Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Yeah, I know, I'm thinkin' way ahead here.

I am just now getting back into snakes after about 15 years without. I'm having 4 snakes shipped to me for arrival on Tuesday, in fact. One is a Peruvian rainbow from one of this forum's good friends and frequent posters.

I have read here and elsewhere about keeping temps for rainbows in the high 70s-low 80s. For the winter, that's all fine and dandy. BUT -- in the summer, I rarely run the central air. I'm just odd that way. It is very likely that the indoor temps could be in the mid-80s fairly frequently.

Will this stress my rainbow? Or will she adapt as long as she has plenty of water? I'm not worried about the other snakes, which will be Hondurans and in the future possibly corns as well. But I want to keep my rainbow and any future rainbows happy.

Thanks for any input!
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0.1.0 Peruvian rainbow boa
0.1.2 Honduran milk snakes
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

There are a lot of variables in that equation.......

How high into the mid 80's

How long at the hotter temps

Cage construction (a cage with more thermal mass will resist the rising temps better than a lower thermal mass cage.

Thermostat on the cage(s) if they shut off power to the heat elements they would not add to the problem.

Herp room?

Other cages in the herp room set hotter could make the entire room hotter than the rest of the house.

Two story or one story home? First floor rooms are usually cooler then second floor rooms.

To answer your specific question, yes, it could stress out your BRB if the whole cage gets into the mid 80's for extended periods of time but some pockets(damp moss hide box) can be coller so even though the room is mid 80's, parts of the cage can be a refuge from the heat.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count (05/26/2009):
36.51 BRB
29.42 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

>>There are a lot of variables in that equation.......

Thanks very much, those are great things for me to keep in mind. Since I know now that it could be a problem, I'll be sure to keep careful track of the cage temps and adjust those variables.

One thing that'll help -- now that thermometers with remote probes are so cheap, it'll be easy to track the temps right inside the hides.

Thanks again!
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0.1.0 Peruvian rainbow boa
0.1.2 Honduran milk snakes
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters