Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm interested in any specific information anyone has about snakes getting burned by laying on surfaces that are too hot.

I'm interested in corn snakes, king and milk snakes, small pythons and small boas.

I know the conventional wisdom: hot rocks burn snakes because they have hot spots; snakes don't have a way to sense heat coming from below and thus sustain burns; reptiles react to things differently than we warm blooded mammals do.

What I'm interested in is finding out if anyone has specific information, rather than third hand generic conventional wisdom.

For example, if a snake were to lay on a surface temperature of exactly 80 degrees for two hours, would that create a burn? What if the surface temperature were exactly 90 degrees? Or exactly 100 degrees? or exactly 110? or 120?

Is there a temperature that will absolutely guarantee a burn? For example, red-hot steel would produce a burn, almost instantly I'd think. What about boiling temperature, say around 200 degrees? Would that guarantee a burn? What about 180, or 150?

Another issue is thermoregulation. I understand the need for a temperature gradient. It assumes that the snake will instinctively move from a hotter area when it needs to be cooler and from a cooler area when it needs to be warmer. I've even heard about watching the snake: if it spends all its time in the warm end, the tank is probably too cool overall; if it spends all its time in the cool end, the tank is probably too warm overall.

Would a snake continue to lay on an overheated surface long enough to burn, or would it move away, seeking a cooler part of the tank, due to the instinctive need to thermoregulate?

Of course, that relates to the issue of burning by adding a time element. If a snake is unlikely to remain in an overheated spot after its central body temperature rises (it will thermoregulate by moving away), then the real issue becomes one of timing. How hot must a surface be in order to create a burn in the skin of the snake before the overall snake body temperature warms up enough to cause the snake to move away?

I would think that a particular concern could be pinpoint hot spots, such as the infamous malfunctioning hot rock, or an exposed incandescent light or ceramic heater than can touch the snake on one small spot. In that case, the heat energy might build up to create a pinpoint burn long before the snakes body temperature would rise enough to trigger movement due to thermoregulation.

If the snake is lying on a large overheated surface, the snake might well move away before the time interval that would be required for a burn. That is, perhaps 120 degrees could cause a snake to sustain a burn IF the temperature were applied to a small spot for at least 20 minutes, but no snake would ever remain on that sort of overheated surface for 20 minutes at a time. (I've made up those last numbers for illustration purposes only.)

So, does anyone know the actual limits or specific behavior in these circumstances?

Finally, has anyone ever had a snake get burned? What caused it? Was it an incandescent lamp, a ceramic emitter, a hot rock, an undertank heater, or something else? Do you know the surface temperature of the item that caused the burn?

Thanks for sharing anything you know.

Michael

“What I'm interested in is finding out if anyone has specific information, rather than third hand generic conventional wisdom.”

Hello Michael –

Unfortunately, whether one’s information is third hand, second hand or first hand, no one really knows why reptiles in captivity (not just snakes) sometimes fail to move away from heat sources even though they may be cooking themselves to death. Whether it is a python lying on a heat source, or a lizard or turtle underneath one, they don’t always seem to “know” when to move away. For that matter, we don’t even know if THAT is what they don’t know. Perhaps they DO realize when they are injured but don’t comprehend that safety lies just a few inches away. This seems totally counter-intuitive for life forms which maintain their body temperatures through behavioral thermoregulation, but it happens. And not infrequently.

“if a snake were to lay on a surface temperature of exactly 80 degrees for two hours, would that create a burn? What if the surface temperature were exactly 90 degrees? Or exactly 100 degrees? or exactly 110? or 120?”

Reptile skin probably suffers thermal injuries in the same way and at the same temperatures as cat, dog, pig, or human skin. So this part of your question should be fairly easy to answer, either by research online or experimentation on yourself. No, I am not being totally facetious. So, of course, 80 degrees would not cause a burn, but not all reptiles would be able to function optimally at that constant temperature (some colubrid snakes – too high? gravid pythons – too low; desert iguanas – way too low!)

