Heating for a Colombian

[Jellyfish]

Last Sunday I purchased a Colombian rainbow boa. Currently he's housed in a 29 gallon aquarium (not ideal, I know, but humidity in the room is already around 80%, so I'm not worried about moisture getting out).

I've got a 60 watt ceramic heater in a wire lamp suspended a couple of inches away from the top of the cage. Problem is, very little of the heat seems to be reaching the bottom. Temperatures on the warm side have been hovering at about 79-81 F, which is only a couple of degrees warmer than the ambient temperature of the room.

So, are there any better ways to bring the temperature up? I've heard that heat mats can be bad for boas-- is this true? What about different types of lamps? The snake seems to be doing fine so far, but I'm a bit worried about leaving him for too long at too low a temperature.

[Starbuck]

what are you using to measure your temperatures, and it the 81 F you quoted ambient (general warm side), or a specific spot in the tank (i.e. the basking spot, inside his warm hide...?)? One thing you could do would be provide a branch or shelf within the tank, so your snake can get closer to the heat.

You can use a UTH for boas, but you have to use it correctly. This means a) having it attached to a thermostat, b)having a reliable method to monitor spot temperatures, and c) continuing to monitor those temps every day. sharing a picture of your enclosure could be beneficial, and we always like to see happy snakes :)

Welcome to the forum!

[Concept9]

what are you using to measure your temperatures, and it the 81 F you quoted ambient (general warm side), or a specific spot in the tank (i.e. the basking spot, inside his warm hide...?)? One thing you could do would be provide a branch or shelf within the tank, so your snake can get closer to the heat.

You can use a UTH for boas, but you have to use it correctly. This means a) having it attached to a thermostat, b)having a reliable method to monitor spot temperatures, and c) continuing to monitor those temps every day. sharing a picture of your enclosure could be beneficial, and we always like to see happy snakes :)

Welcome to the forum!

What Starbuck said. LOL

81 on the war side isn't bad, it should be about 83 with 85 being max. If you use a UTH on the warm side with a thermostat set for about 85 should bring your temp up another 2-3 degrees to where is should be.

[smy_749]

You could just move the lamp closer if its suspended a couple of inches away...

[Starbuck]

You could just move the lamp closer if its suspended a couple of inches away...

that is one solution, but we dont know if 81 is ambient or spot temp. If its ambient, it is likely that spot temps will be a bit higher, and a closer lamp will up the temps higher still... add this to the fact that 29 gallons doesnt leave tons of space to get away from excessive heat...

None of the information supplied so far leads me to believe the snake is in any sort of dire straits; 81 is a little cool, but certainly wont kill it.

pics and a good temp gun, or it didnt happen ;)

[Jellyfish]

what are you using to measure your temperatures, and it the 81 F you quoted ambient (general warm side), or a specific spot in the tank (i.e. the basking spot, inside his warm hide...?)? One thing you could do would be provide a branch or shelf within the tank, so your snake can get closer to the heat.

You can use a UTH for boas, but you have to use it correctly. This means a) having it attached to a thermostat, b)having a reliable method to monitor spot temperatures, and c) continuing to monitor those temps every day. sharing a picture of your enclosure could be beneficial, and we always like to see happy snakes :)

Welcome to the forum!

The thermometer probe is on the bottom of the enclosure on the warm side, near the warm hide but not in it.

I will definitely be adding some branches for climbing :)

In the meantime, would it be worthwhile to try switching from the wire lamp to a dome? Any safety concerns? The ceramic heater is putting off plenty of heat, but all of it seems to be escaping upward.

Thanks for the help!

[Concept9]

I use a dome not a wire. But I got a wide one, 10" I think and 150 watt rated. I did this to help reflect more heat down. It helped a lot.

[smy_749]

I agree with MBK, most of your heat is just dissipating into the room. Heat rises, doesn't sink. Get a dome and see what that does for you.

[Starbuck]

do make sure the dome is rated for whatever wattage your CHE is. I agree that a dome is a very good method to help keep heat going down.

[Jellyfish]

Thanks everybody :) I'll try the dome.

[Snakesitter]

Good advice here. Just be careful to monitor the post-dome temps. Too much heat is as bad as too little with this species, and 81F is perfectly survivable.