Advise regards a BHP

[Naturesfury]

Hi everyone.
I am posting this on behalf of my partner who is out at Mt Isa....he has an adult BHP he purchased a radiant heating system lights etc and yep he bought a thermostat...which has now proven to be faulty and I have just purchased a new one for him which he should get by the end of the week. That said he is concerned, because the night time temps are now about 13 degrees out there and cannot control the heating overnight until the thermostat gets there. So he is manually turning it on and off overnight for short periods.....in the meantime the bhp has gone into her hide and has covered up her entrance and exit holes I believe she is going into hibernation as she is too cold....is turning the radiant on/off overnight for the next couple of nights going to do more damage to her, what happens if she is to cold etc.....though she was captive bred and raised as you know they naturally live in the dessert where it gets so cold at night but still rather warm during the day...which is what happening in my partners unit......any advice would be welcomed as well as any info on snake behaviour if night time temps are too cold

 

[timantula]

how hot is it getting at night when heating is left on?

 

[Naturesfury]

My partner is unsure on that as the whole thermostat and external thermo reader that came with it are not functioning...... I can tell you that after speaking to him that when he leaves it on for 30 mins after that time frame the radiant is too hot to touch hence why he is unsure with the on/off

 

[RedFox]

I would leave it off since you have ordered a new one. It takes a while for cold temps to killl them but only minutes for hot temps to kill or harm them. Her being in her hide is just to try maintain heat. Don't feed her until the new thermostat arrives.

 

[jacques92]

Is he inside or in a outside enclosure
it might be 13 degrees out side but only 25 degrees in side

 

[Morgan_dragon]

BHPs can tolerate pretty warm temps at times although if it drops that low in the tank your running a good chance of picking up a Respiratory Infection. Ask your partner if he can hang around and warm the tank up before he goes to bed and hopefully that will keep the inside of the tank warm enough overnight. Try checking the temp first thing in the morning for an indication of night time temps. You don't want temps dropping lower then 19-20oC if you can help it.

 

[wokka]

An adult BHP would be in a relatively large cage. It is doubtful that a heat source could overheat the complete cage at this time of year when ambient temperatures are low. If the heat scource is left on it will probably only waste power and the BHP can escape to the cooler areas of the cage. Most keepers dont provide heat to larger snakes at night assuming the night temperatures in the cage would stay above say 15c.
My BHP only receive heat from 7am to 7pm, with night time minimums sometimes reaching 13C. A large animal like an adult BHP has significant thermal mass and so can maintain its core temperature, for some time, after the air temperature has dropped.

 

[Naturesfury]

The enclosure is inside jacques

Redfox...thank you will tell my partner

Thank you Morgan

Wokka, yes the bhp is in a large cage, and the radiant is only on one half of the cage so yes she can escape however the concern with the heat radiant is there is no protection around it like a heat lamp etc this is a reptile radiator hence his concern on the heat and why he cannot leave it on all night as to the touch it is seriously hot.
I will advise my partner on what you have said regards temps thank you so much

 

[jacques92]

Is it 13 degrees inside the enclosure ?
I have been watching my snake room and temps havent droped below 22
degrees overnight and i life in mackay only about 4 hours away from townsville

 

[wokka]

A timer which should be readily available in mount Isa could be set to say 15 miutes on each hour through the day and off at night. Although not as accurate as a thermostat it should do the job after a bit of trial and error.