Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My temps are 90 on the hot side and 80 on the cool side with ceramic heat lamp. Is it necessary to use a UTH for my Cali king or is the heat lamp good enough with these temps? I'm aware that it is difficult to maintain humidity with the heat lamp, but I haven't had a problem keeping it normal since they don't require high humidity. He's in a 10gal tank with aspen.

the range is 70-80 for kings. Ceramic heater in a 10 gallon is not safe at all.

I also use and prefer overhead heat as room my snakes are kept in is 68 and UTH is close to worthless for air warmth.

Ofcourse many love it and it works fine but for me overhead heat has been great thus shut off my UTH as not needed .He seems to "bask' in overhead heat after eating on the driftwood log . I keep cool side at 72 and warm side at 85 .

Cool side of 80 is to warm but I feel they prefer warm side of 85 when digesting food . In a 10 gallon tank its hard to keep temp difference with overhead heat. My king is in a 30 gallon long .
I love Ceramic heat emitter for my lizards but not for my snakes . I prefer the 100 watt ESU spotlight black light (its a true dark light hard to see) ofcourse I use a lamp dimmer on it and run it at 25% if even that and place dome on only one side of tank.

Have you considered a 20 long (granted you didnt ask that) I mention it only because huge difference in heating this way and you can get nice overhead temp difference , Eventually you will need bigger tank anyway .

He's only 16" right now, so I don't want to use a 20gal just yet. Thank you for your reply, I'm going supply shopping tomorrow and will get a dimmer or rheostat to bring the temperatures down a little bit. I use a UTH for my pythons, but I've noticed that my king likes to bask under the heat of the lamp, too. It's an infrared one, so the light doesn't bother him.

I am glad that you said that about the basking as I to notice mine enjoys "basking" .
I say this because he can easily go in the hollow driftwood or under it which is same exact temp as the top (I have taken temps) yet he seems to enjoy staying ontop after a meal and "basking".

My Rosyboa wont do that at all and same style overhead heat on one side of tank but he will stay low .

I got the dimmer today. It's 75-85 now. He seems to enjoy himself better on both sides now. I'll have to order a proper thermostat online, though, can't buy it anywhere here in the stores.

Dimmers work great just have any type of thermometer in tank that shows temp . Than adjust the dimmer .
For me a thermometer that works with the dimmer isnt possible as it needs to be placed in tank yet attached to dimmer to .

i'd recommend turning down that heat by nearly 10 degrees at both ends.

i've kept my cal kings at 68-70 low and 80-82 high for years and they've never done me wrong.

byron.d

Sounds like your following the caresheets to a "T", which could give you a very dead kingsnake. Kings in the wild, despite what the caresheets tell you, do take advantage of basking temps much higher than 82. I have personally seen Eastern kings basking in areas where the substrate temprature was as high as 100. Many people force their snakes to live in a very narrow temprature range, which might work most of the time, but your not supplying what the animal needs. The broader the range of temps you can give the animal, the healthier it will be. I have kings that eat small to medium rats and will then sit right on top of the heat tape, which is 95-100 degrees, for short periods of time. Then they will move to the middle of their sweater box, which is in the low to mid 80's, until the meal is digested, which usually only takes 3-4 days. They have a much healtheir appettite, and grow much quicker than kings kept in a narrow temp range. The key is to give them as wide of a gradient as possible, 100-70, which requires a larger cage. I know most people can't supply such a broad range, but I would try and atleast give them 90-75. I would also do a search through the forum for Frank Retes, FR, posts on this same subject. He's much more eloquent about the subject than I am.
Like I said, a healthy king may do okay at 82, but if it does become exposed to protozoans or a respitory illness, then it will need higher basking temps to overcome these illnesses. Higher temps help jumpstart a snakes immune system, and metabolism. Good luck!
-Phil

I have to agree with Phil here. If I kept my snakes at those temps I would gte a lot of regurges and loss of appetite.

I tend to keep my snakes on the hot end of the scale compared to what I read here by other posters. I think the heat does make them eat more and grow faster. The only time I am careful with high temps is with adult breeding males in the spring and early summer. I'll keep the males fairly cool until they have done their thing. Not sure if that really makes a difference with breeding success but I have experienced low fertility with males kept to warm in the spring.

You said it very very well. 100F or so, seems to be the AREA, where snakes limit their exposure. So its a very good high end.

I guess the only other thing to mention is, the snakes can choose to not use it, but its there is they need it. That is key. Cheers

at the temps i mentioned. hatchlings to breeders and no issues at all.

good to know that they do well at higher temps though...... in the summer my racks can easily get above 90 for short periods.

byron.d

"....read Frank Retes, FR, posts on this same subject. He's much more eloquent...."

Now THAT is a first!!!! I about spit up my coffee when I read that. This may be the best Christmas present I receive. Eloquent Frank. Thanks for the great laugh.

And don't go giving me any crap about this. Frank is my best friend and I love him like a brother.

Eloquent!! Great stuff!!

Peace, Hugh

Maybe, I should of said that he's better at shoving the point down your throat than I am.LOL!!!
-Phil

I agree with you. I keep all my kings at around 80-82 and they do excellent in these temps, with feeding, digesting, and growing.

Take care!
Billy

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Genesis 1:1

Thanks everyone, now that I have the dimmer his temp range is much bigger. 75 on the coolest and about 92 on the hottest. He just ate and is now under the hottest spot digesting.

I think your king should do a lot better at that range. Beware! He may start to eat you out of house and home! LOL!
Have a Merry Christmas!
-Phil

I am in south Florida where heat is a factor, we spend all the time trying to get temps down. Too hot for breeding mice, too hot for brumating, too hot for incubating, etc. I keep snakes on the hot side because I sort of have to. They have a good range from night to day but not a choice of preference in the cage. Oops, my bad but seems to be o.k. so far. I was wondering if you keep the heat (hot spot) on all the time or use a timer to simulate a night drop type cycle? I would worry that the snake is dumb enough to cook himself by sitting on 100 degrees all the time? Just curious cause I don’t own heat tape, I wish there was “cold tape”.

I just leave everything the same at night, too. I put the dimmer a bit higher when digesting and that's about it. When he feels warm, he'll just cruise over to the cooler side of the cage. I wouldn't be able to get much of a night drop in the summer either, it can get really hot and sticky here in the summer too, and I hate A/C-s.