Temps sky high! Please help me control this!

Holy crap! I took the infrared temp gun out this morning to check everybody. Under Cleo's heat lamp, her favorite hot spot is 87°. Lady's is 85°, as is Boots'. Eden's is 98°?! She is in a 24 L x 18 W x 12 H. I use a 75w Incandescent from petsmart and they said it was perfect for her cage but now I'm worried. She has been moving her hide out from under the lamp and NOW I know why. What can I do to help her? Is this too hot for her? Cool side read 84° for her cage.

Side note, Cleo's cool side is coming to low seventies. Lowest I saw was 73°(water) and the ground was 76°...is this an okay cool side? Boots' was 83° and Lady's was 82°.

1.2 Normal
1.1 Red-tail
0.1 Albino corn

As your ambients in your room fluctuate so will your temps with a lamp. You either control the ambients better, get a lower wattage bulb, or get a lamp dimmer switch and adjust as needed.

You could also ditch the heat lamps and use mats.

That's a pretty shallow tank and a strong light, I would get a heat emitter instead of a lamp and run it on a rheostat (dimmer). You will need to keep an eye on temps and adjust as needed. What about moving them into tubs or a more suitable reptile cage and using heat mats? You'll need thermostats to control them but will keep temps much more stable and safe. 98 is much too warm. 76 is probably ok for the cool side but if your temps are fluctuating that much could cause issues. I wouldn't take petcos advice on reptile keeping at all.

Just as a reference I use a 50W flood light for my tegus cage and I am going for basking spots of above 100F. Can you post some pictures of your setups? What is the ambient high-low in the room that they are staying in and how much does it fluctuate?

Incandescent lamps are no good for snakes, at all. I would never get advice again from petsmart or petco, its a joke. You can use infrared heat lamps effectively, or just grab a heat pad, and put it on a lamp dimmer from home depot.

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Originally Posted by GoingPostal

That's a pretty shallow tank and a strong light, I would get a heat emitter instead of a lamp and run it on a rheostat (dimmer). You will need to keep an eye on temps and adjust as needed. What about moving them into tubs or a more suitable reptile cage and using heat mats? You'll need thermostats to control them but will keep temps much more stable and safe. 98 is much too warm. 76 is probably ok for the cool side but if your temps are fluctuating that much could cause issues. I wouldn't take petcos advice on reptile keeping at all.

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

Incandescent lamps are no good for snakes, at all. I would never get advice again from petsmart or petco, its a joke. You can use infrared heat lamps effectively, or just grab a heat pad, and put it on a lamp dimmer from home depot.

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Using a CHE vs an incandescent lamp vs halogen vs IR you run into the same issues, overheating and reducing humidity, a lot of people use lamps for snakes you just have to dial in the correct wattage. Saying an incandescent bulb is "no good" isn't necessarily true, which is why I asked about ambients in the room, sometimes heat mats aren't enough to keep up ambients. You can't speak in absolutes like that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

Incandescent lamps are no good for snakes, at all. I would never get advice again from petsmart or petco, its a joke. You can use infrared heat lamps effectively, or just grab a heat pad, and put it on a lamp dimmer from home depot.

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This. I don't even shop at my local stores, I've seen mites on their snakes and I don't want to risk bringing home a hitchhiker.

You can use a lamp dimmer to dial it back until you find a more permanent solution. This link is for Lowes, Home Depot or even a small hardware store will have a similar product. http://www.lowes.com/pd_70717-539-TT...ductId=3189447

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GoingPostal

That's a pretty shallow tank and a strong light, I would get a heat emitter instead of a lamp and run it on a rheostat (dimmer). You will need to keep an eye on temps and adjust as needed. What about moving them into tubs or a more suitable reptile cage and using heat mats? You'll need thermostats to control them but will keep temps much more stable and safe. 98 is much too warm. 76 is probably ok for the cool side but if your temps are fluctuating that much could cause issues. I wouldn't take petcos advice on reptile keeping at all.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

Incandescent lamps are no good for snakes, at all. I would never get advice again from petsmart or petco, its a joke. You can use infrared heat lamps effectively, or just grab a heat pad, and put it on a lamp dimmer from home depot.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by bcr229

This. I don't even shop at my local stores, I've seen mites on their snakes and I don't want to risk bringing home a hitchhiker.

You can use a lamp dimmer to dial it back until you find a more permanent solution. This link is for Lowes, Home Depot or even a small hardware store will have a similar product. http://www.lowes.com/pd_70717-539-TT...ductId=3189447

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Keep in mind I work for Petco. The woman who runs reptiles has bred BPs for a long time and is extremely knowledgeable. I went to PETSMART because I was in a hurry and out of town. X.x

1.2 Normal
1.1 Red-tail
0.1 Albino corn

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jclaiborne

As your ambients in your room fluctuate so will your temps with a lamp. You either control the ambients better, get a lower wattage bulb, or get a lamp dimmer switch and adjust as needed.

You could also ditch the heat lamps and use mats.

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I have mats but they aren't plugged in due to the absence of a t-stat. I need time to get the money.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jclaiborne

Using a CHE vs an incandescent lamp vs halogen vs IR you run into the same issues, overheating and reducing humidity, a lot of people use lamps for snakes you just have to dial in the correct wattage. Saying an incandescent bulb is "no good" isn't necessarily true, which is why I asked about ambients in the room, sometimes heat mats aren't enough to keep up ambients. You can't speak in absolutes like that.

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Thanks! A lot of people said a dimmer will work as a good temporary so I may try that. I also live in Fla. so I could always turn it off for a little while.

1.2 Normal
1.1 Red-tail
0.1 Albino corn

Would it help to switch her bulb with Lady's? She doesn't get enough heat with hers anyway so I think it's too low of a wattage

1.2 Normal
1.1 Red-tail
0.1 Albino corn