Newbie snake owner with questions..

[ShayInator]

Right now I am using an Acurite thermometer/hygrometer thingy, a hydrofarm thermostat, and a ZooMed UTH for her.

I am still wondering if I should use the heat lamp though, will it hurt if I do? My room is a little hot for my liking, so I would like to do that.. o.o

[Monty's_Mom]

If you are keeping your room at that temperature so the snake tank ambient temp is okay then YES, use the lamp! It will be more comfortable for you and cheaper to heat just the tank and not the whole room. Don't use the lamp until you have waited for a day of a cooler room temp to see if you need it. The UTH will raise the tank ambient temp some so it may not be necessary. A good thing to have for when winter comes though.

[Mustang5]

Right now I am using an Acurite thermometer/hygrometer thingy, a hydrofarm thermostat, and a ZooMed UTH for her.

I am still wondering if I should use the heat lamp though, will it hurt if I do? My room is a little hot for my liking, so I would like to do that.. o.o

When I got my first snake I bought a heat lamp. A couple weeks later i realized it wasn't necessary so I now use it to warm up my rats after they have thawed out. Just an idea if you don't use the lamp.

[ShayInator]

I'll probably do that then, because I hate having to keep my room so warm.. I still don't know about the bulbs though. .-.

[Monty's_Mom]

Put the acurite thermometer in the cool side of the tank to check the ambient temp on the cool side. Check the temp on the cool side by resetting the minimum and maximum saved temperatures and check it for a day while keeping your room at the 79-81 temp it is now. Then, make it cooler in the room for your comfort and check what the temps are by resetting/deleting the saved temps again.

If the cool side goes down to 75, it won't hurt the snake for this 24-36 hour temp testing. As for if the bulb will explode, I don't know. I do know that bulbs have less chance of doing this if you don't touch the glass with your fingers. If you do, use at least 70% rubbing alcohol to clean it with a moistened paper towel. Keep any objects at least 3 inches from the bulb.

Hanging the lamp from the ceiling with a couple different heights on the chain helps to adjust the ambient temp in the tank until you get it right. Again, it is better to raise the ambient temp slowly since you have a thermostat controlled UTH. You have time to get it right.

[ShayInator]

I don't think I can reset the temperature with mine.. I think it does it automatically, I don't know.. I'll try to do that anyways though! Thank you very much!

[Reinz]

I'll probably do that then, because I hate having to keep my room so warm.. I still don't know about the bulbs though. .-.

For me I just kept all wattages of bulbs on hand in my snake room with back ups. This can get expensive also. Then I realized all that I needed was a 100 or 150 watt bulb and then plug it in to an external dimmer switch that I came across in the house- DOH!!
Then not too long ago someone posted that Lowes has these for about $12 I believe.


The slide switch works perfectly and no more switching bulbs with changing weather.

[ShayInator]

Where can I find the dimmers, and what are they usually called?

Thank you so much for the help guys!

[frostysBP]

Home depot manards Wal-Mart . they are call tabletop lamp dimmers or just diner switches

[ShayInator]

Thank you! You are a life saver! <3