What To Do When Your Snake Never Wants Heat....

[KSTAR]

What's Up Guys and Gals of The Python World...I had a quick question and wondered if anyone else had this problem...before my two little guys I have now and with kink I barely see them on they're heat pads....maybe they're on they're heat pads when I'm out the house or at work or sleeping but when I'm home I never see them on the heat pad taking in Some eat...Kink spends alot of his time on the cool side more then his hot side also....does anyone else's snakes do this and is it normal? At times when I Handle them and I put them back in they're enclosures I put them back in right on the heat pads but they soon move off of it So I just let them be....I feel like if they're cold they know where to go

[red ink]

How hot is the hot side?

[SnakeyJay]

Check the temps, if all is good then they've just got a favourite spot :D

[shaunyboy]

to begin with,i use a basic hot end temperature of 88F for my carpets

then i watch the INDIVIDUAL snake and see its prefference's

if its constantly up the cool end,i DROP the hot end temps

if its constantly up its hot end,i RAISE the hot end temps

i raise or lower the temps by 2 degree's per 7 to 10 days,until the snake uses BOTH ends of the tank

i like to see my snakes use the whole tank to thermoregulate,not sit in one side all the time

imo,care sheet temperatures are just a rough guide,each individual snake will have its OWN prefferences

some like it hotter than others,some like it cooler

imo,its up to the keeper to adjust tank temperatures to suit each individual snake

cheers shaun

[Lankyrob]

All you can do is provide the ideal conditions, you can take a snake to heat but you cant make it bask! :)

[shaunyboy]

All you can do is provide the ideal conditions, you can take a snake to heat but you cant make it bask! :)

imo,you can mate

if you keep turning the heat down by 1 or 2 degree's,they will bask at some point;)

cheers shaun:)

p.s.i'm not having a go my friend:)

[SnakeyJay]

Good point Shaun... What's your thoughts on the removal of the hide tho. ? Personally I see it as, I can't see them so I'll take away the hide... Just my opinion. :D

[shaunyboy]

Good point Shaun... What's your thoughts on the removal of the hide tho. ? Personally I see it as, I can't see them so I'll take away the hide... Just my opinion. :D

imo,a snake should always have hides,in at least both hot and cold ends

i even give carpets hides off the ground,half way up or at the top of their tanks

hides should be tight fitting for the snake and imo a must,for a snake to feel secure

the snake should ALWAYS come first,so people taking hides away,for their OWN viewing pleasure are showing BAD husbandry

just my humble opinion mate

cheers shaun;)

[SnakeyJay]

Sorry Kstar.. Wrong thread...
Shauny... My bad, got confused with uma and Bill's thread... Kstar didn't mention taking out the hides.. :D

[shaunyboy]

Sorry Kstar.. Wrong thread...
Shauny... My bad, got confused with uma and Bill's thread... Kstar didn't mention taking out the hides.. :D

^^^^^
wait till you get to my age,it happens all the time :wacky:;)

i thought you just wanted my input on removing hides mate :wacky::laugh:

cheers shaun

[SnakeyJay]

Problem is, it's already happening all the time. :D

[KSTAR]

It's Snakey-Jay and the hot end on my guys was about 90 I then lowered it to 80 but they still snoop around hahaha

[millertime89]

I wouldn't drop it all the way to 80, maybe 85.

[KSTAR]

Ok thanks I'll raise it up

[Aaron_S]

It's Snakey-Jay and the hot end on my guys was about 90 I then lowered it to 80 but they still snoop around hahaha

Why would you lower it to 80?!? You should be monitoring the temps on the substrate where the snake lays over the heatpad. If it's ideal conditions then you'll be fine. What are the temps on the hot and cold sides?

[jaleely]

Maybe the ambient temp is high enough they don't feel the need to go on the basking spot. Is there a lamp or a UTH? Sometimes, they're just brats *lol*

[bladeblaster]

what is the cool end temp? 80 seems too low IMO.

[KSTAR]

They're hot sides are at about 89-92 and they're cool sides are at 75-76....I dropped it to 80 for a day to see how they will react and maybe they'll stay on top of they're heat spots but nothing so I raised they're temp Back up to the normal temps and just before I went to bed at about 11pm last night they both went on they're hot spots so I guess the ambient temps are enough for them at times so I won't really stress it until I see something that causes me too...

[Aaron_S]

I don't get why you'd then need to fiddle with their temps JUST to see them use the hot side. They know what they are doing. Just give them the right environment and they'll use to their needs.

[CK SandBoas]

I agree with Aaron. My animals will move to the cool or hot side when they feel it's necessary to do so. And that's why it's important to provide a hide on both sides, so the animal feels secure enough to move from one side to the other.