“What about boiling temperature, say around 200 degrees? Would that guarantee a burn?”

At this point, I’ve got to tell you, I’m wondering what your intention in writing this was. Your post was obviously carefully composed. So, what, Michael, do you THINK boiling temperature would do to living tissue? There is a way for you to personally find out, and it is as close as your kitchen. By the way, how old are you?

“If the snake is lying on a large overheated surface, the snake might well move away before the time interval that would be required for a burn.”

Or it might not. That is why reptile veterinarians continue to see many cases of thermal burns. That is why we as keepers need to find out the appropriate temperature gradients for the animals we keep caged. Luckily, this information is now readily available in books and online for most commonly-kept reptiles.

In closing, let me trot out the same photos I often use when the topic of thermal burns in snakes comes up (with my standard disclaimer: No, these weren’t my snakes and no, I don’t know what the outcome was for these patients). It does not have to get this bad to be classified as a burn, and many of us have probably had something less serious happen to our animals. These days, with all the good heating and regulating devices adapted for reptile care, our herps have a far better chance of escaping this fate.

-Joan

Photos courtesy of Stephen L. Barten, DVM, Vernon Hills Animal Hospital, Mundelein, IL

Dear Joan,

Thanks for the thoughtful reply.

My instinct tells me that if I touch something, and I can keep my hand there indefinitely, then it isn't going to cause a burn.

At 118 degrees, the naked flexwatt plastic sheet does not have enough stored thermal energy, nor enough raw power, to cause any discomfort when I place my hand firmly on it, and keep it in contact.

Common sense tells me that if I don't get burned, then a snake isn't going to get burned either.

But as you have pointed out, sometimes reptile answers can be counterintuitive. Thus, I'm trying to find out if I'm creating a danger if a spot in the cage is at 120 degrees surface temperature. By the way, the wall adjacent to that 120 degree hot spot registers only about 80 on the heat gun. My concern is that if the flexwatt is turned down too low, it won't generate enough warmth to properly heat the cage, or even one side of it.

Yet, I know others use the same sort of heat tape, and they use it underneath things like glass bottomed tanks, fiberglass enclosures, and the like, and even so, it's enough heat for the enclosure.

The frustration is that when I ask someone one question, they answer a different question. It's as if I'm asking whether I should stop or go on a red light, and they give me the name of the nearest use car dealer to help me purchase a car. Sure, it's related information, but it's frustrating to have to pinpoint the question so precisely in order to avoid having people throw out all sorts of answers that really don't have anything to do with the question I asked.

Our first snake was my 14 year old daughter, who got a ball python. I've become fascinated myself, and between us, we now have 8 snakes. I'm building some custom enclosures, and my questions are really aimed at fine tuning my understanding.

So often, I find that people really don't know, and yet are willing to speak out with total authority. That makes for a confusing situation, in which supposed experts are offering conflicting advice. I know I could find out the hard way, by burning a snake, but I was rather hoping that I could find out the easy way, by having people share their experiences with me. But having people who have never burned a snake tell me what it takes to burn a snake is not as believable as someone who has suffered a tragedy sharing the details.

Hope that helps you understand WHY I'm asking, and I hope it was clear WHAT I was asking.

Michael

“At 118 degrees, the naked flexwatt plastic sheet does not have enough stored thermal energy, nor enough raw power, to cause any discomfort when I place my hand firmly on it, and keep it in contact.”

I believe the analogy between your hand and a snake’s body is a false one. Let’s try this instead – fill your bath tub with 118 degree water. Climb in and sit down. Feel any discomfort? Have someone hold you in this position for 10 – 15 minutes. Burned yet? I think so.

