Temperatures

[Klaire]

Hi guys, so i live on the gold coast and we are in the middle of a heat wave. i am flat sharing and i can only keep my pythons tank in my room as my other housemates have fears of snakes. anywho i only have a fan in my room which is constantly on high but my pythons whole tank temp is still reaching 32c (thats as high as it has gone so far) is this too hot for her? she is a jungle carpet python. i constantly make sure she has cool water and her bowl is big enough to bathe in but she hasn't been in it and just hides in her hide. it only drops down to 29c at night and stays that temp until going up again in the morning. she hides all day and comes out at night as usual but i'm not sure if she is okay with the temp or if i should cool her down a little somehow? any opinions/replies are appreciated thanks :)

[pinefamily]

Hi Klaire,
32 is fine for the hot end; the cooler end should be around 23. How are you measuring the temps? And what are you using for heat? Do you keep the heat on overnight?

[Klaire]

Hi Klaire,
32 is fine for the hot end; the cooler end should be around 23. How are you measuring the temps? And what are you using for heat? Do you keep the heat on overnight?


I use 2 reptile one thermometers. 1 is placed where she hides so i can read the temp where she is and the other is placed on the other side of the tank.

I use a che that is turned on all night until turned off in the morning however since its hit summer i don't use it at all because it is warm enough at night as it is.

[pinefamily]

I don't recall how old your python is, but generally if it is old enough to be in a tank, it doesn't need heat overnight here in Oz (except maybe parts of Victoria and all of Tassie, lol).
If you can, grab one of these, or one like it: Digital NON Contact Infrared IR Thermometer Temperature Laser GUN 50? TO 330?OK | eBay (http://tinyurl.com/pvde6t3)
An infra-red temp gun is far more accurate than any thermometer.
If the temps are still too hot even with the heat off, all I can suggest is to invest in a cooler of some kind for your room; it might take the temperature down better than a fan.

[Klaire]

She's 8 months old :) I only have heat on one side of the tank at night because just up until recently it has been cold enough during the night where she has needed some warmth. Awesome i'll definitely look into a temp gun thanks :). I am moving into my own place within the next 2 weeks where it will have an air conditioner (Cheering!) haha so i wont need to invest in a cooler system however i read that i can get an ice brick and cover it with a hand towel and put one of her hides ontop so it wont be too cold if she lays on it so i might do that until i move. :)

[pinefamily]

That was going to be my next suggestion, lol. An ice brick wrapped up in a tea towel is an easy fix on a really hot day.
I would really think about no more overnight heat if I were you; Gold Coast doesn't get down to zero overnight, does it?
The air con at your new place will be ideal for the stinking hot days.
We turn all our snakes' heat off when it gets 35 or over, which it is here in Adelaide tomorrow (Wednesday). Even our hatchies go off for the day.

[Klaire]

No it never gets that cold (thankfully :P ) but i do however turn it on for her and might continue to do so (thanks for advice though) just because i have had a night before where the temp dropped fairly low and i checked on her picked her up and she was quite cold to the touch where as usually she feels like room temp so not only because of that but also because i feed her at night (because thats when she is active/hunts) and i feel she needs heat to help her digest her meal. Yeah i know i can't wait the fan is just doing bugger all so really excited to put the air con to use!. That's good i have also always made sure it's never gone higher than around 34/35 otherwise i would pull her out give her a light mist with some cool water and put her in her carry tub and place her somewhere cool until her tank temp drops.