Retic heating question

[jpsteele80]

I've noticed for the past 2 weeks since I got her she has spent all her time on the cool side, cool side is 83 and warm side is 94, should I just assume she likes it a little cooler and drop the warm side to 91 or so and the cool side to about 80 or just leave it the same?

[MCB]

To be honest most of mine prefer the cool side, as long as you've a decent ambient and gradient they'll find there own preferred spot.

[Mikoh4792]

There was a discussion going on on a reptile radio show, and it says that most reptiles prefer a body core temperature around the 80's. I see my carpet pythons on the "cool side"(should just be called ambient temps since cool side is a bit misleading) the majority of the time, and they usually utilise the hotspot after feeding, near shed...etc.

[moshirimon]

After feeding they usually will go to their hotspot. I personally give me retics a cool side of 75-80 and a hot side of 90-95. I find some, depending on the individual prefer temps even cooler than 80 at times, especially retics. Remember although they have the same geographic distribution as burns, they are almost always found at higher elevations and it is cooler.

[jpsteele80]

Ok, I'll drop it about 2 or 3 degrees, still plenty hot on the warm side and cooler on the cool side

[IW17]

Both my tics only use the hot side after eating.

[millertime89]

83 is too high for the cool side. You want the gradient to average between 80 and 82 (average internal body temp of most tropical snakes as measured by the curator of Reptiles at the Reptile Gardens). 94 is too high for a hot side too. I would never go over 90. I have my gradient set 76-85 and they move back and forth. If you want to run room heat only you want the ambient 80-82 for the same reason.

[IW17]

I've been hearing this a lot. I've been looking to put together a reptile room in my new house and run only ambient room heat without supplemental heating. Seems in every case I've come across providing ambient temps in the low 80's works fine and causes no problems.

[millertime89]

I've done it and I loved it. So much easier to maintain. If you have a smaller enclosed space then you can run a humidifier too to keep it comfortable all year long. Get a radiator style space heater (or however many appropriate for the size of room) and a good t-stat and you'll be set. Just make sure the t-stat can handle the output needs of the radiator. The extremeties of the room are the hardest to heat so either try and leave a gap between the cages and the walls or keep the cages off of walls that are a part of the exterior of the house.

Looking at your list the only ones that won't try and maintain that internal body temp is your corn and bull snake, they'll do fine a bit cooler as they come from cooler climates, but they'll do just fine as well in those temps if you want them in there.

The only time you should provide suplemental heat is if you have a gravid female as she'll seek out the warm spot to lay or you if you feed a particularly big meal and want the heat to aid digestion. When I did it I had heat tape under each tub/cage but I only turned it on as needed.

[IW17]

Awesome. I'm planning on a oil filled radiator with a Ranco t-stat. I've got a good Humidifier with an auto setting to maintain relative humidity. I figure since some of my animals need higher temps than others I can put hot species higher in the stacks, and cooler species lower. I figure if my probe is in the middle of the room at 82 up high will be a few degrees warmer, and down low a few degrees cooler. Again I don't have the extra room at the moment so when the time comes I'll have some tweaking to do before the room is ready for the critters.

[millertime89]

It usually evens out after a while and you might have a 1-3F temp difference.