Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So, I have my 6 colubrids in my office above my garage. The space is finished, but still has cold air bombarding it on all sides but one. This AM the cage temps were 65 degrees, and while their UTH's are still plugged in, I am worried that might be too cold. I am considering moving them into my sons room where the temp extremes might hit 72-73 degrees instead of the 60's and possibly lower. My substrate is aspen at about 1 inch thickness.

Your suggestions are appreciated
-----
1.0 C/B Brooks
0.1 C/B Pueblan
0.0.1 W/C Scarlet King
0.0.1 W/C Eastern Milk
0.0.1 W/C Yellow Rat
0.0.1 W/C Western Garter
1.0 C/B Black Lab
1.0 C/B Min. PoodleXAmer. Eskimo hybrid
1.0 C/B Goofy Cat
1.2 C/B Children
0.1 W/C wife

Almost too many variables here to address but here goes my simple flip responce:

Are you talking ambient nighttime temps or the temp over your UTH. Chances are that the temp over the UTH is higher, maybe even too high but that's another issue.

If you are talking temps over the heater then most certainly the temp is too low for routine activity and feeding.

If the ambient temp is in the 60's but you have a warm spot in there that is in the mid to 80's you may be fine. Place a hide over or near the heat source and if the snake needs extra heat during the night it will be able to find it.

Depending on the type of snake it may be fine with ambient night time temps in the 60s but generally speaking such temps are concidered marginal.

Another concern here would be wild swings between day time highs (DTH) and night time lows (NTL). In nature animals have access to a lot of mass that tends to buffer against extreme fluctuations in temperture. This is not the case in a cage with an inch of aspen or pine bedding.
-----
Darwin Rocks!

my temp gauge is on the aquarium wall, so I don't know the temp over the UTH. I suppose I could take a measurement to give more details. Probably the biggest gauge to giving me concern is the fact that my Brooks isn't showing much interest in food. The other issue is that I moved him from a 20L to a 55L and moved him from a bedroom to this office a few months ago and his attitude changed a bit then. He has always been a voracious feeder even through the winters, but now seems pretty disinterested in food. I have never put my snakes through brumation, which is why I am so concerned.

Also, what about humidity during cooler months? Do I keep the same regiment of spray-bottle humidity, or do I back off a bit? Or, because of the drier air, do i need to up the frequency of my misting?

Lastly, I have now force-fed my baby eastern milk twice in the last two weeks. Should I stop because of the shorter days/impending brumation? SHould I move him to a warmer room and continue until he takes a meal on his own? He is a hatchling of about 2 mos. old, and to my knowledge the only food he has taken has been the mouse tails I started 2 weeks ago?

WOW!

The learning never stops.
-----
1.0 C/B Brooks
0.1 C/B Pueblan
0.0.1 W/C Scarlet King
0.0.1 W/C Eastern Milk
0.0.1 W/C Yellow Rat
0.0.1 W/C Western Garter
1.0 C/B Black Lab
1.0 C/B Min. PoodleXAmer. Eskimo hybrid
1.0 C/B Goofy Cat
1.2 C/B Children
0.1 W/C wife

For a quick check you can lay the thermometor over the heated area but a change in feeding habits generally indicates that something is wrong. Might want to move your animals to a warmer location as a first step to figure out what is wrong. If he still doesn't eat then look at other causes.
-----
Darwin Rocks!

You don't happen to have a baseboard heater or something in your garage, do you? That would take some of the chill out of the room above it.

Our house gets pretty cold overnight, but the temps on top of the substrate inside the hides on the warm sides are 87 during the day, and drop down to low 80s at night. That's how they've always been and my three snakes seem to do fine with that.
-----
1.1 Florida Kingsnake
1.0 Kisatchie Cornsnake

you could try adding a ceramic heater to each tank,,that would raise the temp,,,,or heat the room with something on a timer,,,,
-----
Ball Python
Jungle Carpet Python
Eastern King
Mexican Black King
Sonoran Gopher
Aberrent Cal King
Anduran Milk
Hypo Brooks
Amel Motley Corn
White Sided Bull
Striped Pacific Gopher
Axanthic Brooksi
Goini King

I love the smell of aspen shavings in the morning...lol

"To serve man..it's...it's a cookbook!"

to answer both of you, I moved all my critters into my son's room last night. My brooks was active again within an hour and I will check his feeding response in a day or two.

Thanks!
-----
1.0 C/B Brooks
0.1 C/B Pueblan
0.0.1 W/C Scarlet King
0.0.1 W/C Eastern Milk
0.0.1 W/C Yellow Rat
0.0.1 W/C Western Garter
1.0 C/B Black Lab
1.0 C/B Min. PoodleXAmer. Eskimo hybrid
1.0 C/B Goofy Cat
1.2 C/B Children
0.1 W/C wife