Burrowing Question

The corn snake I bought today burrowed immediately when I put her in the tank. I had the temp set so that the hot side temp above the aspen substrate was 88-90ish. However, on the tank floor beneath the substrate the temp was 105.

Currently the probe is directly on the UTH and I'm taking the temp from there. I've had to lower the power going to the UTH a lot to get the temps down but I'm afraid it will ruin my ambient temps. Any suggestions on what to do? She's so little and I'm horrified of burning her.

Would switching to newspaper stop the burrowing or will she find a way to burrow in it? Thanks.

-Dennis

Corn snakes like to borrow. With my corn snakes I have the probe measuring the glass temp not the top of the substrate for this reason. Corn snakes do not need the temperature to go into the 90's. Years ago as a kid I had snakes housed on newspaper. The corn snake would either get between the sheets, or between the cage and the newspaper.

1 - Corns love burrowing, which is why substrate for them should be a tad bit deeper than for a BP.

2 - The warm side temp shouldn't really be above 86, measured against the floor of the enclosure right over the heat source.

3 - Which probe are you referring to? The thermoSTAT probe should be right against the UTH outside the enclosure, but the thermoMETER probe should be INside the enclosure on the floor right over the UTH. You should try to avoid using the thermostat (control device) to measure temps since the probe is outside the enclosure.

Get a good reliable digital thermometer with probe to measure the temps inside, if you don't already have one. And if it's the thermometer probe you're talking about here and you don't have a thermostat to control the heat you REALLY need to get one ASAP.

Thanks everyone, I'll get my temps down to 85F asap.
I use a digital thermometer to take temp readings and the probe is currently placed directly on the glass above the UTH (under the substrate in a hide box). And I use a light dimmers to control my UTHs.

Someone from another forum recommended placing newspaper down on the glass before adding the aspen bedding. Has anyone else done this?

I'm just worried that an 85F temp directly on the UTH will not provide enough heat for the entire tank. Buuut if I jack the temps up a bit to raise the ambient temp and she burrows down to the UTH she'll get burned. Any more thoughts?

-Dennis

:) Good to hear you control the UTH...tho it should eventually be with a thermostat so you can 'set and forget' as it were.

I myself put down a layer of newsprint under the aspen in all my enclosures and it works great, not only to tell when a mess has been made, but for cleanup as well (just roll up and toss).

Remember that the whole tank should not be 85, rather you should have one end at 85 and a gradient allowing the other end to be closer to 75. Corns can do fine, as long as they have a warm side in the 80s, at temps as low as the high 60s if they must.
What I do is have one UTH on one side set to about 84, and I don't let my apartment get below 71 (in winter). It's perfect for the corns, and they love it. No extra heating or lighting required.

Thanks again. And I know about the temperature gradient needed for snakes. I'm not a complete noob. : )

I'll set down some newspaper once I get my hands on some. It seems like a quick fix for more than one problem.

As for light dimmers...I sure wish I could "set and forget" but I don't mind the occasional tweaking. And for 10$ why the heck not? :banana:

People not using any form of UTH control really bugs me. My Zoomed gets 105+ on 100% power. Poor snakes...

:D I didn't think you were that much of a newbie... I was mostly stating it for any possible newbies looking in, and because you never can be too careful. :)