| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Eurydice |
Posted - 26/04/2009 : 05:38:42
Hi, I'm the owner of a 6 year old black and white banded California kingsnake named Orpheus. We moved last August and are about to spend our first full summer in a south facing, hot, attic type room. Or I should say Orpheus is about to spend the summer here, since I'm out of town on business for two months.
My question is, given that the room will be quite hot during the day and cooler (but not cold) at night (mimicking the conditions of a desert, perhaps?) should I turn off his heating pad for the two months I am gone? I have a roommate who will be watering him, but I'm not sure she's up for temperature monitoring, so I would like to keep things as simple as possible for them both. I worry that with the heating pad and the room temperatures he'll be too hot. I can't move him to a different part of the house because the other roommates are less accepting of his presence.
Any advice would be very much appreciated. |
| 6 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Gingerpony |
Posted - 27/04/2009 : 14:20:01
either way it'll reflect heat back into the viv, causing it to heat up rapidly, like a greenhouse effect  |
| lee2308 |
Posted - 26/04/2009 : 19:15:45
I think m&e meant on the outside of the viv. |
| Gingerpony |
Posted - 26/04/2009 : 16:25:23
i'd be very concerned putting foil in the viv, it could potentially make it into a greenhouse/oven!
spend 24hours in the room, work out where is NOT in direct sunlight at ANY time of the day and place the viv there. your heat source should already be thermostatically controlled which would account for changes in ambient temperature and control the heating accordingly.
like M&E mentioned, who's feeding it while you're away? it's common for them to fast/brumate over winter but not summer! |
| magneticblue |
Posted - 26/04/2009 : 12:02:16
I would definitely recommend leaving the mat on a stat. That way it will stay off when its warm enough and will keep your snake warm at night if the temperature does drop a bit low |
| Mark and Emma |
Posted - 26/04/2009 : 09:58:07
If you face the vivarium he's in away from the windows/direct sunlight & put tinfoil along the back of the vivarium to deflect the sun it shouldn't get too hot & if you have a thermostat that will shut off the heatmat if it gets too hot, other than that if it gets too warm there isnt much you can do about it, unless if you can move the vivarium to a cooler room(which you said you can't). Make sure your roomie puts cold water in everyday at the cool side of the tank, so if your snake does get too warm then he can always take a little dip in the "pool"
You didn't mention if your room mate is feeding your snake whilst you are gone? are you going to teach them to defrost a mouse? might be a good idea :) |
| matty18714 |
Posted - 26/04/2009 : 09:57:27
If the heat mat is on a thermostat you should have few problems.
Edit - spelling |
