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headlow
Hatchling
United Kingdom
233 Posts |
 Posted - 16/05/2009 : 11:43:35
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Hello there.
My milk snake is housed in a 3 foot viv, and heat is provided via a heat lamp. During the day whilst the light is on there is no problem in maintaining the correct heat levels.
I am having problems at night though. The snake is kept in my room, which is a converted attic. The problem is that there is no central heating up there. I've found that with my electric heater on I can maintain the correct heat, but without it the temp in the viv drops to slightly below 60.
Keeping my room heater on is not an option as it costs a lot to run, plus at this time of the year the room gets to warm for me.
I have purchased a Habistat heat mat, and mat stat to heat the viv at night. I'm now having a dilemma about the placement of the mat. It is a wooden viv so the mat has to go inside. The instructions say it can go on the ceiling, on the floor or on the back wall. The ceiling is not an option because of the heat lamp, and if I put it on the back wall it'll cover one of the air vents. I'm also somewhat reluctant to position the mat on the floor as I don't want any harm to come to the snake.
I am thinking about installing the mat against the side wall at the hot end of the viv. Is this appropriate, and will it provide sufficient night time temperature?
Here's a pic of the viv in question.....
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks,
Justin |
1.0.0 Mexican Milk
0.0.1 Mexi Black
0.0.3 Corns
0.1.0 Western Hognose |
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jono2411
Yearling
United Kingdom
655 Posts |
Posted - 16/05/2009 : 12:12:19
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| Put the matt on the florr but cover it with i lino floor tile or something of that nature and tape it down... that way the snake will not be directly on the matt at any time... i dont think that placing it on the side wall will provide enough usable heat for the snake... |
1.0.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake : Baron Samedi
0.0.1 Apricot Pueblan Milksnake : (Hercule) Poirot
0.1.0 Striped Splotched Sinaloan Milksnake : Arminia
0.1.0 Pueblacorn - Cleopatra
0.0.3 Fire-Bellied Toads: Ghengis Khan, Bruce Lee & Chairman Mao
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Gingerpony
SerpentSeven's Evil Twin
United Kingdom
726 Posts |
Posted - 16/05/2009 : 12:35:30
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i've no idea why people recommend putting heatmats on the sides or ceilings of vivs, they work by contact - heating what is in contact with them - so putting them anywhere other than on the floor of the viv is pointless!
ok rant over! so yes put it on the viv floor. if you're concerned that the snake will come into direct contact with the mat then, like jono said, cover it with a piece of lino and tape the edges down. make sure it's run off a stat so it shouldn't get hot enough to harm your snake  |
cornsnakes, ratsnakes, Dumerils boas, BCO hybrids, Sinder Hypo boas, Day Geckos
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snow
Egg
62 Posts |
Posted - 16/05/2009 : 12:40:03
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| also id get a digital themometer, which will read the temp of the substrate where ur snake is most likely to be, the them u got just measure air temp |
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magneticblue
Kingsnake Forum Admin
United Kingdom
1511 Posts |
Posted - 16/05/2009 : 18:41:14
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| I agree with both of the above |
1.1.0 Arizona mountain king (Sylar and Claire)
0.1.0 Blotched king ( Jasmin)
1.1.0 Guyana red-tail boa (Hercules and Athena)
1.0.1 children (Alfie and BUMP)
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lee2308
Kingsnake Forum Admin
United Kingdom
1609 Posts |
Posted - 16/05/2009 : 19:17:30
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| Is that a infra red bulb you have,if it is you dont need a another mat as you can leave the i/r running 24/7 as long as it is on a dimming stat |
1.0 dumeril boa,0.1 bci boa,1.0 royal python,1.0 mbk kingsnake,1.0corn,1.2 chinese water dragon,0.0.1 bearded dragon
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headlow
Hatchling
United Kingdom
233 Posts |
Posted - 16/05/2009 : 20:33:45
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Yeah I think it is an infrared light. The shop I bought the snake and viv from told me to only have the light on for 12 hours a day. I'm new to all this as well, so I'm just trying to learn what I can when I can. From a personal point of view I'd rather not leave the light on all the time because as soon as the light goes out Colin knows its time to come out and play.
The heat mat was installed today with a stat. I don't really see any problems. It's taped down extremely well, and is set at a relatively low heat.
