Hello from the South East of England

[shotputtman]

Hi all

I have been waiting for about 18 months now to purchase my first snake.
The reason its been so long was i lived at the Mother in Laws due to saving up for the mortgage deposit and NO way would she have a snake.

We have started on a 4 week old Corn snake and unfortunatelly i allowed the children to name him and he is now called Houdini (as many snakes i am sure are called) but hey its their snake too...

The main question i would like to be answered quickly is the temp in the vivarium.

I have a plastic viv while i build a solid wood one over the next few months or so to match the lounge furniture (wifes orders) and i seem to be having problems with the thermostat.

I have a heatpad under the tank, linked to a Microclimate ministat 100 and a digital thermometer. The thermometer reads from the same place as the ministat (ends cable tied trying to get a better/closer reading) and also takes a reading from the furthest corner in the tank (coolest).
The ministat is set at 30c but the thermometer goes up and down between 26.5 and 29.5 over about a 7 minute period.
Is this normal being that the thermostat sensor is much smaller in diameter or do i have a problem?

I have tried kidding the wife that we need to take him to our bedroom tonight so i can keep an eye on him but i didnt win.

Look forward to chatting and reading on the forums

Thanks for reading and Happy New Year to all

Thanks
Sean