Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I noticed that I can keep my temp pretty steady during the day but I had my digital Walmart thermometer stick to the tank about 1.5 inches above the reptibark. Does the air temp need to be 82-85 degrees or the substrate temp (belly temp) need to be those temps?

First things first, unstick it from the tank. Doing so will give you more of a reading of the glass vs the reading of the ambient air temp. glass tends to stay a few degrees cooler than the air around it. (unless it's heated of course.) I'd either let it drop right on the substrate or if you have a way to, suspend it about half an inch above the substrate. either way id keep that temp 82-85.
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-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
N. American Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote
Information on substrates

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
0.1 Texas Bairdi (Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Monty)

Ok then what this means is that my UTH is too hot and I never needed the basking lamp like the store told me. Is it common to not need anything other than the UTH? My house temps are set to 68 degrees. I'll give you substrate temps in a bit as I need to go turn the light off and let it all settle.

Ack! When I went upstairs and dropped the thermo right in the middle of the UTH with the basking light on, temps were 107!!!! When the thermo was on the glass the temps said 85 so that's a HUGE difference. I had the basking lamp on a dimmer switch but now unplugged it completely and have the UTH on a dimmer switch. So far we are down to about 92 degrees and I am sure I will get it down to where it needs to be. That also means that my tanks has been entirely too hot since I got the snake. Can a snake get respiratory infections from too much heat? How can a pet store be so far off on theor care instructions?

Pet stores aren't known for providing proper care and information. Though there are a few good ones few and far between.