Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello fellow herpers!

I purchased my first FOUR snakes this weekend. I have been building their cages (cages is probably not the word to use, deluxe retile condo would be more fitting) for the last several weeks and just finished in time for the IRBA in Pomona, CA this last weekend. I purchased an Okeetee male and two Amelanistic females (each 7 days old and none had eaten, I know, I know). I also came home with an 8-month-old Rosy Boa and a Russian Tortoise, I believe if you are going to do something – GO FREAKIN OVERBOARD! I have done endless hours of research and I have purchased all the literature I can find. I do however have some questions. I will however only ask one:

What is the census on Corn temps? Right now I am planning on having a side of the enclosure at 80-90 degrees and another side at 90-100 degrees. There is obviously a hide and a water bowl. Am I close or way off? Opinions are extremely varied in this forum and in the literature I have been reading. My snakes and I would GREATLY appreciate any feedback. I DO NOT want to cook my babies…

Thanks in advance! I look forward to becoming an active member of this forum!

Jonathan
Aka Tyler’s Dad

1.0 Bearded Dragon
1.2 Corn Snakes
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
1.0 Russian Tortoise
0.1 Shih Tzu
1.0 Children
0.1 Wife

Warm side should be more like mid-high 80s, cool side is fine at room temp (70s I guess). Actually, since my house is warm (78 at night, 80 during the day) I have my hatchlings just at room temp, no extra heating, and they do fine. So don't go overboard with the heat

Good luck.
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-audri
Webpage/Pics

And turn off the heat at night. Keeping the body temperature in the 80s is needed for digestion. Keeping the body temperature in the 80s for months at a stretch is likely to cause heat stress to the snake.

Paul Hollander

Thanks for the response!

My issue revolves around their location. I built a herp room out of the third car portion of my 3 car garage. Lowest temp in the summer, without any heat source is about 70. Is this an issue and if so should I simply not use a heating element unless nesacary?

Jonathan
Aka Tyler’s Dad

1.0 Bearded Dragon
1.2 Corn Snakes
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
1.0 Russian Tortoise
0.1 Shih Tzu
1.0 Children
0.1 Wife

maybe go without a heat source at first just in case what you are taking temps with is off...i know my garage is like a sauna...its so hot...i could never imagine putting my herps in there b/c its hot as heLL...corns can do fine in 70's but if its too hot its bad vs. too cold (which i don't think you'd have a prob with)...but if it is too cold you could always add heat later.... people in the south US always say its easier to heat than it is to cool snakes.

If the room temp gets 80 or higher during the day, you can get a simple plug-in thermostat (pic) to automatically turn off the heat source. Instead of putting the probe in the cage, you can put it outside the cage and set the temp to 80 and it will automatically turn off the heat source if it goes above, and turn it back on when it goes below. If it gets above, I don't know, 83 or so, I would look into ways of keeping the temp down.

If the daytime room temp stays below 80, I would keep the heat source on during the day. At night feel free to turn it off (recommend a timer).

My bedroom is at a steady 82 or so, day or night (darn computer works as a space heater, and even though it's 76 outside at night I can't open the window 'cause the humidity is killer ), and I'm keeping a hatchling in here and he's doing fine.

(And yeah, it's a lot easier heating a cage up than trying to cool it off!)

The pic is of an Alife thermostat. If you need to turn off the heat source because the daytime temp is too high, this is a good choice. It has 3 outlets so you can plug 3 seperate heat sources in if you have more than one cage. (not the best choice if you need to regulate the actual heat output of the heating device, though)

Link

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-audri
Webpage/Pics

Thank you so much for the informative reply. I am going to have to get a thermostat. My garage stays in the mid 80s all day and drops to the 70s at night.