| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| mia_amber |
Posted - 26/08/2011 : 16:24:23
Hi everyone.
I'm new on here, and I don't really know the proper names for things, so I'm probably going to sound like a bit of a wally, sorry! I'm a bit stuck on something at the moment and was hoping for some advice.
I have my first ever snake (Rubert the corn snake) and I really want to do the very best that I can by him. At the moment I'm concerned about the heating/ lighting mechanism in his tank and would really like some advice because I'm quite confused by all the conflicting information.
He is in a quite big (not sure of size but its about 1.2m x 0.75m) wooden vivarium with wood bark substrate. I have set up a light in the far end of the vivarium (currently a 60W yellow bulb but I also have a 100W blue bulb) (with a cage around it) and this is on a thermostat (which dims the light rather than switching it off). The probe is mid-way along the tank, towards the bottom 3rd of the tank. My problem is that the light is often on (albeit dimly) at night time. He still feeds ok at night, but I really worry that this is messing up his circadiun rhythm. I'm also generally not ken on giving him so much artificial light. He is facing the window and I leave my curtain open for him all the time so that he gets natural light, but I would prefer if this was all the light he got.
I've been looking into heat mats but since my vivarium is wooden, I'm not sure how this would work. I was also thinking about getting a ceramic heat lamp but I'm concerned that the cage would heat up too much and he would get burnt. Can anyone give me some advice on what would be the best thing to do?
Also, if anyone has any general tips on ways to keep the vivarium interesting for their snake, can they let me know? At the moment he has some fake leaves and two log-things and I've been adding bits of toilet roll tube for places to hide, which I alternate weekly in an (poor) attempt to simulate a new location for him.
Sorry for the big ramble, I hope someone can help!!
x |
| 4 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| kdlang |
Posted - 26/08/2011 : 22:37:46
Hiya and welcome to the forum and the world of snake keeping.
That is a big viv. How big is your corn?
I always use heatmats in my wooden vivs. You would need to change thermostat to a simple on/off mat stat or a pulse stat. It sounds like you have got a dimmer stat which is fine for a bulb and I think could also be used if you decide to get a ceramic bulb. If you choose to use a heatmat then you need one that covers about a 1/3 - 1/2 of the floor. You then need to put your thermostat and thermometer probes on top of it. |
| Sta~ple |
Posted - 26/08/2011 : 19:21:54
Heatmats are very easy to use, you just have to really pick a type of heating and stick with it as having a mat and a light is wasted and can cause tempretaure issues. I used to have bulbs in my wooden viv but after 8 years the snakes had managed to climb and pull the bulb cable so it hung off the viv ceiling and hung half the heigh of the viv lol, and I hated always replacing bulbs so switched to heatmats. Althoguh I do kinda miss the light it gives off.
New tolilet rolls are always good to used, or boxes or anything! Anything that hasn't been in their viv/in viv for a few weeks normally makes them all intrested. :D |
| eeji |
Posted - 26/08/2011 : 19:01:23
I've never used heat mats inside wooden vivs but have used ceramics. If you choose a ceramic heater you will need a ceramic bulb holder and heat resistant cable because the heat those things can put out is really high |
| tordyjo |
Posted - 26/08/2011 : 16:37:36
corn snakes don't really need heat lamps, i'm presuming you have a guard so he can't burn himself or coil round the bulb and break it.
Heatmats are fine inside wooden vivs so long as you have a thermostat to regulate the temps, plenty of people here use them. How old/big is you snake.
Your ways of stimulating with toilet tubes is fine, empty cereal boxes etc work well too, harry likes his toblerone tube |
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