I went to the local reptile shop the other day and got to talking with someone working there. To make a long story short, I walked out of there with a 75 W infrared heat light to help up the overall temp in the tank after I was told that an undertank heater was not enough since it only heated the ventral area and was more for digestion. Now with the bulb, I have a hot spot at about 88 degrees, a hide at about 80, a hide at about 72-74, and the cooler end of the tank is around 72. The question is, with these temperatures, do I still need to have the undertank heater on. Right now it is off. Before the light, my snake never went over the undertank heater, and now with the light, he spends all his time in the 72 degree hide. Any ideas about what I should do? I'm not trying to cool him. Thanks a lot.
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temperature
Replies (5)
Whoever sold you the heat lamp doesn't know much about the research on reptiles. Most of the research that has been done shows that reptiles appear to get most of their body heat from the substrate rather than absorbing it through incoming
radiation. They know this because the temperature of wild reptiles is very well correlated to substrate temperature and not to air temperature.
Therefore, UTH is perfectly OK for warming them up.
The heat lamp is probably doing no harm, but as long as it isn't warming up the cage too much.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas
As a side note - if you didn't use some type of control on the UTH (thermostat, rheostat), the likely reason that your snake never went there was because it was probably too hot. (also the reason that it now spends most of its time in the cool hide.
So with the temperatures present now with the heat lamp, should I have the UTH on, or is it not necessary? Thanks a bunch.
Try to get by with the UTH only. Use a lamp dimmer to control the power to it so you don't burn the snake.
If the snake continues to sit on the cool end of the cage, then it means the temps/light cycle/etc are such that the snake thinks it needs to conserve resources (go to a cool area until the seasons change.)
I would cool it to 60 deg if that happens. Alternatively, you could turn on the heat lamp and see if things change. Up to you. The snake is at your mercy. See what happens.
Would a red light throw off the light cycle, or will that color light not bother them? Thanks.
