Surface and Air Temps

[Corey209]

Originally Posted by SSSSnakes

So was the Crocodile Hunter and he was the most careless snake handler I have seen. People like to watch careless handlers and call handlers that are cautious sissy for following safety precautions.

Putting the most venomous snake in the world on your head... but yeah I guess that's true if you can show entertainment without dying people will keep watching.

I'd personally never film while working with snakes that could easily end my life unless someone else was doing it. It appears as if he's doing it from his house and never really shows a whole lot of room to work with because every corner is stacked with cages which also seems unsafe. From what he says he was only tagged once messing with a rattler when he was 18 so I'm assuming he's "safe enough".

[SSSSnakes]

Originally Posted by Corey209

I'm assuming he's "safe enough".

Lucky and safety and two different things. I drive like a maniac most of the time and have never had an accident. I'm lucky, not a safe driver.

[EmbraceCalamity]

Originally Posted by KORBIN5895

The main reason I think we use lower temps is because these snakes don't have 105°f all year long. Yeah it was like that for three weeks but not for the whole year. Most keepers are looking to set a temperature and to leave it.

Another reason why you don't want high temps all of the time is that a snakes metabolism is affected by temperature. So a higher temp will keep a snakes metabolism running at full tilt all the time which isn't healthy for them.

That's the joy of temp gradients, though, isn't it? They might rarely use it, but at least it's there in case they need to. I keep my leo's hot side hotter than is usually suggested, and she spends most of her time halfway between cool and hot sides, but sometimes she still does utilise the high temps of the hot side. If it's too hot, they can just move. I'd be inclined to think it'd only be a real issue if there was no temp gradient or it was so hot, it would burn the snake.

~Maggot

[infernalis]

Originally Posted by SSSSnakes

So was the Crocodile Hunter and he was the most careless snake handler I have seen. People like to watch careless handlers and call handlers that are cautious sissy for following safety precautions.

Strong emphasis on WAS.......

Gee, I wonder what happened to him? could it be that reckless behavior finally caught up with him.

[Aaron_S]

Originally Posted by EmbraceCalamity

That's the joy of temp gradients, though, isn't it? They might rarely use it, but at least it's there in case they need to. I keep my leo's hot side hotter than is usually suggested, and she spends most of her time halfway between cool and hot sides, but sometimes she still does utilise the high temps of the hot side. If it's too hot, they can just move. I'd be inclined to think it'd only be a real issue if there was no temp gradient or it was so hot, it would burn the snake.

~Maggot

I believe people use lower temps because they suck at keeping their reptiles properly.

Reptiles usually put security before temperature and a lot of people weren't using two hides. One on the cool and one on the hot. Just one on the hot or cold. It eventually killed their animal. If the enclosure is set up right with a couple hides and even high temps on one end, I don't see a problem with it. The key (which you've obviously used) is to keep the animals secure anywhere in the enclosure.

Also, I'm biased here, but Mr. Irwin was huge 10 or so years ago. I was but a teen working in a pet store as my first real job. I had a lot of people say they now know how to deal with venomous by tailing the snake. I would correct them that they shouldn't ever do it anyway because Steve was an 'expert'. He did a lot of good for our hobby and community and even though we know better than he did it's up to us to dispell his myths a bit more.

I like to believe his positives outweighed the negatives. He brought lots of new people to the hobby, young and old and I don't mind doing a bit of extra work teaching someone what he did right or wrong because it's just one more passion filled person for our niche place.

Viperkeeper, I've seen his videos. He's bad news. The typical "The rules don't apply to me" mentality because "he's more skilled" than anyone else. As Jerry stated, everyone looks upto him and anyone who goes by all protocols looks like a wimp. Except BWSmith. That guy was a champ of protocol.

[KORBIN5895]

I would love to see the average keeper give their boa a 105°f hot end while providing an adequate cool end.

@ Aaron

How many hides do you provides your snakes?

[infernalis]

Originally Posted by KORBIN5895

I would love to see the average keeper give their boa a 105°f hot end while providing an adequate cool end.

Aren't we supposed to be above the average

It's easy to do Kev, just put a UTH on one end and not the other.

These boa keepers who keep them in fish tanks with big heat lights are not doing it right.

Not only does it make the air parched dry, but turns the whole thing into an "EZ Bake" oven.

[KORBIN5895]

Originally Posted by infernalis

Aren't we supposed to be above the average

It's easy to do Kev, just put a UTH on one end and not the other.

These boa keepers who keep them in fish tanks with big heat lights are not doing it right.

Not only does it make the air parched dry, but turns the whole thing into an "EZ Bake" oven.

Then you wouldn't have enough floor space which means that you would need to invest into some heavy duty climbing branches and or a bigger tank. With everyone trying to keep snakes in tubs I don't see either of those being a valid option.

[Aaron_S]

Originally Posted by KORBIN5895

I would love to see the average keeper give their boa a 105°f hot end while providing an adequate cool end.

@ Aaron

How many hides do you provides your snakes?

0 hides. My bin/racks are hides in themselves. Comfortable yet good temps on both ends.

I get what you're saying but I mean a slightly higher temp isn't going to kill your snake. It's the too low temps or too high all around that will kill them.

[KORBIN5895]

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

0 hides. My bin/racks are hides in themselves. Comfortable yet good temps on both ends.

I get what you're saying but I mean a slightly higher temp isn't going to kill your snake. It's the too low temps or too high all around that will kill them.

I keep my hot end between 90-93 in the summer which is about 5°f over what most recommend. My snakes are fit and active so I am not worried but to take a third of your floor space and put it at 105°f will really eat up the floor space. Now let's also look at the fact that most people use a tank that's only 12"-18" and that snake is screwed and will roast.

I honestly feel people are doing great harm to their snakes by keeping them at a consistent temperature all year long. I feel all snakes need a cooling down time to give their metabolism a break. When an animal is capable of going months on end without food (and would naturally do that in the wild) that should tell us how their bodies naturally work. When a wild boa takes roughly five years to hit sexual maturity yet in captivity we can hit that in 18- 36 months doesn't that say we might just he rushing their life along too fast?

[Terranaut]

I keep all of my snakes with an area that is slightly excessive. It's a gradient. It should ultimately go from too hot to too cool and the snake can regulate to whatever temp they like at whatever time they like. If they need a boost in digestion or imune system function they can add a bit of extra heat. Wild snakes commonly sit on rocks that are well above the accepted temperature norms for those species so why not provide it in captivity?

[infernalis]

Originally Posted by Terranaut

I keep all of my snakes with an area that is slightly excessive. It's a gradient. It should ultimately go from too hot to too cool and the snake can regulate to whatever temp they like at whatever time they like. If they need a boost in digestion or imune system function they can add a bit of extra heat. Wild snakes commonly sit on rocks that are well above the accepted temperature norms for those species so why not provide it in captivity?

Thank you for that....

[Calihusker]

Originally Posted by EmbraceCalamity

If the ambient is supposed to be 80-85 (just going by what that person said), then why keep it at 86 if you're concerned it's too hot?

~Maggot

I was concerned about the hotspot being too hot, not the ambient air temps, and that it what the thermostat measures.

But, thanks for all the info guys!

I'll just keep it how it is.

[Terranaut]

If your hotspot is too hot the snake will move. As long as you have a gradient your fine.

[KORBIN5895]

Originally Posted by Calihusker

I was concerned about the hotspot being too hot, not the ambient air temps, and that it what the thermostat measures.

But, thanks for all the info guys!

I'll just keep it how it is.

Can we get a picture of your setup and the dimensions? Also can we get the surface area of your heat source?