The following example might be more amenable to your way of approaching this issue. I just went back and checked on one of my sand boas. The hottest temperature under the substrate in this cage was 106 degrees (ssshh, don’t tell anyone); the sand boa had its chin resting just outside that hot spot and its head registered 91, while the rest of its outstretched body registered 81. I don’t normally expose sand boas to hot spots much over 95 degrees and wouldn’t recommend that anyone else do so, but I’ve never had a problem with this particular animal. But what might happen if I allowed the temperature in most of its cage to plummet in order to cycle it for breeding, and left it with only a small hot spot of, say, 118 degrees to lay on? Well, I don’t plan to, but it's certainly possible that it might suffer a burn. And if it were a ball python, I’d be even less surprised if the result were a burn.

“But having people who have never burned a snake tell me what it takes to burn a snake is not as believable as someone who has suffered a tragedy sharing the details.”

Go to the Search page, type in burn as the Keyword, Search in either Current or 2003 Archives and you should find plenty of depressing stories from people who were honest enough to share them. Also, if you care to, you can access the “Old Forum Archives” from the Main Page and search various forums for still more depressing accounts.

You haven’t said anything about the ambient temperatures in the room where your cages will be, or how large the cages are, so any specifics we give would be speculative. But if the cages are large and your room temperatures low, you will have difficulty heating them with just flexwatt. It is under those conditions, I believe, that many reptile burns occur – too low ambient air temps forcing the reptile to seek warmth from a too-hot heat source.

No one can guarantee that one of your snakes will not be burned if you allow it access to temperatures that burn flesh. Don’t use these flexwatt-type heating devices that can reach 130 degrees under some conditions without some sort of heat controller. It’s that simple! A lamp dimmer may not be the Mercedes of controllers, but it will do an adequate job when room temperatures are stable if you don’t want to spend the money for something like a Helix or Big Apple proportional thermostat.

Good luck,
Joan

Dear Joan,

Thanks for your helpful reply.

I appreciate your point about not using just my hand to judge overall temperatures to an animal. I know that I can barely tolerate a hot tub at 108 degrees, so there is no way I could get into hot water at 110 degrees. Yet, I also know that air temperatures of 110 degrees aren't as bad (I was in Phoenix Arizona one summer and had to wear a suit and tie!) Thanks for pointing that out.

A fellow online who has posted cage plans and uses naked flexwatt on the floor has had no problems for many, many years. He did have one malfunction. The flexwatt was burned and charred, and the melamine floor was ruined. He noticed the smell of burning wood, but didn't actually figure the cause until the next day. The snake in the cage? It was fine, having just moved over to the cool side for the time being.

My cages are probably middle sized. They are roughly one foot by 3 feet floor area, with about one foot in height. I'm using one foot of 11 inch flexwatt, so a little less than half the cage is heated, and the rest is unheated. The wall temperatures measure only about 80 degrees right next to the flexwatt tape.

In fact, one of my concerns is that the flexwatt will only be hot if the reptile actually lies on it, but the cage itself isn't going to be warm enough. I'm assuming that the cage wall is a good indication of air temperature, since I've got a spare thermometer in one cage, and it measures the air temperatue right next to the flexwatt at about 80 degrees.

My plan is to use wood shavings as substrate, so the heat needs to further get through the shavings.

I have had a yearling corn snake in a ten gallon tank that has been it's home for life, I believe. It has a heating pad underneath the glass floor of the aquarium tank, and wood shavings over that. It always felt very hot to the touch. When I measured it after getting my heat gun, it read 130 degrees. I've switched to a different tank, using an overheat ceramic emitter for heat, but at least four or five months in that condition produced no injury at all.

I think your most cogent point concerns the difference between the hot spot and the ambient temperature(both of the cage and the room.) Since my cages are relatively small, I suspect that the temperature gradient won't be extreme within the cage. (While one wall shows 80 degrees, the far wall (the cool wall) shows only 5 or ten degrees cooler.)

Further, the cage is all wood, hardboard or glass, and so will have some insulation from the room. The room itself is one of the coolest in the house, especially in winter, but otherwise has a fairly stable temperature.

