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View Full Version : I thought I cooked my snake ...

Kettennatter
09-13-12, 06:36 AM
Yesterday I checked on my BCI and she was in her water bowl, which is unusual. I read the humidity, which was okay. I took the temp gun, checked the cold side (about 78F) and then the basking spot. 160 degrees!! What?

I yanked out the snake who felt cool, so I calmed down a bit. The hot spot felt warm to the touch, but not hot. What the heck?

Seems that somebody in my family had played with my temp gun's emissivity setting. Back to factory defaults, and everthing was fine. But I almost had a heart attack. :(
Gungirl
09-13-12, 06:41 AM
Glad your snake is ok..
Kettennatter
09-13-12, 06:46 AM
Oh yes, the snake is fine. No mites, either. I believe she is just about to shed. But two readings at 160F off a non-reflective surface got my heart racing. I think I need to secure my temp gun a little better. And I had no idea that this setting even existed. ;)
Kingsnakechris
09-13-12, 07:48 AM
That's gotta be a terrible feeling! I bet your snake was like "what the heck are you dooing?! Im bathing!" lol
Kettennatter
09-13-12, 08:07 AM
That's gotta be a terrible feeling! I bet your snake was like "what the heck are you dooing?! Im bathing!" lol

Yes, I interrupted a perfectly legitimate pre-shed bath. The feeling is quite nasty, just a moment of disbelief. The snake didn't seem too upset, though. ;)
Kingsnakechris
09-13-12, 09:57 AM
Yeah, unfortunately I've seen temps spike like that due to a defective UTH, wasn't mine but i was feeding/ watering his snakes while he was gone for a few weeks I reached down to see why his digital thermometer was reading some ridiculous number, he had the probe right above the UTH and it was HOT to the touch, I have never felt a UTH that hot before and never again after, his snake was fine thankfully. Terrible feeling though.
Kettennatter
09-13-12, 10:36 AM
Yeah, unfortunately I've seen temps spike like that due to a defective UTH, wasn't mine but i was feeding/ watering his snakes while he was gone for a few weeks I reached down to see why his digital thermometer was reading some ridiculous number, he had the probe right above the UTH and it was HOT to the touch, I have never felt a UTH that hot before and never again after, his snake was fine thankfully. Terrible feeling though.

I have never seen a whole UTH spike like that. I have however noticed some UTHs to be very non-uniform with distinct hot spots developing. That was one of the reasons I got a temp gun.