Heating suggestions for cooler end?

Sevvy · 09-19-17, 03:15 AM

Heya. So I've been heating my milk snake's enclosure with a heat mat on the warm end, but for the cooler end I've just been heating up the entire room since it makes everything easier. However, I'm looking at getting a second reptile and I'm going to need more nuanced heating control. Is belly heat still the best for terrestrial snakes on the cool end, or should I work more on raising the ambient temperatures in the cage like I've been doing?

TRD · 09-19-17, 03:59 AM

If I may ask, why would you heat a cool end? How 'cool' is that end? If it isn't below ~72 F in the day, then there really isn't any need to heat that part up for a king/milksnake given that your hot end has the right temps.

If you have choice, top heating is better than belly heating.

pet_snake_78 · 09-19-17, 04:29 AM

I just heat and cool entire rooms to upper 70s to 80F and then use a hot spot.

jjhill001 · 09-19-17, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sevvy

Heya. So I've been heating my milk snake's enclosure with a heat mat on the warm end, but for the cooler end I've just been heating up the entire room since it makes everything easier. However, I'm looking at getting a second reptile and I'm going to need more nuanced heating control. Is belly heat still the best for terrestrial snakes on the cool end, or should I work more on raising the ambient temperatures in the cage like I've been doing?

Belly heat, heat from above there is literally no difference. Belly heat is not a requirement for any reptile, that is a myth, its just the easiest and cheapest way to manage temps for most people.

How low are the temps on your cold side that you are having such an issue with it?

Larger heat mats set on a lower temp can be a solution as can the solution you already are using which is just warming the whole room up. Personally if you can just set a minimum room wide temp I'd think thats preferable especially for more than one reptile.

Sevvy · 09-19-17, 05:44 PM

Thanks for the responses everyone. I think I have some better ideas of what to do now.

Also, basically what's going on here is that I normally keep him around 75-80 (he's a Nelson's) on the cool end with a nighttime temperature drop of 5-10 degrees. However, I'm really interested in keeping a boiid or Asian colubrid next, and some of those prefer different minimum temperatures than what I have running right now. Since both will probably have to be in my bedroom because that's where I have space for them, one of them may need supplemental heating on the cool end. I've also recently made a commitment to myself to be more green, and not heating the entire room so high for 1-2 snakes seems like a good way to do that as long as changing that heat source doesn't hurt the snakes.

trailblazer295 · 09-19-17, 06:05 PM

A milksnake will not be bothered by cooler cold end temps provided his hot spot is correct and he has options along the way to pick where he wants to be. I only heat my hot sides and don't worry about the cold end. I monitor them but don't do anything special. My house is colder and warmer during different parts of the year.

TRD · 09-19-17, 06:13 PM

Well in that case, don't heat the nelson's, don't heat the room, and once you have a boid, you simply use a CHE on a thermostat to keep his ambient temps higher than everything else. CHE can run 24/7 as it emits no light.. Most boids will actually use vertical space, hence no heatmat, as it only heats what it touches and is very poor in adding to ambient temps.

trailblazer295 · 09-19-17, 07:07 PM

^^^^^ I use RHP or CHE in all my cages except the king. The ambient warms as a result and average 10f differential.

jjhill001 · 09-20-17, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sevvy

Thanks for the responses everyone. I think I have some better ideas of what to do now.

Also, basically what's going on here is that I normally keep him around 75-80 (he's a Nelson's) on the cool end with a nighttime temperature drop of 5-10 degrees. However, I'm really interested in keeping a boiid or Asian colubrid next, and some of those prefer different minimum temperatures than what I have running right now. Since both will probably have to be in my bedroom because that's where I have space for them, one of them may need supplemental heating on the cool end. I've also recently made a commitment to myself to be more green, and not heating the entire room so high for 1-2 snakes seems like a good way to do that as long as changing that heat source doesn't hurt the snakes.

75F on the cool end for a Nelsons Milk Snake isn't that low to be honest. I keep my Baird's Rat Snakes (same recommended temps) with a heating pad covering 45%-60% of the floor of the enclosure in one enclosure and ceramic heat emitter with a wide dome to spread the heat out as much as possible in the other enclosure. I have the heat pad set at 80 or 81F and my CHE set at 82-84F because there is less surface area with thermostats for each enclosure.

The cool end is whatever my room is, if its 85 in my house then suck it up and deal with it, I live in Ohio it'll only be that warm for a few hours at best. Night can drop about 10 degrees. Overall it averages 77 on the cool side. Once I buy a house and have a reptile room I'll probably ditch the heat pad and CHE and just keep them at a flat 79-81 degrees F

I check at the change of seasons with a temp probe to double check things and adjust if need be.

To your specific issue I've never heard of a snake that can't hit a night time low of 70F tropical or not. Just don't soak your snake with mistings before bed (something people should really only do for frogs) and you'll be fine. If you just set the heat around 73-74F to kick on at night if you are really worried about it.

Sevvy · 09-20-17, 10:12 PM

Thanks everyone! I've lowered the temps to 72-75-ish (hotspot of 85 still) for now, so I'll see how he does with that. I have to say that as a side effect it's certainly more comfortable for yours truly, haha.