Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i just bought my first milk snake yesterday and ive got a few questions that i cant seem to find acceptable answers to on the internet. i was hoping an experienced keeper can help me answer these questions. first of all, ive heard the temperature gradient is about 85-72, is this air temperature or floor temp? what is the warmest temp the floor should be to ensure my snake wont be burned? thanks in advance for your help!

If you can do away with the heating pads attached underneath the floor, you'd do yourself and the snake a favor of eliminating the risk of the snake getting burned on its belly. But if you must have the heating pad (maybe because the area you are keeping the snake is too cold, like a basement), then I would place newspapers on the glass floor (inside your terrarium) and secure all sides of the newspaper with electrical tape so that there is zero chance the snake WILL NOT hide underneath the newspapers. The thickness of the newspapers depends on how strong heat eminates from your heating pad underneath the outside part of the glass floor. My suggestion is after you placed the newspaper and the heating pad has been running for awhile now, place your palm on top of the newspapers for about 2 minutes. If you can withstand that heat for that long, there's probably little chance for the snake to get burned. Then cover the entire flooring with aspen bedding. Also, if you use this methodology, you will have to constantly change the newspaper, especially when it gets to be really crispy overtime because of the heat. Again, you only do all this if you really have to use the heating pads underneath...I'm not an advocate of heating pads because of the risk for the snake and also not sure how much heat your heating pad emits that could be a fire hazard.

Having said that, instead, use heating bulb from the top to heat up one side of the terrarium. The warm side should be around temps of 78-82F and should not be more than 83F. Constant prolonged exposure of more than 83F can cause sterility on snakes. The cool side should be 65 to 72F. The most important thing is for your snake to be able to go back and forth between the warm and cool areas without any difficulties at all.

Hope that helps...

Good luck...

Ray
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RAY - "Laziness is nothing more than a habit of resting before getting tired!"

yes, that helps. i'll look into a heating lamp. thanks again for the speedy reply!

n/p
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RAY - "Laziness is nothing more than a habit of resting before getting tired!"

I would just be careful about using tape in the enclosure. Your snake will always find away to get the tape warped around itself.

Use a heat pad like an Ultratherm or tropical-style Exo-Terra. These pads do not get extremely hot. Then, purchase a herp-specific thermostat or temperature controller. With this setup, there will be no burns. You can get a thermostat for $30.

Milksnakes dwell in substrate (soil) in the wild. They conserve moisture that way, avoid predation and are able to warm up or cool down as needed by coming closer to the surface or going deeper. They use objects or the substrate to heat themselves as needed. This is why heat pads work out well as long as the heat pad has something to transfer the heat to, like a substrate, piece of tile, etc.

So, a heat pad is a great way to heat. Add some substrate. I prefer soil - the stuff w/o chemical additives. Coir fiber mixed with a little sand works well. Of course you can go the aspen route. I don't use it anymore. If I use shavings, it is sifted dry pine or Sani-Chip, or a mixture of the two. I often use the shavings in summer when humidity is high, then switch to soil in Winter and Spring when humidity where I live is low (soil holds humidity far better than wood shavings, and milksnakes have thin skin and dehydrate easily unless they can conserve moisture).

I purchased some fake rock water bowls, flipped them over and use them as hides. Plastic hides are available too. For milks, they will hide under rather flat hides. Even a piece of plywood over the soil is an effective hide, or a piece of tile or cork flat. Or paper, or cardboard. Milks use it all.

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Mark