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T O P I C R E V I E W
draven
Posted - 11/07/2011 : 01:20:37 Hey all, new to the forum and just got a MBK whom I deeply love. I'm not a first time snake owner, I had two (albino gopher and corn) snakes when I was a younger lad. Though I must say I am much older and more educated now. I live in Texas (USA) and have him in a 30" tank. So far he seems quite happy but I'm having a rough time getting his cage set to the right temp. If I run his heat pad at full power, it easily heats his hot side to over 103 degrees celsius. I bought a power regulator (dimmer) but even with that on low his hot side reaches 94 degrees celsius fairly quickly.
Without a heat pad, my apt is usually 76 celsius during the day and 73 celsius by night. Using only A/C air his cage will stay around 85 during the day and 75 celsius at night. The only issues is there is no hot/cold side to his cage. I'm not sure how to properly balance this. I'm not positive what size the heating pad is (attached to the bottom of the glass) as it came with the cage its self. I'm thinking maybe I need to buy a smaller size.
Should I just let the A/C in my apartment regulate the temperature in his cage or should I find some way to properly balance a hot/cold side of his home during the summer? I'm sure in winter (which reaches 25-35 celsius during the evenings, will require the heat pad.
I just want to make sure he is happy and well loved.
3 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First)
draven
Posted - 11/07/2011 : 13:57:46 Haha, yes. Fahrenheit. That's what I get for posting at 1:30am. The heat pad only covers a 1/3rd of the left side. I'll take a look at a programmable on/off switch or down sizing the pad.
kdlang
Posted - 11/07/2011 : 13:46:21 Are you sure you mean celsius and not farenheight?? If it's celcius that is bloomin hot in your apt.
I'm not entirely certain but dimmer thermostats are not usually recommended for heat mats as the minimum wattage is to high. I would use an on/off mat stat or a pulse stat. I'm not sure if they are called the same thing in the states but that is what we have this side of the pond. How much of the tank bottom does the heatpad cover? It should cover 1/3 to 1/2 of the tank bottom, then with a thermostat to regulate the temperature and a digital probe thermometer to check the temperatures you should be able to get a reasonable warm and cool end.
Hope this helps
draven
Posted - 11/07/2011 : 01:21:32 Photos of Snoopy can be found here
