Question about heating the whole snakeroom

I believe that some keepers maintain their whole snakerooms at a given temperature.

My question is - if you do this do you still need to run the flexwatt.

I am living in a new place and my snakeroom is on the 2nd floor which I anticipate it getting quite warm this summer. Should I turn off the air conditioning and let this room naturally get up to 85/88 in the room? I don't understand how the snakes regulate between a hot side and cool side when having the whole room one temp.

Can someone please explain this to me.

Thanks

It's up to you which way you do it. I let my snake room get up to ~85 degrees and then turn off the flexwatt during the summer. I turn it back on in the fall when ambient temps start to drop again (room stays ~78 during the winter). I haven't had any issues with this route, but it all depends on how your BPs respond to it.

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Originally Posted by Annarose15

It's up to you which way you do it. I let my snake room get up to ~85 degrees and then turn off the flexwatt during the summer. I turn it back on in the fall when ambient temps start to drop again (room stays ~78 during the winter). I haven't had any issues with this route, but it all depends on how your BPs respond to it.

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So, you are saying - as long as my room stays in the mid/high 80's this summer I can turn off my flexwatt??

I've never kept them on a second floor bedroom before - and I know from experience that upstairs tend to get pretty darn hot - thus the reason for me wondering if I needed to run the flexwatt - I don't want them to be too warm.

You said to see how they react to this - what should I be on the look out for with regards to them adjusting to this??

Thanks

I have never offered supplemental heat, and heat my entire room to 85 degrees year round 24/7....no issues....

Jason

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Originally Posted by L.West

So, you are saying - as long as my room stays in the mid/high 80's this summer I can turn off my flexwatt??

I've never kept them on a second floor bedroom before - and I know from experience that upstairs tend to get pretty darn hot - thus the reason for me wondering if I needed to run the flexwatt - I don't want them to be too warm.

You said to see how they react to this - what should I be on the look out for with regards to them adjusting to this??

Thanks

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If the room is going to get that hot anyway, then you definitely want to turn off the hot spot (but I think I understand that you're debating whether to run the AC and hot spot, or neither). As far as signs, I'd watch for changes in feeding habits (suddenly going off and staying off), soaking excessively, and restless activity during the day when they are usually sleeping - pretty much the usual signs when anything is stressing them. Oh, and to your first post, I wouldn't let it get all the way up to 88+, because then it's like they are living on one big hot spot. ~85 is too warm for a "cool" side, and too cool for a "hot" side.

Starting at the end of April I cut off all my hot spots and only have my snake at room temp which is a nice and toasty 86/88 which translaste into 84/86 in the racks during the day with a night drop of 4 to 6 degrees as night.

I have been doing this for the past 2 years since moving to a new house and my animals adjusted perfectly.

Animals can be kept various ways it's mainly about being experienced enough to recognized signs of stress and finding the setup that work for your animals and yourself.

What I do is very different from what I recommend to new owners getting started however once someone feel comfortable enough they should definitely experienced around.

Among big breeders VPI is one that does not offer a hot spot and keep their animals at room temps.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Starting at the end of April I cut off all my hot spots and only have my snake at room temp which is a nice and toasty 86/88 which translaste into 84/86 in the racks during the day with a night drop of 4 to 6 degrees as night.

I have been doing this for the past 2 years since moving to a new house and my animals adjusted perfectly.

Animals can be kept various ways it's mainly about being experienced enough to recognized signs of stress and finding the setup that work for your animals and yourself.

What I do is very different from what I recommend to new owners getting started however once someone feel comfortable enough they should definitely experienced around.

Among big breeders VPI is one that does not offer a hot spot and keep their animals at room temps.

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Hi Deborah,

So, during the winter you run the flexwatt and the oil filled heater. Come the end of April - you shut down the flexwatt but keep the oil filled heater going - is that correct??

I'm in Michigan so I can't rely on the weather to keep the room that warm without supplementing it until the summer months.

I agree with JTrott. As long as the room is up to 85 to 89 degrees theres no need to even have the flexwatt. You could use a small oil heater to keep the room at that temp.

Depending on the size of the snake room (if small) the flex will heat the room to the temp u want. Idk if i was just luck or what but i set my flex to 90 and the room stayed at around 86. While the rest of the house is kept a 75.

i use my bonus room as my snakeroom and i keep it at 78 to 82 all year long and keep my heat tape on but i have my rats up there too and if its too hot they will not breed, but i think if i was just my snakes up there ill keep the heat higher and turn everything off in the summer.

When i lived in MI i had to keep my heat tape on all year because it never got really warm in the summer .

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Originally Posted by L.West

Hi Deborah,

So, during the winter you run the flexwatt and the oil filled heater. Come the end of April - you shut down the flexwatt but keep the oil filled heater going - is that correct??

I'm in Michigan so I can't rely on the weather to keep the room that warm without supplementing it until the summer months.

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Correct.

I live in the south and my snake room is located above the garage, right under the roof and it gets real hot so the most energy and cost efficient way to make it work is to actually use that heat at my advantage and keep my animals at room temps during the warm months without providing a hot spot.

During the winter I am keeping the room at 76/78 with a oil filled heater and provide a hot spot of 86/88 and eventually down the road I may keep my snakes at room temps (obviously they will be higher) during the winter too when the room is filled up.

It’s really about working efficiently depending on the room you have and it’s location, my old snake room was in our basement and was barely getting up to 78 during the summer so at the time I was still running a hotspot year round.