[KSTAR]

i didnt do it in a way to force them to use theyre hot sides i did it to see if that temp was gonna be better for them even though it was lower than what i had it originally sorry if you misunderstood what i said and theyre temps are back to normal now and i will just leave them at that and if they feel the need to soak up some heat they know where to go...

[Lankyrob]

I don't get why you'd then need to fiddle with their temps JUST to see them use the hot side. They know what they are doing. Just give them the right environment and they'll use to their needs.


HEY!! Thats what i said :D:D:)

[KSTAR]

YES!!! Im just gonna let them do theyre thing Rob...they know what they want so ill just let them do theyre own thing

[millertime89]

85 is the absolute lowest I would go. I keep my hotspot at 88 which leaves ambient just over 80 and the far cool side is around 77 or 78.

[KSTAR]

Great thanks Kyle

[shaunyboy]

I don't get why you'd then need to fiddle with their temps JUST to see them use the hot side. They know what they are doing. Just give them the right environment and they'll use to their needs.

imo fiddling with the temps is NOT,a case of wanting to see them use their hot side

i drop it a few degrees,if an individual snake is permenantly up its cool side,just to make sure the hot sides,not too hot for that snake.

i have had carpets of the same sub species,preffering up to a 5 degree's of a difference in their hot end,with basking spots ranging from 85F to 90F

i can only vouch for my carpets,but i like to fine tune the temps,so the snake uses both ends of the tank to thermoregulate

with my carpets i have found,they like to use their cool end during the day,then at night they like to use their hot end

i just preffer to see them thermoregulate

i know theres NOTHING natural about keeping snakes in tanks,but i feel its more natural for a snake to move around to find the appropriate heat,rather than it sit up one end of the tank 24/7

the above is just my way of doing things,each to their own

cheers shaun

[shaunyboy]

I don't get why you'd then need to fiddle with their temps JUST to see them use the hot side. They know what they are doing. Just give them the right environment and they'll use to their needs.

imo fiddling with the temps is NOT,a case of wanting to see them use their hot side

i drop it a few degrees,if an individual snake is permenantly up its cool side,just to make sure the hot sides,not too hot for thaT snake.

i have had carpets of the same sub species,preffering up to a 5 degree's of a difference in their hot end,with basking spots ranging from 85F to 90F

i can only vouch for my carpets,but i like to fine tune the temps,so the snake uses both ends of the tank to thermoregulate

with my carpets i have found,they like to use their cool end during the day,then at night they like to use their hot end

i just preffer to see them thermoregulate

cheers shaun

[Aaron_S]

No I agree that they should regulate but the way it was explained here, after having these snakes for a short period of time, it was purely to see them use it for the sake of seeing it.

That is what I thought and I may be wrong but that's how I understood it.

[bladeblaster]

They're hot sides are at about 89-92 and they're cool sides are at 75-76....I dropped it to 80 for a day to see how they will react and maybe they'll stay on top of they're heat spots but nothing so I raised they're temp Back up to the normal temps and just before I went to bed at about 11pm last night they both went on they're hot spots so I guess the ambient temps are enough for them at times so I won't really stress it until I see something that causes me too...

basking is an activity that is really a small part of a snakes behaviour, generally speaking basking is done as little as possible as this is a time where snakes are venerable to predation, as in the wild its an activity this generally requires being out in the open.

Realistically the way we keep snakes dictates that they will seldomly need to bask, as the optimum temperature is very easy to maintian in a small vivarium.

If you turn your heat off completely over night and let then temps get pretty low, then you will certainly see your snake basking when the heat comes on in the morning.

I have argued the point of whether a basking area is even necessary for captive snakes on another forum, I will post a thread askign the same question on this forum in a moment. Its something that I plan to do a comparative experiment with in the future.

[KSTAR]

Thanks For The Knowledge BladeBlaster

[Brazen17]

My redtail boa spends 90+% of his time on the cool side which runs about 80 degrees. Pretty rare to catch him on the hot side (90 degrees).

[Will0W783]

How large is your cage? 10 degrees of gradient seems like a lot for an appropriately-sized cage. My gradients usually run 82-84 cool end, 98-90 hot with a small basking spot of 92-93

[Brazen17]

The cage is 66 inches long by 22 wide and 24 tall. Current weather is 79.2 on the cool side. 95.5 on the basking side (new bulb put in yesterday. Old bulb usually ran ~92 'ish). Humidity is 53%. I'm gonna have to keep an eye on that new bulb temps but seems okay. The snake is currently "down in his hole" digesting after eating a jumbo rat yesterday.