Keeping snakes without a hotspot

[Aaron_S]

Originally Posted by dannybgoode

There's one very important aspect that is being overlooked here and why I still fundamentally disagree with a lot of what's been posted.

So, you see a snake basking on a rock or some hard ground or a branch. It's easy 3pm and the air temperature is a nice 26c.

What is the temperature of the rock, ground, branch whatever. It'll be at least several degrees warmer than the air temperature and in some cases 40-50c. Air temperature is a really bad measure of what a snake is wanting to bask at.

Get a decent thermometer and a temp gun and take some measurements yourselves and see - especially those of you lucky enough to live somewhere wild snakes are common. See a snake and zap its being spot with a temp gun and see just how warm the ground is.

Where my T lepidus is outside I measured the air temp at around 24c and the ground in the sun in his enclosure at 33c.

He sometimes basks where it is warmest and sometimes hides where the ground is cooler but the air temp is pretty consistent during the day.

Keeping snakes at low air temperature can often mean the 'ground' is way too cold.

Over the last few years I've come to a similar conclusion. Hot spots and the animals will do the rest. I believe that these animals can't sit in one spot for too long or a predator will snatch them up quick so they goto the hottest spot, get warm and off they go.

With that said I understand where and why people are using a single temp room. I don't see any harm in it considering people have done it with multitude of animals and have had great results for the most part.