Heating problems

Heating problems

Postby corn snake » Wed Jun 29, 2011 1:40 pm

Hello

My corn snake’s cage is too cold, at first I thought she would just move closer to the heating pad, and she did but only after I fed her and she does this only until she defecates afterwards she moves back to the cold side. So I thought that was fine but after I fed her on Sunday she just stayed in the cold side I switched the heating pad of thinking it was too hot and she just stayed in the cold side. Now I’m scared she might go in to brumation with food in her stomach, but I don’t want her to go into burmation at all. What can I do to get her cage temperature up? Her cage temperatures are

Cold side: normally a 1°C colder than outside which is great for the summer but I can’t change it for the winter. Avg. between 10°C and 20°C, degrees some times less than 10°C at night.

Warm side: Between 30°C and 40°C.

The middle is about the same as the cold side.

I have two digital thermometers one for the warm and cold sides and one normal thermometer in the middle for temperature and humidity.
Any advice on how to warm her cage up would be appreciated.

Thanks
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Re: Heating problems

Postby glencoco » Wed Jun 29, 2011 4:53 pm

corn snake wrote:Hello

My corn snake’s cage is too cold, at first I thought she would just move closer to the heating pad, and she did but only after I fed her and she does this only until she defecates afterwards she moves back to the cold side. So I thought that was fine but after I fed her on Sunday she just stayed in the cold side I switched the heating pad of thinking it was too hot and she just stayed in the cold side. Now I’m scared she might go in to brumation with food in her stomach, but I don’t want her to go into burmation at all. What can I do to get her cage temperature up? Her cage temperatures are

Cold side: normally a 1°C colder than outside which is great for the summer but I can’t change it for the winter. Avg. between 10°C and 20°C, degrees some times less than 10°C at night.

Warm side: Between 30°C and 40°C.

The middle is about the same as the cold side.

I have two digital thermometers one for the warm and cold sides and one normal thermometer in the middle for temperature and humidity.
Any advice on how to warm her cage up would be appreciated.

Thanks

Warm side should be 28*C MAX she won't go on the warm side because she knows she will be cooked.
Get a thermostat to control temperatures on the warm side.

How big is she appox and the cage?
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Re: Heating problems

Postby corn snake » Wed Jun 29, 2011 5:58 pm

She is between 70-100 cm and the cage is 1.2m
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Re: Heating problems

Postby Westley Price » Thu Jun 30, 2011 7:44 am

As said, 30-40 is WAY too hot.

Possibly get a thermostat or a lower wattage heat pad. The snake will never go to the hot side if it stays that hot.

Once you have the temperature at around 27, one way to coax the snake to the warm side is to only have one hide in the cage on the warm side. NOTE: do not do this if the warm spot is too hot or you will kill your snake.

Then she can bask there until she is too hot and then move outside once it becomes too hot.

Also, you still need to clean any feaces daily becuase sometimes snakes will avoid the hot spot due to it being full or cr@p (so to speak).
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Re: Heating problems

Postby corn snake » Thu Jun 30, 2011 10:05 am

She stays under the newspaper mostly so I don’t know if it will work to take the one hide out. Her cage is clean and I always clean it as soon as possible when she defecates, and where can I find a good thermostat that works with the foil heating pads?
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Re: Heating problems

Postby glencoco » Thu Jun 30, 2011 10:31 am

The cage is also on the big side and that may be why its so cold on the other side, and adult corn only needs a 900x400x400 cage.
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Re: Heating problems

Postby bubblesharp » Thu Jun 30, 2011 12:15 pm

corn snake wrote:She stays under the newspaper mostly so I don’t know if it will work to take the one hide out. Her cage is clean and I always clean it as soon as possible when she defecates, and where can I find a good thermostat that works with the foil heating pads?



try to tape down the newspaper with masking tape. The type used for spray painting etc. This way she won't be able to go under the newspaper.

My rat snakes also stays on the cool side, where it is about 18-20C and the warm side is 27C. The do come out more regularly at night though. During the day the stay under the newspaper. I have taped it down, but they spend the whole day trying to dig underneath it, so I added two pieces of loose news paper. The prefer the newspaper to the hides for some reason. It may not look all that great, but I'll rather give them what they want, instead of making it look pretty for me.
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Re: Heating problems

Postby Mitton » Thu Jun 30, 2011 12:27 pm

bubblesharp wrote:
corn snake wrote:She stays under the newspaper mostly so I don’t know if it will work to take the one hide out. Her cage is clean and I always clean it as soon as possible when she defecates, and where can I find a good thermostat that works with the foil heating pads?



try to tape down the newspaper with masking tape. The type used for spray painting etc. This way she won't be able to go under the newspaper.


No, please don't EVER use any type of sticky tape inside a cage. If it sticks to the snake you will have endless problems getting it off.
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Re: Heating problems

Postby glencoco » Thu Jun 30, 2011 12:43 pm

Mitton wrote:
bubblesharp wrote:
corn snake wrote:She stays under the newspaper mostly so I don’t know if it will work to take the one hide out. Her cage is clean and I always clean it as soon as possible when she defecates, and where can I find a good thermostat that works with the foil heating pads?



try to tape down the newspaper with masking tape. The type used for spray painting etc. This way she won't be able to go under the newspaper.


No, please don't EVER use any type of sticky tape inside a cage. If it sticks to the snake you will have endless problems getting it off.

I was just about to say, that post on the ball python that got stuck to the tape horrified me.
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Re: Heating problems

Postby bubblesharp » Thu Jun 30, 2011 3:16 pm

glencoco wrote:
Mitton wrote:
No, please don't EVER use any type of sticky tape inside a cage. If it sticks to the snake you will have endless problems getting it off.

I was just about to say, that post on the ball python that got stuck to the tape horrified me.


That was electric tape (Insulation tape).

The reason I have been using the masking tape is that it is less sticky than any other tape. It CAN be removed without injuring the snake, as all you need is a bit of water and let the tape get soaked and the glue come loose. Unlike the tapes Masking is paper based and it does absorb water. Where as electrical tape, packaging tape and cello tape is more sticky and when stuck, water is no use as it does not absorb water at all.

That being said as my reasoning to use masking tape. I'm NOT willing to "prove" my theory at the possible expense of my animals. (I'm not THAT proud and I can admit when I'm wrong) So During feeding tonight when the snakes are out of the cages and I'm cleaning them. I will not use Masking tape on the new news paper. ;)

Do you have any better ideas that I can use to keep them from going under? Its not the "not seeing" them part that bothers me, it the fact that when they get under the news paper, that's where they do their dumping. It makes it more difficult to clean this way, the reason I'm using the newspaper is so they can take a dump on the news paper, not under the paper on the wood!
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Re: Heating problems

Postby Mitton » Thu Jun 30, 2011 3:30 pm

The masking tape will be less sticky but I would rather not take the chance.

What I have seen some guys do to keep the news paper down is to put pieces of rock in the cage, but that can be a bit of a mission, especially if the snakes can move the rocks around.
Another thing I have seen was someone made a type of frame with wooden dowels connected with those types of screws with the ring on top. It fitted perfectly inside the cage. He would then put the news paper down so that it goes up the sides of the cage a bit and then drop the frame in over the paper to keep it down. Looked like it worked.
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Re: Heating problems

Postby corn snake » Mon Jul 04, 2011 8:02 am

Where can I get a good thermostat?
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Re: Heating problems

Postby Mitton » Mon Jul 04, 2011 8:16 am

corn snake wrote:Where can I get a good thermostat?

http://reptilecity.co.za/catalog/produc ... cts_id=846
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