Advice on heating?

[NH93]

Good advice given. Generally there should be about a 10 degree (F) difference between cool side and warm side/spot (80F-90F is the generally accepted temps, but nothing below 75F as this can cause respiratory infections)!

Just to add a little more:

1) In a glass vive you will most likely need a heat bulb of some sort, because glass and mesh tops do nothing to keep heat and humidity in (so you'll probably also need a great substrate like cyprus mulch, or use some other tricks for humidity). Depending on the size of the tank will depend on the heat bulb. This can be placed in the middle of the vive as well, or you may want to fiddle around with it - trial and error - to get your desired temps. If you want a light and heat bulb, go for a red bulb as BPs can't see that colour outside of full spectrum lighting. Otherwise as previously mentioned, a straight up heat bulb works well.
A UTH will not "cook" a snake so long as it is regulated with a THERMOSTAT!! Not a thermometer, a thermoSTAT. I'm sure you've come across those in your research

2) As you've mentioned, you don't want a temperature drop at night for your snake (asking for RIs...). You can get a higher wattage heat bulb and buy a rheostat - a.k.a. a lamp dimmer - from a hardware store for about $5 or so. For example, when I had mine in a glass vive, it was a 15gal. and I used a 50W red bulb. This kept the tank at 79F-82F, while the room temperature was always about 75 or 76F. If you have a similar sized vive, you may want to go for a 100W and get the dimmer. Then you can again trial and error to find a balance.

3) You may actually want to measure both. You should have a probe for the UTH (separate from the one it comes with) and at least one digital temp for the ambient air, or just a temp gun - I prefer these, although kind of pricey. You'll want your ambient around 80F, and hot spot around 90F. The dial ones are crap, and aren't very accurate. Digital is the way to go!


You're going to see competing opinions with animal care, especially on the internet. I think your best bet is to see what kind of reputation those giving you the info have, and also how many others agree with them. That should get you the best and most accurate info possible.

Best of luck!