Fall Hibernation Temps?

[Jackins]

Hey folks! It's been a while.

Leo has settled in fairly well here, but I had a few questions as this is the first time I've had to deal with the temps changing due to weather.

The last two feeding sessions I had with Leo required me to brain his mice as he would eat; he ate without issue. He's got a clean bill of health otherwise, and the temperatures here are finally dropping.

My concern so far is whether or not i need to get a second piece of heat tape for him, or not. We had our first cold night and the ambient temp in his tub is 66 degrees. I'm sure it'll drop lower at night and I don't want to kill him for being unaware.

[wrecker45]

What kind of snake is he.

[Jackins]

Thayeri Kingsnake.

[EL Ziggy]

That sounds a little cold to me. I'd try to raise the ambient temps to at least the low 70's during the day. If that's not possible as long as he has a comfortable warm side he should be ok. I guess it's almost time for the critters to hunker down for winter :).

[Jackins]

His ambient temps were in between 72-75 during the summertime and his warm hide is at 90. Sounds like I might need to get a second piece of heat tape.

[sharthun]

His ambient temps were in between 72-75 during the summertime and his warm hide is at 90. Sounds like I might need to get a second piece of heat tape.

What kind of enclosure is he in? Pics may help. I would love to see more pics of your snake as well.

[Jackins]

Leo is currently in a 100qt plastic bin, with shredded paper bedding. He has two hides, two medium sized logs set end to end, and another black plastic thing....and a paper towel roll that he likes to give me heart attacks with.

I'll get some pictures up tomorrow of the enclosure to see if that helps any. He just had his second shed while staying with me, so I can probably snap more pics there as well.

[sharthun]

Your setup sounds good. Are you using a thermostat to control your heat? If so, where do you have the temp probe? Sounds like you just need to add more heat, to bump up ambient temps.

[Jackins]

I have two thermometers; one taped in direct contact with the heat pad, and another on the cool side of the tank. I'm using a hydrofarm thermostat to keep the warm side between 87-90 degrees. The cool side is the one that took a nose dive. We aren't turning the heat on here in the house yet. I just don't want him to freeze to death between now and winter.

[sharthun]

Oh ok you are doing things right! Either add another heat source or turn on the house heat to get the ambient temp up to a good range. Winter adds a heating challenge for sure. That's the reason I switched to RHP's. They heat the air and substrate.

[Jackins]

Excellent; That's very reassuring. I'll go ahead and put in another order for more heat tape. Will toss pictures up after work today since it's been a while too.

[sharthun]

Cool! Post some pics of your snake in the King's of the forum thread of the lampropeltis forum when you get a chance.