If the sole source of heat is a hot spot, the reptile can be attracted to it by the need to warm up, and while trying to get warmed up, the extreme pinpoint heat source will burn the snake. I think I'm immune to that, since the flexwatt panel is so large that it isn't much of a pinpoint source (although it does have hot spots within the panel), and the cage temperature isn't that much different. I don't think a snake will be forced to choose between freezing on one side, and getting burned on the other. I understand that is the main danger of heat rocks, when people think they can be used as the overall tank heater, rather than merely a basking spot. (And don't worry, I'll never knowingly buy a heat rock!!)

Thanks again for raising those points, and raising my level of awareness of these issues.

I'm headed towards at least a dimmer switch to cut down the power to the flexwatt, and hopefully, to cut down the temperature. I need to research and learn more about thermostats. Can a single thermostat protect more than a single cage? I'd imagine four identical cages could use a single thermostat probe, but I would be relying on the idea that all cages would be the same temperature. That would be a bad assumption if one cage had a malfunction and overheated to the point of starting a fire, while another cage with the probe was running normally.

I'm going to follow your suggestion to research burns a bit more. Any suggestions about researching and learning about thermostats?

Thanks again for a most helpful dialogue,

Michael

Dear Joan,

You wrote: "Go to the Search page, type in burn as the Keyword, Search in either Current or 2003 Archives and you should find plenty of depressing stories from people who were honest enough to share them. Also, if you care to, you can access the “Old Forum Archives” from the Main Page and search various forums for still more depressing accounts."

I just tried that and found very few accounts of burns. Most were related to hot rocks, and lots were suspicious skin conditions that were only suspected of being burns. From the search, it would be easy to reach the conclusion that burns are pretty rare. I suspect a veterinarian would have a different perspective. I'm not minimizing the danger, but I frankly didn't find much in the way of first person accounts in those archives.

To be totally honest, I didn't read every single one of the search results, but lots of them were clearly not about burned snakes. I did find several indications that the burns typically occur on pythons and boas, especially the larger snakes, while the colubrids are typically much less likely to suffer the same sorts of burns, (probably due to behavioral differences, I suspect).

A lot of folks wrote about using only a dimmer, and no thermostat, so that seems to be the way to go.

I found some distinctions between "belly heat", "radiant heat", "ambient heat", and so forth.

It is very useful to check the Search function, thanks for suggesting it to me. But... not much about first person accounts of burns, sadly.

Michael

I dont know if anybody mentioned this (forgive me if I missed it) but in my 25 years of snake keeping I have learned that a snake will ALWAYS choose security over comfort. for example When i was 8 years old and had my first cornsnake i noticed on a cold night, that my snake was in its hidebox on the cold side of the cage. I thought this was weird because i had a heat source on the other side. This room was very cold (mom left the window open) around 58-60deg this was way too cold for this snake but because there was no hide box on the hot spot it wouldnt go there. so my dad being the inventive one took his baseball cap off and put it on the hot spot and dragged me out of the room. 15 min later we went back in and sure enough the snake was in the hat on the hot spot. since that day i have had many observations of this behavour.

The same to be true with a hide on the hot side, and none on the cooler side. A pet shop near me proved this by putting a box over a hot rock. the poor snake in this cage had horrible burns because it would not leave the security of the hidebox.

Just my observations, and 2 cents.
-----
Stupidity should be Painful!

Thanks for pointing out the snake's need for security. I guess if you position the heat source and the hide box together, you can pretty much force a snake to get a burn, right?

Someone (I think Kathy Love, in her book) recommended a long tube as a hide box, with an entrance hole in the middle. The snake can choose the end of the tube that lies over the heater, or it can choose the end of the tube at the cool end of the enclosure.

