Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey,

I keep my 2 pairs of adult BP's in the garage in NE Florida using UTH heating only. It gets pretty cold during the winter and I'm afraid I'm not giving them enough heat (they were inside previous winters). What do you recommend?

Thanks and God bless,

Stevo

I reccommend getting a thermometer so that you know actual temperatures. You may guess one temp, and it could easily be another. Don't guess when it comes to animal's lives. Get the proper equipment to measure the parameters you have a question about.

Then, you will basically answer your own quetion, because if you own the snakes, you obviously already researched and know the correct temperatures at which to keep them at. Well, hopefully you do. And if the temperature that you are measuring is different than those required temperatures, then do something about it. What to do you ask? Well that all depends on what the temperatures are??!!! And no one here can tell you what they are. Thus the need for a thermometer.
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Hey,

Jeff thanks for the reply! I do have a thermometer, and the temps are hanging around 62, and the really cold weather hasn't hit yet. My real question, I guess, is what can I do for additional heating? Ceramic heaters, night bulbs?? Thanks!

Stevo

Yes, that is WAY too low. Ha ha, you should have said that in the first post!

You want 78-80F cool end and 90-92F warm end and then everything in between, between the two ends. My suggestion is to get a more powerful heat pad, or get a proper heat-tape setup and turn it up. I wouldn't use light bulbs or ceramic heat emitters with a Ball Python. Its tough to keep tropical snakes in a room that has an ambient of less than 60F, and is not very advisable. I wouldn't do it.
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Hey,

Wife says they have to stay in the garage, it's probly gonna get below 50 this winter. Is there a way to heat the garage? I may just have to cut out a heat vent!

Thanks,

Stevo

Ceramic heater, oil-filled heater, space heater, radiant heat panels, high-powered grow-op lamps.....etc etc etc.

My choice would be an oil-filled hooked up to a proper thermostat. Takes hardly any electricity at all, once the room heats up (if its properly insulated).

Good luck man, and keep us updated. You can also section off a corner if the garage is big. No sense heating a 20x20 room for 4 snakes, ha ha!!

Cheers,
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I would just use two ceramic heat emitters for the pairs. Mine is fairly effective...

Just because the air reads 62 doesn't mean the substrate reads that low... the UTH heats the bottom, not necissarily the air.

I know that with a UTH you need to keep the air 75 and above to be effective for the snakes.
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-Iman

1.1 Balls
0.1 Boa (BCI)
0.0 Experience
100.0 % LOVE

Hope it helps...

I would agree with Jeff F. An oil-filled heater would be a good choice but only if the garage were insulated. If the garage is just studs and sheathing, there ain't nothing going to heat it effectively.

If the garage is just studs and sheathing, there ain't nothing going to heat it effectively.

Ain't that the truth! Heat will escape faster than you can say "Thousand dollar electric bill"!!!!

I was having the same problem, but in my house. We keep it fairly cool. My gradient was from 92 on the warm side to 70 on the cool side. I added a human heating pad set on low to the cool side. Now my gradient is 92 warm and 82 cool with ambient temp about 78. It's a cheap fix when it works.

Totally works! This is why you just have to play around with YOUR setup. Everyone's house is different, but the snakes are the same. Therefore, WE have to adjust how we house and heat the buggers! Preferrably this is done BEFORE we get the snakes, and not "on the fly", but that's not always possible.

Good luck, and just maybe add an extra heat pad like IMO suggested. Cheap at like $12 US. Just remember to get it to 90F one side, and 80F the other side. Then you're laughing.

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