Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, another new guy here =)

I recently became a new father to a baby Thayeri Kingsnake, and am using an 18"x18"x18" enclosure that my wife got me for christmas here: http://www.petsolutions.com/King Milk Snake Habitat Kit-I-12517563-I-C-40002019-C-.aspx

For the most part, I love it. It came with a florescent light, in addition to the heat lamp and an UTH. My problem, is that with the UTH in the rear-left corner, and the heat lamp sitting on the top of the screen lid (front-left), my ambient heat, as measured from the front of the enclosure at centerline (only 1 thermometer right now), maxes-out at about 77f. which is probably just on the low-end for daytime heating. That's with the Heat and Floro lights on a 12-hour day timer, and the UTH on 24/7.

Another issue I just became aware of, is that Jake has been staying in the "cool-side" hide the vast majority of the time he's sleeping or whatever...regardless of which hide is on that side. So I got my digital cooking thermometer, and stuck it in the sand above the UTH, and it registered between 95-100 degrees...obviously that's why he stays away from it.

My question I guess, is how best should I raise the overall temp, while toning-down the area over the UTH?

I'm using bout an inch of calci-sand throughout, 2 hides (hot and cool). I've considered adding sand, to create more of a buffer between jake and the UTH, which would also raise the whole habitat-base an inch closer to the lighting...

or maybe putting the UTH on the day/night cycle, and adding a low-watt night lamp?

Any ideas?
here's a crappy picture, as it applies to this situation, but it shows enough I think...the tan hide in the rear-left is above the UTH, hide/tree to the right, waterbowl to the front-left, styrofoam climbing wall in the back, and calci-sand substrate (I feed in another container)

Thanks for any input...

Kevin Black
Link

sorry, the picture I mentioned at the end, is the link after my name...

What are the temps of the room that the cage is in? The best way to correct the problem is to increase the temp of the room if too cold, use one heat source and allow the snake to thermoregulate itself. Also 77 degrees is not bad for a colubrid.
I hope this helps.
Wil Combs
Captive Bred Creations

It does help actually, thanks for the reply. My apartment/townhouse has a pretty nasty heat gradient from downstairs to upstairs...you can physically feel the change as you go upstairs.
While I was thinking about it, I went down and grabbed my thermometer...solid 5 degrees warmer upstairs with no ceiling fan.

Think I'll take your advise, and try moving him upstairs =)

are UTH heaters supposed to be that hot? (95-100)

Yes UTHs can even get hotter than that. When you increase the room ambient temperature you heater temp will also increase because there is less of a heat loss taking place. You should run a t'stat on the heater.
Wil Combs
Captive Bred Creations

If the bottom of your cage is glass, the sand can actually amplify the heat coming off the RHP- like walking on the beach on a sunny day- it's a lot hotter than the ambient temp. You can reduce that by putting a piece of reptile carpeting on the bottom of the cage and then your substrate above that. Sand may be difficult to clean off the carpet, so something like aspen or sani-chips may be better.
An infrared thermometer is also very useful for measuring temps across the entire cage rapidly and only cost about $20-30.
Hope this helps,

Steve