I sort of did that. My hide boxes are long and narrow, but I put the hole in one corner, rather than the middle. These boxes lie half over the heat and half over the unheated area. I wonder if the snake would always choose to lie deep inside the box, farthest away from the hole? I may need to cut a second hole at the opposite corner, just to even things out. But then, perhaps I'd drive the snake into the middle, eh? I guess I'm wondering just how strongly the drive to be hidden will manifest.

I'm thinking of getting some long pipe from the hardware store, like 4 inch plastic pipe, and cutting it down the middle to make a long tunnel. Kathy Love shows it being done with the cardboard tube inside a roll of paper towels, but that is for hatchlings. If I cut the tube to the right size, it will fit perfectly into the enclosure, so that the ends don't appear to be just open arches. Then, if I put a hole in the middle, it will effectively become twin hideboxes, extending to both sides of the tank.

A secondary thought is that the air temperature inside the hide box might be warmer than the general tank air temperature, even if only half of the box is sitting over the heater. You know, the smaller confined volume of air inside the hide box and all that.

Michael

I have unfortunately severely burned my snakes before. The pictures enclosed, while not too focused, are of my girl snake Lue. She was about 5 months old. She's a ball python.

The cage setup I used: 20 gallon long aquarium. Green "felt" floor cover. One T-Rex Under Tank Heater (I think it was the "20 gal" size...about 5 x 8 inches) One either 50 or 100 watt ceramic heat emitter...over the same end as the UTH. One hidebox in the middle. One water bowl on the cool end. So basically I had under heat and above heat in the same place....NOT GOOD.

Before that I had heat/light bulbs mounted inside the cage, believing that they were too small to stretch and reach it. Wrong. I'll tell ya about that later.

For example, if a snake were to lay on a surface temperature of exactly 80 degrees for two hours, would that create a burn? What if the surface temperature were exactly 90 degrees? Or exactly 100 degrees? or exactly 110? or 120?

I'd say that 80 would be fine, 90 is pushing it, 100 and above is a big risk. My dragon hangs out on his substrate that's about 90, and he's fine, but I check constantly.

The biggest problem I think is which direction the heat is coming from...if it's from the bottom going up, the theory is that the snake (or lizard) has trouble figuring out why it's too hot and hurting. (Heat sensors are on the upper side of the reptile)

Would a snake continue to lay on an overheated surface long enough to burn, or would it move away, seeking a cooler part of the tank, due to the instinctive need to thermoregulate?

Yep, my Lue laid on her heated floor/air for 3 days strait. She totally fried herself (worse then the pictures jfmoore showed), and the entire length of her body. I believe she didn't move for two reasons. 1. The rest of her cage was too cold. 2. She felt safe because the walls were covered so it was kinda cave-like.

I would think that a particular concern could be pinpoint hot spots, such as the infamous malfunctioning hot rock, or an exposed incandescent light or ceramic heater than can touch the snake on one small spot. In that case, the heat energy might build up to create a pinpoint burn long before the snakes body temperature would rise enough to trigger movement due to thermoregulation

That is how my Zeus received a large number of long burns. They scared, however they were not bad enough to cause the loss of the scales (white scare). Though the scales did fuse...but over the last few years the scales have started to return to their normal pattern. It may look normal in 10 years. Spot heat burns can occur very quickly. A sudden application of heat (like your 120 degree example) will cause a burn, a mild one that will probably take two sheds to disappear, but it won't take 20 min, just a touch can do it.

but no snake would ever remain on that sort of overheated surface for 20 minutes at a time.

Wrong, my Lue did. The heat she received was definitely over 100 degrees, and she was on it 3 days before I thought something was wrong.

So, does anyone know the actual limits or specific behavior in these circumstances?

A quick summary of my FIRST HAND experience with 3rd degree full length belly burns on a ball python (chin to tail tip). A snake will take security over thermal preference (hot or cold). They will thermoregulate as long as the cage gradient is within their normal range. If it's too cold they'll curl up and pseudo-hybernate, even if there is a warm area on the other end. (My old apartment got really cold in the winter). If it's too hot over all, they may not move to a slightly cooler area because they can't tell. The entire cage should be within their normal range. My experience is that slightly cool is better then a burned snake.