Now it's time to focus on the problem of him not having fed since I took him into my care! |
1.0.0 Mexican Milk
0.0.1 Mexi Black
0.0.3 Corns
0.1.0 Western Hognose |
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snow
Egg
62 Posts |
Posted - 16/05/2009 : 21:35:41
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| my new king not fed for bout 2weeks but been told not to worry have u tried making mouse bleed, |
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lee2308
Kingsnake Forum Admin
United Kingdom
1609 Posts |
Posted - 17/05/2009 : 00:18:27
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| the point of i/red lights is that the snake cant see infra red so the can stay on.I would go with just the mat now and do away with the light altogether or it could be difficult to controll temps with both on.Oh and get yourself a digital thermostat as the dial ones are no good and thermometers should be on the floor abouve the heatmat |
1.0 dumeril boa,0.1 bci boa,1.0 royal python,1.0 mbk kingsnake,1.0corn,1.2 chinese water dragon,0.0.1 bearded dragon
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CharlieD
Snake Mite
United Kingdom
22 Posts |
Posted - 18/05/2009 : 10:57:53
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| Hey guys, I thought that the heat mats were specifically designed to not got too hot to hurt the snakes.. I was going to just move my heat mat from under my little viv to inside the big one when Cleo out grows her baby viv. Surely a snake has enough sense to know when it is getting too hot and move!!! They'd have to do this in the wild.. |
0.1.0 Calli 50/50 High white phase - Cleo
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jono2411
Yearling
United Kingdom
655 Posts |
Posted - 18/05/2009 : 13:20:35
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| An unregulated heatmatt can get to around 40C... a thermostat is ESSENTIAL!!! |
1.0.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake : Baron Samedi
0.0.1 Apricot Pueblan Milksnake : (Hercule) Poirot
0.1.0 Striped Splotched Sinaloan Milksnake : Arminia
0.1.0 Pueblacorn - Cleopatra
0.0.3 Fire-Bellied Toads: Ghengis Khan, Bruce Lee & Chairman Mao
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Gingerpony
SerpentSeven's Evil Twin
United Kingdom
726 Posts |
Posted - 18/05/2009 : 13:55:36
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quote:
Originally posted by CharlieD
Surely a snake has enough sense to know when it is getting too hot and move!!!
they probably would, but by that time they could have been burned as they don't feel things through their scales like we do with our thin skin!!
as jono said, just get a stat, you can have one of mine for £10 plus P&P!!! |
cornsnakes, ratsnakes, Dumerils boas, BCO hybrids, Sinder Hypo boas, Day Geckos
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CharlieD
Snake Mite
United Kingdom
22 Posts |
Posted - 18/05/2009 : 14:17:29
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Sounds good, I might take you up on that when i move Cleo to a bigger Viv. Cheers.
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0.1.0 Calli 50/50 High white phase - Cleo
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Tizzy
Egg
68 Posts |
Posted - 18/05/2009 : 18:04:04
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quote:
Originally posted by serpentsseven
you can have one of mine for £10 plus P&P!!!
£10 + p&p, bargin, I'm interested at that price for my spare viv, especally as i may need it soon for a certain anery stripe corn . What stats have you got going spare GP? |
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Gingerpony
SerpentSeven's Evil Twin
United Kingdom
726 Posts |
Posted - 18/05/2009 : 20:10:30
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it's only an AquaLine on/off stat, as new condition, i've had it in my herp box as my 'emergency stat' in case of a failure.
i've actually only just got it out of the box and used it this week as i thought i was having trouble balancing out temps with running 4 vivs off one stat, so put the two vivs that seemingly weren't getting up to temp on their own stat......................... turns out it's the digi thermometer that's faulty!! so all 4 vivs were running the right temps off the one Habistat! (quite a balancing act mind you!) |
cornsnakes, ratsnakes, Dumerils boas, BCO hybrids, Sinder Hypo boas, Day Geckos
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Tizzy
Egg
68 Posts |
Posted - 18/05/2009 : 21:43:05
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Well if your sure you don't want to keep hold of it then i'll have it off you, let me know what you think the P+P will be and i can either use paypal or sick a cheque in the post to you.
Felicitycornish@hotmail.com |
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Topic |
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Heat mat question
