Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm new to the snake world and have a five month old PUeblan Milk snake. Emma is active, eats on schedule and seems to be in very good health. What I'm trying to find out is should I use a night heat lamp and a day lamp. Started out using a heat pad at night but have started using the night light for about two weeks now to keep constant temps in the vivarium. 75 on the cool side and about 85 on the other 24 hours a day. Is this correct? or does the warm side need to drop at night? She does move from side to side so that is a good sign but she has partial sheds. No skin is left on her body but the skin is broken. Is this something to be concerned with or does she just need more humidity? Any info on better care would be much appreciated. I cannot find any definitive answers about heating online. It seems there are only preferences. Thanks guys
P.S. Long Live The Milk Snake!

Welcome, You seem to be doing a good job so far, not much to change with your setup. If sheds are broken you can increase the humidity just a little; either reduce airflow by covering up 80% of your screen, larger water dish or mist cage when you notice your snake is in shed. It’s ok for temps to slightly fluctuate in a day/night cycle and I’ve read night lights might stress nocturnal snakes like your milk snake, might want to switch back to using the under tank heat mat instead. Keep your day light on a timer and heat mat regulated with a thermostat controller. You can find plenty of care videos online, good luck!

your temps seem fine. if the room is not too cold its fine if the night temps drop. the partial sheds are a sign that the humidity is too low. you can deal with this in several ways. put some damp spaghnum moss in her hide. you can also cover part of the top of her cage (if she is in an aquarium with a screen top. the air is drier in winter). you could also spray the substrate when she is in a shed cycle. the overhead lights will dry out the air. i have always just used an under tank heater with no tank lights. just the room light on a 12 on 12 off cycle.

Look for the metal film lined bubble wrap. One brand is called Reflectix. Cut a piece that you can lay over the top of the entire screen top. Doing this, in some cases a heat pad is enough and no lights are needed. In summer or during warm weather you can remove it.

I fill a tank about 4-5 inches deep with Reptile Prime coconut substrate. Then I tape or Velcro a heat pad (Mylar heat pads are the best, like ultratherm or flukers to the back wall outside the tank so that the bottom of the heat pad is about 1 inch lower than the substrate top. Moisten the substrate liberally. Lay a piece of 3/4 or 1 inch pvc pipe on the substrate butted up against the heat pad. The humidity in the pipe will be perfect. Tape a piece of reflectix across the entire back wall over the heat pad. Cut a hole for the thermostat probe.