Finally, has anyone ever had a snake get burned? What caused it? Was it an incandescent lamp, a ceramic emitter, a hot rock, an undertank heater, or something else? Do you know the surface temperature of the item that caused the burn?

I probably answered these questions, but I'm sick, so I'll answer them here. I've had all of my snakes get burned (total of 4: 3 balls and 1 blood). Most of the burns were/are caused by the snake touching or falling against their basking heat source. The worse ones were when they could come into direct contact with the exposed heat-light bulb, 2nd degree via vet treatment. The mild ones by touching the guard separating them from their ceramic emitters. The very worst burns (the ones pictured below) were caused by the combined "effort" of a UTH (placed under the tank, not in it) and a ceramic heat emitter (50 or 100 watt..I'm not sure which). The very fast burns are at temps that would burn us, touching an exposed light bulb that's been on for hours, etc.). In my experience these are usually not that bad. The very bad, very dangerous burns occur at high temps that they are exposed to for long periods of time. Kind of like a sunburn, an hour sunbathing without sunscreen may not cause too much damage, but soaking for 6 hours (napping for example) will really fry your skin. Unfortunately for these kind of burns, it goes in deeper....basically slow cooking the snake.

I learned the hard, emotionally trying (my little baby snake), and expensive way. It's cheaper to prevent a vet trip then to pay for one...especially with exotics. I now have an ALife thermostat controller on each cage. Each controller has it's own probe, and can have up to three heaters plugged into it. Now that it's winter, I've had to add heat sources to keep the cages at a base warmth level. They work fantastic. I let the probe flop on the floor where the snakes spend most of their time, when it gets to the temp I've set, it shuts the heat off, and when it gets too cool, they turn back on. It is the ONLY way that heat-tape or UTH's should be used. As to the occasional touch-burns I still get, there isn't too much I can do about it except to keep an eye on my snakes and apply burn cream.

You should set up a first-aid kit for your reptiles. Betadine (povodone iodine liquid stuff) for washing wounds (also good for soaking a snake with a skin problem, just rinse well and don't let them drink it). Silvadine ointment (white stuff with silver in it) for burns, also good for bad rubs. Some sort of iodine ointment to rub on sores. Peroxide--but don't use near the head. Chlorhexdene---concentrated disinfectant...when diluted the snake can bath in it, drink it, without a problem (just not often)...also good for cage cleaning (AKA Nolvasan, Virosan) 1 tbsp to a gallon if you get the concentrate (Dr. Foster's Smith, vet supplies, probably your own vet can get it. It's not cheap, but I've only used about half a gallon in the last 3 years, and I clean cages every other week with the cage cleaning concentration 1 tbsp to 2 cups in my spray bottle).

Oh, as to hide boxes...I keep mine in the middle. That way they aren't too cold and they aren't too hot, but if they want to sleep somewhere else, there are things in the cage they can hide in/around. Aquarium decorations (plastic) make wonderful cage decor for snakes (and it can be cleaned).

Glad that you're researching about how to care for your animals. I would definitely recommend getting a thermostat controller like the Alife or BigApple's version (more expensive, less features). That way you can set the exact temp you want and it will be automatic, you won't have to fiddle around adjusting a dimmer switch to get the temp.

Good luck on designing the best cage home you can. There is a full set of pictures of my snake from burn to healed in my photo gallery. It's been almost 5 years since that happened, she's still alive, and her belly scales have odd colorations and are permanently scared.

Barb

Photogallery of Burned and Healing Lue

Excuse me if this gets posted twice, I think something went wrong the first time.

Thanks for sharing your experience with burning your pythons.

