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Can't really add to what's been said already, I used a red bulb with mine with cage around it as they can and do end up burnt without that protection, but ensure the cage isn't itself too close to the light so get one big enough.
Mine were in a 4ft long viv once big enough not to escape through the glass doors. I used aspen as their substrate, this is going back years so I'm not sure if the advice is different now re substrate. I personally never had any issues with it, but there always seems to be debate around substrates.
 
rather uncalled for , he was only asking for advice and as I read what was being posted and i was a newbie I would be confused .
If you read the rest of the posts you'll see we've already sorted it and I've given lots more advice that he's happy with :)

Gaz
 
just a correction,on off stats are not advised for light emitting heating,dont want it flashing on and off do you.
Ceramic will work on any of the stats,as long as minimum and maximum wattage is met.
I find dimmers best with ceramics,and you can use a normal bulb if the ceramic goes
No, On and off is a pain but that's why I said I use a dimmer, but it will work so I gave him the option as I wasn't sure what stat he already had :)

Didn't know you could use a dimmer on a ceramic though, was always told a pulse is best, but then again I've never used one myself :)

I prefer my dimmer and slutty red lights, lol.

Gaz
 
Just to throw this completely the other way i use mats for both of mine now.
(and they are both in vivs) although it doesn't give off the instant ambient heat that the bulbs do but corns and milks and such are burrowing species and the mats infra-red waves heat the bedding just fine. (but do use a stat lol)
once its been on for a while anyway the heat does filter to the viv giving it a nice warm ambient but as long as its stat controlled there is no problem keeping these kind of snakes on mats permanently. (unless they get HUGE then it can cause blocking) but its all opinion based more than anything. some say mats some say ceramics. in the case of the gap between the glass i use a peice of card that ive taped to the OUTSIDE glass (nowhere the snake can touch the tape) but it fills the gap up nicely
swings and roundabouts mate swings and roundabouts.
now let the bashing commence as my opinion is different from everyone elses on this thread :bash:
 
Didn't know you could use a dimmer on a ceramic though, was always told a pulse is best, but then again I've never used one myself :)
Pulse stats are not better with Ceramics, they just work differently but you can still use a dimmer.

Pulse stats are a lot cheaper than dimmers but can only be used with Ceramics, whereas a dimmer can be used with Ceramics or Lights.
 
Discussion starter · #26 ·
OK, don't want to start up an old thread again, but just a quick update, my Viv's been up and running a few week now, I went with a 2 foot viv exotic, and ceramic heater with a pulse stat, everything is running well and look a great, I'm just a bit concerned over the temps.

Hot end, stat and temp probe next to each other just above substrate under heater 28'C.. It hardly moves..
Now the heater or cage doesn't seem that warm but the ambient does.

cool end, temp probe same level above substrate directly opposite hot end probe 24.5 - 25'C.
So that's not much of a difference between hot and cold. Temp drops about 2'C at night..

The snake spends most of the time on a branch half way up the cold side or in the cold side hide, she eats well and just had her 1st shed with us so I'm guessing she's fine. But should the temp gradient be bigger and if so how am I going to adjust it.. Thanks..
 
The temperatures sound reasonable, if you could create a slightly bigger temperature gradient your corn might find it useful, but they are pretty adaptable. It's also difficult to create a decent gradient in the small vivs.

If your corn is spending most of it's time in the cool end, it might be an indicator that the warm end is a little too warm- but that being said they'll find it most useful when digesting food, and they don't need to do that every day...
How are you measuring the temperatures? If it's with the dial thermometers on the wall then you'll be seeing the air temperature, and the actual hot spot under the lamp is likely to be much hotter. If this is the case, it might be worth placing the thermostat probe directly under the ceramic and set this to 30C.

If that's already how you're doing it, you could cut some extra vents into the cool end to try and cool it a little. I'd put the vents lower so cool air is pulled in rather than hot air pushed out. You can buy viv vents online and can secure them in place with sillicone. If putting a vent in the thicker melamine wood, it might be worth sticking a vent on each side of the wood just to make sure if one comes loose, the snake won't escape! If that doesn't help by itself, a small exhaust vent in the warm end high up might encourage a small flow of air through the viv that will help to cool the cool end. You'll need to keep your snake out of the viv whilst you do the work and allow the sealant to cure, but keeping it in a RUB with the heatmat underneath will be fine as temporary accommodation.

This will probably reduce the humidity though, and whilst not too important generally you might find it useful to include a damp hide during the shedding process to help him shed cleanly.

It would be worth looking for a cheap second hand 3-4ft viv soon (you've got the hard part of the heating sorted already) or even build one if you're brave. Your corn will probably have outgrown the 2' viv in a year or so!

Good luck!
 
Discussion starter · #28 · (Edited)
I have the stat prob and a digi temp gauge just above the substrate directly under the ceramic, that's set to 28, I have a digi temp centre back that reads 25 and I have a digi temp probe on cool side directly opposite hot side probe and that is 24.5- 25. I though if I raised temp of ceramic it would just raise temp at cool side by the same amount, and I was worried cool side was toohot as it is.. I'll be upgrading to a bigger viv when she's grown a bit,, she is only 4/5 month old..

Its quite a warm room this time of year aswel, ,, I've got my eye on a couple of bigger vivs for when the time comes,, and a few plans for this one..
 
It sounds like you've already got it set up in the way I was thinking of to limit the temperature of the warm end, so if you increase the temperature of the thermostat it will just increase the temperature of the cool end as well.

I'd say you probably don't want to drop the hot spot temperature below 28C so it might be worth putting in a vent in the cool end. Even if your room is quite warm at the moment I'd have thought it's cooler than 24C so allowing the air in should help. It's simple enough to check with your thermometers though.
That or you could move the viv to a slightly cooler room and see if that helps.

Edit: 25C is fairly warm for the cool end of a corn's viv, which would explain why she prefers the cool end, but I wouldn't have said it is dangerously hot- but certainly not ideal.
 
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