The floor is lava! Lol

[Craiga 01453]

Thanks to both of you. In this pic I had the top off for a bit adding new substrate so it's a little different than usual. But I'm still struggling to keep the ambient temperature higher. I have one heat pad in the left corner. Should I get another? After reading this i removed some of the damp substrate to get the humidity down. I'm new at this so please, anytime there is a chance to give advice please do. It will ALWAYS be welcome!! Thanks again to both of you.

Advice is never intrusive. I'm learning and that's why I signed up to this forum. I want my snake to be happy and healthy and I would rather not learn my by mistakes know? I have a northern brown snake that I caught at work and she doesn't need heat or anything like that. Any advice is helpful and never hesitate to help me out please. Thanks you.

Thanks for understanding and being open to suggestions. Unfortunately, not everyone shares your willingness to learn, hence the apprehension.

In order to raise ambient temps you have a few options...

A) heat lamp with heat bulb. Least expensive way to go. However, the bulbs do burn out and need replacing. They also drain humidity a bit. I've used the dark purple ones for many years.

B) heat lamp with CHE (ceramic heat emitter). A bit more expensive but lasts MUCH longer. Don't shine light, just provide heat. Also drains humidity.

C) Radiant Heat Panel. Most expensive, but most reliable and most efficient. I have these in a few of my newest enclosures and will be upgrading more in the future.

D) an additional heat mat. Heat mats aren't designed to raise ambient temps. They're designed to provide a hot spot to aid in digestion. However, with a species like BPs that are extremely terrestrial and don't leave the ground all that often you can get away with this approach, just set one for each side, hot (88-89) and cool (78-80).


Keep in mind, you always want to use your temp gun to read the actual surface temp of the enclosure bottom, not the substrate temp. Snakes burrow, push substrate aside, etc... and will definitely come in contact with the actual enclosure surface, so that's where you want to measure.

And most importantly, ALL heat sources need to be regulated by a thermostat.

Feel free to ask any questions you may have, we're happy to help.
Welcome to the hobby, and thanks again for being understanding and open to suggestions.

Good luck, you're already off to a good start