Heating question

[J5cox]

Hey guys,
as of today, I have become the owner of my first snake, a 8 month old murray darling python.
I live in adelaide, and purchased through scales and tails, which ive read is one of the more reliable stores in adelaide. They were great with answering all my questions etc, and with putting me onto the right set up for the snake, mentioning that the predone setup has everything i need.

The only thing is, i see alot of talk about thermostats, which isnt part of my setup. I have two seperate bulbs, a UV light which i run during the day, and a black heat lamp. Reading posts, i see most people run the heating lamps through a thermostat, 24/7 for optimum temperature. The lamp is tucked into one corner of the enclosure, creating a heat gradient, however im wondering if this is ok, or whether I need a thermostat as well for better control? The lamp has been running all day so far, and the snake is currently lying directly under it.. so im assuming it hasnt got too hot as of yet?
Cheers in advance!

 

[Shiresnakes]

Congrats on the purchase of your 1st snake

Sorry I'm not sure what a predone setup is, but I would highly recommend that you invest in a thermostat to control your temps.... Otherwise how do you know what temp your snake is at....it could be too cold or too hot.

 

[camspeed]

Mate you don't need a thermostat. All you need to make sure is that the heat isn't too hot. Check the temp where he is lying under the heat with a thermometer, should be around 30-35 degrees. May have to experiment with a few different bulb wattages until you find the right one.

No need to waste money on expensive bulbs from the pet shop either, just get ordinary ones from bunnings or wherever.

You don't need it on 24/7 either. I have mine on a timer which is on for about half the day. Will probably Cut the time back a bit once it starts getting hotter up here.

 

[J5cox]

By 'predone' i mean the enclosure is sold as a already set up package, with light fittings placed into the lid, hide hole/waterbowl/tree/substrate all there. So the heating lamp was already placed, top corner. This was the exact same set up that all their carpets had, often with trees under the lights for a better gradient, i suppose..

Cheers for the replies, i will get the thermometer out, and probably set a timer up so that its off during the hotter parts of the day. would having it set to turn off from 12pm-late arvo be decent throughout summer? then im assuming you still let it run throughout the night?
thanks again!

 

[camspeed]

I have mine coming on from around midday to midnight. Will probably change it to come on later in the afternoon soon, Doesn't get very cold up here anyway. Might be a bit different down in Adelaide but they don't need heat all the time. If it gets cold, they'll warm up again when the heat comes back on.

 

[Ned_fisch]

For that age of python, I'd definitely be running it for longer then 12 hours, just to ensure a positive feeding response. I would run a thermostat to, $100-$180 will get you all you need. I have a friend that lost pythons due to an overheat. If you choose not to run one, on a hot day, you may loose your python.

A basking temp, so where he is laying, around 42 degree's and hot end air temp of 32ish and s cool
end of around 25.

 

[J5cox]

Ok - with the warm weather just around the corner i've gone ahead and ordered a thermostat, wasnt too expensive anyway. Also i'll run the heating lamp longer atm, the weather is a bit cold/****** this week. Cheers for the timely help guys.

the little bugger seems alright so far, although hes wrapped himself around the uvb light (which obviously i cant turn on now) in the middle.. might need to add afew more branches, looks like the current ones arent good enough for him!

 

[Ned_fisch]

That's good mate, hope it goes well. Do you have a light cage?

 

[Schnecke]

Definitely invest in some light cages. As he gets larger he will easily (probly can now) crush the bulb. Broken glass = bad.

Mackay is really different in climate to Adelaide so it's hard to compare the 2 for temps. From what I've seen other people (more experienced people, I'm just regurgitating stuff I've read) is the following:

* Until the hatching is 12-18 months (2 winters old) a lot of people keep heat on 24/7 (as mentioned above this is to maintain a good feeding response)

* Day time temp (= hot end temp) varies according to the snake. Temps mentioned above. Cooler end doesn't matter as much, as long as the enclosure is inside with a decent ambient temp (our cool ends drop just below 20 in the middle of winter at night, but hot ends are maintained hot as we have hatchies, so they choose where to go) our climate here is similar to yours.

* Night time temps can be lowered once the snake gets older (or turned off altogether depending on what temp the room drops too and what season it is as they can regulate their own body temps a bit more easily and it will mimic what happens in the wild (people often turn temps down/off at night in winter, as this is when it gets much colder overnight) in summer it's different again. There are a few good threads here with day and night temp questions that I found helpful. I'm still not too sure what to do with ours, still gathering bits and pieces of info and trying to work out how to do it most effectively with an ATC-210 dimming thermostat that goes nuts if the temp doesn't drop or raise fast enough when the day/night cycle changes.

* Thermostats are great at just keeping things in check, so good on you for taking the safe option to get one. If the bulb is small enough and your snake has enough options to get closer of further from the heat there isn't much of an issue, but if your globe runs a tad too hot, a thermostat helps you control that temp better (and have peace of mind that it will be turned off if the thermostat probe (placed where your hottest spot for basking is) gets too hot. Snakes aren't dumb, but they still do get burned sometimes by their basking spot if something goes a little wrong. Just be sure to measure the basking spot, not the air above it, it changes quite a bit 1-2 cm above a stone or shelf (pretty much lay it on the hot spot if you can)

I personally like the black ceramic globes for heat, as they don't throw out light, so they seem more natural. I also have a UVB light, but honestly, after all the reading I've done (and the fact that they are useless after 6 months and pretty much become a normal globe) I don't know if we'll get any more (I hate the type of bright whitish light they produce, it's almost painful to the eyes and not like sunlight. Ours get an hour outside in the sun once a week, and that's all they really need I'm told.

 

[Bluetongue1]

No UVB what-so-ever is required by reptiles that eat whole vertebrates. They get sufficient calcium and vitamin D3 in their diet. It has been demonstrated that pythons, elapids and most monitors can be reared and bred successfully without for generation after generation.

I would suggest you provide bottom heat for all snakes that are at least partly terrestrial. For semi-arboreal species, such as carpets, add a ceiling mounted heat source and branches for basking. Some people run the heating 24/7. If you want to be more natural, at night turn off the basking heat source. In nature, carpets will bask on a branch or a hollow, deriving heat from the sun’s rays during the day. This will allow them to be active after dark for a certain amount of time. Heat is not retained in trees branches so if the snake wishes to remain active it will need to descend to the ground and find a rock area that has been heated by the sun and is still warm.

I would recommend use of heat cord (15 W) for bottom heating but you can also use a 15 – 25 W small bulb in a wooden box. I am personally not fond of heat mats although some brands these days are apparently very reliable. Do not use a hot rock. The upper heat source should have a dimmer thermostat and the heat cord, if set up properly, does not need one. If you choose to use one a simple on/off thermostat is adequate.

Blue