I've been really thinking about this issue a lot. From everything I've seen, there have been quite a few pythons burned. I've seen images and talked to others who have burned pythons.

I haven't heard of colubrids being burned. One person said colubrids don't have that problem.

I have one experience to report. I adopted a yearling corn snake, living in a ten gallon aquarium with an undertank heater. The glass bottom was too hot for me to touch for long. I'm sure I'd get burned! Yet, the top of the substrate wasn't too bad, and the snake had lived in that exact setup with the original owner, and with the experienced herper running the halfway house, for many, many months.

Because of these discussions, I got worried, and changed the tank so it no longer has the UTH. The same day, that corn snake changed its behavior. Before, it burrowed, but never stayed down long. It always ended up on the surface of the substrate in its hide box. Now, with the UTH gone, it tended to rest under the substrate, directly on the spot where the UTH had been. Nothing else was changed. If that corn snake had rested on that spot the day before, it would have been badly burned, I'm sure of it!

I know that pythons and boas are considered "primitive" snakes, and that colubrids evolved many millions of years later. What does it mean to be "more advanced"? I recently saw a talk by an expert on the most highly advanced of snakes, the venomous snakes. I knew they had a more elegant way of subduing prey animals. No more wrestling with a dangerous animal, they just nip it wiht some venom, and then withdraw to a safe distance for a few minutes. But it's more than just venom. This guy said these snakes are "aware" in ways that make pythons seem outright dumb! They watch, and can actually plan an escape plan around the handler's routine!

Colubrids aren't that smart, but I wonder if one of the benefits of being more "advanced" is that they know how to avoid environmental problems that pythons are oblivious to. Certainly, if that tank had held a python, rather than a corn snake, I'd be posting pictures of burns, too. But the corn snake avoided the hot spot, until the day it was removed, and then it spent its time actually in contact with the same are of the tank that had been dangerous the day before.

I know its easy to prove that a snake WILL get burned, but it's harder to prove that a snake WON'T get burned. What if the snake was just lucky all that time? What if it gets burned tomorrow? Still, it's hard to avoid drawing the conclusion that my corn snake avoided the hot spot, and knew immediately when it was safe to rest on that part of the tank.

Sorry that your pythons were burned. I'm sure you are a very caring owner, and it must have been a difficult time for you. Thanks for sharing with the rest of us.

Michael Kraft

Oh yes, one more item to report. Before I moved my snakes into the new enclosures, and before I had the dimmer switch running, I put a full grown corn snake into the enclosure, on top of the heat tape that was running at nearly 120 degrees. I have odd behavior to report.

The snake moved around the tank by slithering along the floor, as normal. As it passed the heat tape, it raised its body over the tape in a shallow arch, perhaps an inch high in the middle. As the head passed the tape, the snake again resumed contact with the floor of the tank. As the rest of the snake's body moved past the heat tape, it moved up and through the arch, so the snake never actually touched the heat tape.

I reached in and pushed the snake onto the heat tape, since I wanted to see what would happen. The snake immediately moved that portion of it's body sideways, until it reached the edge of the heat tape. No matter what I did, that snake would never let itself touch the heat tape directly for any length of time.

It's hard not to draw the conclusion that this adult snow corn snake was very well aware of the 120 degree heat tape, and was actively avoiding that hot spot.

Michael Kraft

It does seem your colubrids are more aware...still, I'd get some kind of controller on any UTH. And your snake had a way to escape the heat. While they may be "smarter" then pythons...they still have really tiny brains and operate on instinct and very basic experiential learning.

Keeping pet slitheries safe and healthy is much easier and less stressful then dealing with burns, cuts, and respritory infections.

Thanks again for the dialogue. I do have a dimmer switch wired in, so the heat tape is working at reduced capacity. But I'm not convinced that a thermostat will do much to solve the other problem: heat simply builds up if the heater is below a substrate, and that happens regardless of whether the heater is under a glass panel, or inside the tank on the floor itself.

Michael