Too hot for my snakes?

[SCWood]

So, with the thermostat set on 77° daily, and the fan on all day, the ambient temperature of my new reptile room is 85°. I've been using heat lamps on my snakes since my rack isn't working out right now, and I immediately measured heat within an hour of setup. Anakin (KSB) had a hot side of 105° which, in my opinion, is too hot even for a desert snake. My ball pythons all had equal hot spots of 100°. Because I felt this may be TOO warm, I turned off the heat lamps until I can find out a solution! For some odd reason, the ambient temperature does not falter past 80°. Other than my desert animals ( my beardie and KSB), should I even bother with heat and this point?

[AlexisFitzy]

Well depending on you live if the ambient temps in the room are warm enough from it being hot outside you can turn all the heat off and just use that ambient heat to keep everyone warm. Many large breeders don't use uth or lamps or rhps they will just heat the entire reptile room/facility to a certain temp and that's all in the summer time in Nashville when it's like 100+ degrees I turn off all heat to my racks and let the ambient a keep them warm.


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[Sauzo]

100 is way too hot. Not sure about KSB as I don't own any but I know my BP girl actually prefers her 78 cool side over her 90 warm side unless she has eaten. My boas are the same. Everyone seems to like it around 80 unless they eat, then they sit in the 90 side for a couple days. The only one who likes it 100 is my beardie. If your ambient is 80, I would just run a UTH on a Herpstat or VE and set it for 90. That would give your BPs a hot spot but not raise the ambient temp.

I'm surprised your snakes aren't sitting in their water bowls at 100 ambient. Last summer my sunglow would curl up in her bowl cause she was small enough. My 6' Colombian girl would just put her head and neck in the bowl to try and cool off and my BP just sat on the cool end outside the hide lol. And the ambient in the room was high 80s or low 90s, cant remember now but it was hot. And you want to be careful, too hot and you can cause neurological problems in your snake like corkscrewing and stuff which might or might not go away when you cool them.

[SCWood]

Well depending on you live if the ambient temps in the room are warm enough from it being hot outside you can turn all the heat off and just use that ambient heat to keep everyone warm. Many large breeders don't use uth or lamps or rhps they will just heat the entire reptile room/facility to a certain temp and that's all in the summer time in Nashville when it's like 100+ degrees I turn off all heat to my racks and let the ambient a keep them warm.


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I live in sunny and HOT south Florida lol it seems this room happens to be the warmest in the house!

100 is way too hot. Not sure about KSB as I don't own any but I know my BP girl actually prefers her 78 cool side over her 90 warm side unless she has eaten. My boas are the same. Everyone seems to like it around 80 unless they eat, then they sit in the 90 side for a couple days. The only one who likes it 100 is my beardie. If your ambient is 80, I would just run a UTH on a Herpstat or VE and set it for 90. That would give your BPs a hot spot but not raise the ambient temp.

I'm surprised your snakes aren't sitting in their water bowls at 100 ambient. Last summer my sunglow would curl up in her bowl cause she was small enough. My 6' Colombian girl would just put her head and neck in the bowl to try and cool off and my BP just sat on the cool end outside the hide lol. And the ambient in the room was high 80s or low 90s, cant remember now but it was hot. And you want to be careful, too hot and you can cause neurological problems in your snake like corkscrewing and stuff which might or might not go away when you cool them.

I turned off the heat last night for everyone to have a cool off. I'm busy checking Temps again. This time, ambient is 80° because I have one hell of a powerful fan. I ran the hot spot on one BP, and it came to 90°. The fact that it gets hotter than that makes me paranoid, so I promptly turned it off again. He won't go near that end of the cage signifies that it's too hot. It's feeding day, but I don't want to overheat the kids.
I am also astonished nobody crawled into water bowls! They were very antsy, though. "Mum, we're uncomfortable!" I did get poos out of this, though! 😉 back to the drawing board. At least they can sit at ambient temperature and stay healthy!

[T_Sauer]

As long as you can control the ambient temp in the room and keep it between 77 to 82℉ you are winning the battle .... And I am baffled by the amount of people talking about the hot spot rising above a reasonable temp .... If the hot spot is set up properly with a thermostat the hot spot should never exceed the ambient temp

[JoshSloane]

Wow, yes 100 degrees is way way too hot. If you are achieving mid 80s in your room for ambients, I would just shut off all the hot spots and let the ambient temps do the work. Florida is python weather most of the year anyways.

I have now fully switched to ambient heat only, with an oil heater providing the only heat for all my reptiles. Honestly I feel like they seem to love it. They utilize the entirety of their enclosure more often, are active and their skin feels much more hydrated.

I really feel that as the next revolution of herping info becomes available, the concept of hot spots and UTHs will become extinct.

[SCWood]

Wow, yes 100 degrees is way way too hot. If you are achieving mid 80s in your room for ambients, I would just shut off all the hot spots and let the ambient temps do the work. Florida is python weather most of the year anyways.

I have now fully switched to ambient heat only, with an oil heater providing the only heat for all my reptiles. Honestly I feel like they seem to love it. They utilize the entirety of their enclosure more often, are active and their skin feels much more hydrated.

I really feel that as the next revolution of herping info becomes available, the concept of hot spots and UTHs will become extinct.

I'm enjoying it's benefit lol lower power bill!

[DennisM]

...I live in sunny and HOT south Florida lol it seems this room happens to be the warmest in the house!

Then you're all set, I too live in sunny and HOT south Florida and here's what's been working for me for over 20 years. block off the AC in the reptile room and open the windows! this will work about 8 months of the year. you're going to get heat build up if the windows are closed. in the winter close the windows and put an oil filled heater on a proportional tstat. No heat tape, UTH, RHP or lamps required. I guess the one catch might be that your keeping desert species and the humidity might be inappropriate.

[SCWood]

Then you're all set, I too live in sunny and HOT south Florida and here's what's been working for me for over 20 years. block off the AC in the reptile room and open the windows! this will work about 8 months of the year. you're going to get heat build up if the windows are closed. in the winter close the windows and put an oil filled heater on a proportional tstat. No heat tape, UTH, RHP or lamps required. I guess the one catch might be that your keeping desert species and the humidity might be inappropriate.

That is my only true setback. But they're loving the heat too, trust me. When I was crashing with my friend, he kept his house a MAX 72° at all times and they were all so chilly. I'm so glad to have my own place, now

[DennisM]

Wow, yes 100 degrees is way way too hot. If you are achieving mid 80s in your room for ambients, I would just shut off all the hot spots and let the ambient temps do the work. Florida is python weather most of the year anyways.

I have now fully switched to ambient heat only, with an oil heater providing the only heat for all my reptiles. Honestly I feel like they seem to love it. They utilize the entirety of their enclosure more often, are active and their skin feels much more hydrated.

I really feel that as the next revolution of herping info becomes available, the concept of hot spots and UTHs will become extinct.

agreed, if you have a dedicated room, arrange the appropriate ambient climate. the catch, and I think SCWood has this problem, is you need an environment within acceptable temp/humidity range for all the animals. I don't keep any species that doesn't do well in a warm and humid environment. If they can't hang with the pythons, they're not in my collection.

I doubt hot spots/enclosure heating will become extinct. they're not necessarily a bad thing, just an inconvenient and expensive thing for the keeper. I don't take that approach and don't believe it is in anyway necessary when a proper ambient can be provided. But there are plenty of keepers with just a couple animals where a dedicated room may not make sense or who simply don't have that luxury.