so cold it hurt my hands. I put her under the heat light when i was handling her and she warmed up. I think it might be because there is a different hide on the hot side. I have three hides, an "abobe" hide on the hot side,and exo terra directly in the middle, and a half log on the cool side. The cool side temps are in the low 70’s most of the time directly on 70 F. And the hot side ambient temp is 78F, But she has a U.T.H that she is niver over. It is controled by a rehostat. Is there any other problem? I will be fixing the hide problem the day after christmas because i’ll have a lot of money to waste then! LOL Can you guys think of why she wont go to the warm side? Here’s her setup!

>>I never thought this was a problem before untill I picked her up the other day. She was so cold it hurt my hands. I put her under the heat light when i was handling her and she warmed up. I think it might be because there is a different hide on the hot side. I have three hides, an "abobe" hide on the hot side,and exo terra directly in the middle, and a half log on the cool side. The cool side temps are in the low 70’s most of the time directly on 70 F. And the hot side ambient temp is 78F, But she has a U.T.H that she is niver over. It is controled by a rehostat. Is there any other problem? I will be fixing the hide problem the day after christmas because i’ll have a lot of money to waste then! LOL Can you guys think of why she wont go to the warm side? Here’s her setup!
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Does she eat regularily?
Does she digest her food without problems? No regurges?
Normal "poops"?
Does she shed without problems?

If there is no problems with the above issues I wouldn't really worry about it.
As long as she has a warm spot if she needs it and she is eating, digesting, defecating and shedding without trouble you are doing well.
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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"Resistance is futile"
Jimmy Johnson
(Draybar)
Draybars Snakes

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Nope nothing bad! She is perfectly healthy! Thank you very much!

I'm glad you said that because both my corn snakes stay on the cold side no matter what summer or winter, but they eat, poop, and shed fine and never throw up. Plus, they are very active when I take them out.

Great looking enclosure. I wish more people would post pix of their environments: I have a hard time coming up with ideas!

I've discovered the same problem with my corn, and was actually going to make a thread about it before I saw this. Figured I'd just tag my problem on this thread since it's similar.

I've got a heat pad attached beneath my tank, but whenever I turn it on my corn always moves to the other side. The tank itself stays about 75 degrees, sometimes a high of 77 or low of 73. Because he never makes use of the heat pad, I've just been leaving it off.

He has no eating/defecating problems and sheds fine (other than needing a misting/soak once). I believe it's fine for him as it is, but I'm heading home from college for winter break soon and my room is much colder there. I'm afraid that he won't utilize the heating pad at home and be cold. Is it possible that the heating pad gets too hot, or do some snakes just like it a bit cooler?

Any advise would help. Thanks!
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0.0.1 Okeetee corn snake "Apollo"
DeviantART Gallery

>>I've discovered the same problem with my corn, and was actually going to make a thread about it before I saw this. Figured I'd just tag my problem on this thread since it's similar.
>>
>>I've got a heat pad attached beneath my tank, but whenever I turn it on my corn always moves to the other side. The tank itself stays about 75 degrees, sometimes a high of 77 or low of 73. Because he never makes use of the heat pad, I've just been leaving it off.
>>
>>He has no eating/defecating problems and sheds fine (other than needing a misting/soak once). I believe it's fine for him as it is, but I'm heading home from college for winter break soon and my room is much colder there. I'm afraid that he won't utilize the heating pad at home and be cold. Is it possible that the heating pad gets too hot, or do some snakes just like it a bit cooler?
>>

I would go ahead and use the heating pad. Give him the option.
Just make sure it isn't getting too hot over the pad.
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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"Resistance is futile"
Jimmy Johnson
(Draybar)
Draybars Snakes

_____

My Lavender corn, Violet, likes to stay on the cool side most of the time when she sleeps. When she's up she's cruising around the whole tank and doesn't really seem to have a preference. However, she always stays in her house under the heat lamp for at least a day after eating.

Yea same with Yink. She'll come out and roam around and have no problem at night,it's just when she's resting and sleeping. Ok, thank you all very much!

I have noticed that my adult snow does the same thing: he prefers the side w/o the pad MOST of the time, but I'm sure that he goes into the hot hide at night.

Also, since I live in the Santa Cruz mountains, the bottom drops out of the temperature at night. We heat the house with a woodstove, so when thats done it can get really cold in the house. To combat these temp swings, I also have a ceramic heating element above the cage on the same side that I have the UTH. I just don't trust that the UTH can handle the temp drop on it's own so I provide the backup just in case.

My only concern is that since the ceramic element is so much more powerful and effeicient, it may not allow the UTH to do it's job. Both heating devices are controlled by the same thermostat, so by the time the ceramic element heats the tank up, the thermostat shuts eveything down, so I'm not too sure if the UTH is getting a chance to provide heat of any significance on the floor.

Do corn snakes actually have to TOUCH a warm surface to digest, or is it ok if simply the ambient temperature is adequate?

You really need to have a thermometer right where the snake would be resting on the heat pad. That will let you know what the actual temperature is. I suspect that the snakes that some people keep are staying away from the UTH because it is too darn hot (don't rely on a thermostat, get an actual themometer reading). The temperature where the snake can be the warmest in the cage should be in the upper 80s.

In my experience, even with room temperature in the 50s, a UTH is all you need. A UTH offers more themoregulatory options if you are using a substrate such as aspen bedding, as the snake can burrow to get closer to the heat if it needs to.

If using a ceramic heater, make sure it has a light guard, so the snake cannot touch the element and burn itself.

Tim

Third Eye

I was wondering about that 70-78 range . . . seemed a little low to me. All the husbandry I have seen for corns, rats and similar species points to a need for one area in the 82-88 range, which also helps digestion. The thing to remember about these snakes is that in the wild, when they are active during late spring and summer and on into fall, is that they live most of the time in ambient temps that can range from low 70s on up to nineties during the day. I have also noticed my corn spending most of his time at the cooler (probably 75 or so) end of the cage, but mocing to the warm side (86 average) after eating.

The thing I try to keep in mind that if it's 80 degrees in South Carolina, there are options for a snake to bask on a rock in the sun that may have a 140 degree surface temperature. There also may be an opportunity to go into a crayfish burrow that goes under a creek, where it's 50 degrees. That's a 90 degree temperature gradient! As keepers, we should try to provide as much of a range of "middle temperatures" as we can.

Tim