Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My temp has been the following:

Day: warm side/belly heat = 95
cool side = 80

Night: warm side/belly heat = 83-85
cool side = 73

Humidity stays between 62-65%

Is this okay? I'm wondering if I need to lower the temp on my UTH and if the night time cool side temp is too low?

Thanks as always!

Day: warm side/belly heat = 95
cool side = 80

**** This does not seem out of the ordinary for me. My belly heat is 90-92 while the ambient cool side is about 80-82. I find at these temps, almost all of my BPs stay in the hot end.

Night: warm side/belly heat = 83-85
cool side = 73

**** 73? Where do you live? I drop to room temps at night which are about 78. I do not provide a hot spot at night unless it's in the winter. Then I give them a spot of about 80-85.

Humidity stays between 62-65%

**** I don't concern myself too much here. My rack units keep the humidity pretty well and I mist during shed cycles.

Is this okay? I'm wondering if I need to lower the temp on my UTH and if the night time cool side temp is too low?

**** Let your snakes decide. If they are in the cool end most of the time, it may be too hot. If they are in the hot end most of the time, it may be too cold. "Read" your snakes.
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Jay A. Martin

We keep our air conditioning set to 72 - not by my choice. That just happens to be the agreed upon temperature between my boyfriend and I. I would like it warmer, but he gets hot really easy as does my dog. At night I keep the door to the room that the snake is in open - that's why the cool side gets to 73 at night. During the day (since we are not home and the dog is) I close the door to the room - that is why the cool side is warmer during the day.

Thanks.

Am I correct that the snake staying on one side is not good (indicating that one side is too hot or too cool) and that adjustments need to be made?

Not necessarily. It is a sign. Snakes generally thermoregulate, moving from warm to cooler, cooler to warm areas of their environment. If one spends almost all of his time in the warm end, one might conclude that he's "needing" more warmth. Now, it also depends on security. If you have no hides or the snake does not feel secure in the cool end, it may still hang out in the warm end even though it might prefer the cool end at some point.

Also, you have belly heat and ambient temps. It is important to distiguish between the two. You could have belly heat of 95 degrees while the ambient temp is only 80 degrees.
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Jay A. Martin

Daytime:
77-88 degrees F/25-31 degrees C

Nightime:
68-73 degrees F/ 20-23 degrees C

During breeding time the cooler side will be better..