Housing maccies

[webby]

well jimmy.. the cage size sounds fine... but it depends how big you snakes are to what your heat sourse is... if you use a light, you have to concider that they might hang off it and get burnt... wich you can stop by covering the light with a cage or asort... but if you have a very small animal that might still reach the light it might get under the barrier anyway.... if you are very sure they cant get the light then use it... but i would start by using the smaller 40W light first ( or even a 25W)... monitor the heat it produces ( as different situations and matterials can effect the temp) put the prob directly onto the heated surface the light has made and see how hot it gets... if it doent get over about 25 deg then put the 60W in and do the same till you get a good heated surface for the snake to lie on... but always remember to make sure there is a cool spot it can go to get away from the heat should it wish to.... i also find that some shy snakes need a hide box in the heat aswell as in the cool... they wont lay on the heat unless they feel safe... from my experiance heat cord or low watt tapes are better to use with the smaller hatchlings as they are less likely to burn themselves... make sure your hides are dark or make the lights blue or red so the snake cant see the light... this might stop your snake getting stressed too.... just think of what it would be like to try sleeping if you had no eye-lids!!!!
cheers kel

[swampie]

Hi Jimmy , 25watt bulb would be ideal for the enclosure size you mentioned earlier, you wont need to use a thermostat either with this size globe, i run 25watts without thermostas in my enclosures which are slightly larger and they keep perfect temps .

[swampie]

Forgot to say if you decide to go with the 40 or 60 watt globes you will definately need a thermostat or dimer to control temps or your enclosure will get to hot could cook your snakes.

[hugsta]

It's irrelevant the size of the globe, what is important is the thermal gradient. You need to give him about 32 in the hot end. So you need a globe that will do that, so a slightly bigger globe on a dimmerstat would do the trick. If your animal is small enough to fit through the holes in a small light cage, then he should be in a plastic tub on a heat mat. That is the easiest way to look after them IMO.

[jimmyd]

thanks for the input everyone - Id be using a dimmer on the enclosure if i was to go that way - im also looking into getting plastic tubs and housing them individually over a heat mat with probe thermostat - how many L tub would be suitable for a adult sized spotted?

thanks guys

jim

[hugsta]

My tubs are 670dx450wx160h. They are in a bank 6 tubs high on micrclimate heat mats and thermostat. System works extremely well.

[jimmyd]

thanks hugsta, where do u get tubs that big from?

ta

[hugsta]

Bunnings.......... About $23 each I think.

[jimmyd]

thanks, im off to bunnings!

jim