For the past few months I've been experimenting with terrariums with overhead heat and measuring the temps of the snakes to see what temps the snakes will use. Then I compared that to a sweaterbox setup (rack) to see if there was any difference. Why? Just to see.
The terrariums had a range of about 75 deg on the cool side to anywhere from 85-90 on the warmest point. The rack setup showed about 83 deg in the back and about 78 in the front.
I measured in the morning and evening only because I'm gone during the day. Temps were taken with a temp gun about 1/2 way down the snake.
Here is what I found for Whitewater rosy boas (non-gravid):
Not much difference at all.
In the terrarium with a wider temp range, the rosy would usually measure from about 79 deg to 83 deg with a few times lower and a few times slightly higher. In the rack, the snake was usually in the 81-83 deg range.
It seems like the preferred range in this simple test is pretty much what a rack can offer.
For yearling Children's pythons:
Not much difference either. They measured in the 80-83 deg range nearly all of the time.
So maybe the limited temperature range offered in racks is all they need?
