Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all,

Just looking for some advice on how to warm up my new snake's cage a little more. I just brought my first snake home today and attached the adhesive heat pad to the bottom of my 10 gallon tank. The breeder told me to keep the cool side of the cage somewhere around 82 - 84 but I have been unable to attain this temp. It's about 78 in my house but I can't seem to get the cage thermometer past 80. I did cover the screen top with a cloth and that helped but still not up to the mid 80's. Any ideas next to buying a heat lamp setup?

Thanks!

If you are using a good thermometer and placing it directly on the bottom of the tank over the heat pad, you should get an accurate measurement. With your room temp as high as it is, and you using such a small tank with a heating pad, you should be getting quite high temps in there. If you use one of those stick on thermometers they use for fishtanks and put it on the side of the tank, you won't get an accurate measurement. Remember that you need to supply a heat gradient in your tank, also.
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phflame

I am using a stick-on thermometer, which I stuck to the inside back glass almost in the corner of what should be the cooler side of the aquarium. It is currently reading 80. The breeder had told me to keep the cool side between 82 & 84 so that's why I'm concerned. I have almost the entire screen top covered with a towel and the bottom is covered with about 1 to 1.5 inches of aspen shavings.

If I should be using a different type of thermometer or applying it to a different spot, I welcome any advice on this. My snake did come out of her hide box during the night and inspected the tank. She is currently rolled up in the corner of the aquarium on the warm side but outside of her hide box; not sure if that means anything to y'all or not.

Thanks again for any suggestions or ideas!

Hi There!
For many snakes 80 on the COOL side is fine- It might be helpful to know what type of snake you have! What was the suggested temperature for the WARM side? Also, some of those "stick on" thermometers are not as accurate as we would like them to be! I always confirm the temperature with a temp gun and I also have my heat mats conected to a thermostat (for safety). I hope this is helpful, congratulations on your new snake!

Thanks for the info. on the stick on thermometers. Is one temp gun better than the other or will any do? My snake is a three month old Cape York spotted python. I was not told what temperature to keep the hot side, only that it should be hot enough for the cool side to be around 84 degrees.

Spotted Pythons are very nice! I have a similar species- Stimson's python I keep mine with the warm side about 86-88 I use a (Cobra) heat pad, the cool side is about 78-80. The temp gun I use is from www.tempgun.com it's about $25 (it seems to be pretty accurate)
Also, to answer your question about where the snake spends it's time in the cage- they move about depending on whether they are "hot" or "cold", each snake has it's own preference at different times. They are especially active once the lights go out! Hope this helps!

Thanks so much for the helpful advice. Upon reading your message and looking up the temp gun, I found a dealer here in town and went and got one.

The hot side of the tank ranges from 90 - 86 degrees and the cool side was 77-80 depending upon what spot I was pointing at.
I feel a little better now, knowing that the hot side is definitely warmer and that at least I have a thermal gradient with a hot and cool side.

My next question is in regards to the hi-side temp. I hope to also buy a thermostat in the next few days. What do you set yours at?

I can't thank you all enough for your help!