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H_dog_hills

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hey all!
I am a first time snake owner, and I have just acquired my little Stimmy yearling.

I was just wanting to ask a few questions, as I am starting to doubt if the heating and lighting is the best for him, and it’s causind me to panic a lot!

The enclosure I have for him has got two light fittings, and under the guidance of the guy who gave me the box, I have put an infa red globe in the fitting closer to the middle of the enclosure, and a basking light in the fitting on one of the sides, leaving the other bare.

The lights are hooked up to a thermostat that is set at 30 (it’s located towards the cooler area), with an on/off thermostat.

Now, the biggest thing is, I am noticing that the lights are being switched on and off every 15ish minutes, due to the thermostat turning them off.

I am stressed that this is gonna cause issues for my little snake, and was wondering what I should do to stop it? Should I change the globes to ceramic heaters?

Also - what do I do at night? Do I turn them off? The enclosure is kept in my
Room, which doesn’t get colder than 20 degrees at night.

Thanks guys!
 
Ok:
I’m not too sure why you’ve got two heat producing lights?
Get rid of the infrared and stick to the basking light.

Heating should only be provided for 1/3-1/2 of the enclosure space- it is essential the snake can have both a ‘cool’ end and a hotspot.

I personally keep my Stimmie at 33-35 degrees via a heat mat.

You’ve got to be careful with an on/off thermostat used with lights- many lights will break if they’re constantly being switched on and off.
With the lights I run (geckos and Diamond), the light is left on for a designated period of time continuously. No bother with thermostats. As long as you choose an appropriate type (I find 100w ideal for my snake and 75w for the geckos in order to keep the temps cosy).

Your snake is a yearling, and provided he is a good size it would be better for him to day/night cycle. All my guys have all heating turned off during the night and things do start to get switched on again by late morning (as it is winter they have less basking time). It got as cold as 4 degrees the other night (9 in the reptile room) and everyone is still carrying on just fine. You’ve got to remember that in the wild they do face some crazy variable temperatures, especially over a day to night period.

Would be curious to see a picture of the enclosure to see how you’ve set it up.
 
Ok:
I’m not too sure why you’ve got two heat producing lights?
Get rid of the infrared and stick to the basking light.

Heating should only be provided for 1/3-1/2 of the enclosure space- it is essential the snake can have both a ‘cool’ end and a hotspot.

I personally keep my Stimmie at 33-35 degrees via a heat mat.

You’ve got to be careful with an on/off thermostat used with lights- many lights will break if they’re constantly being switched on and off.
With the lights I run (geckos and Diamond), the light is left on for a designated period of time continuously. No bother with thermostats. As long as you choose an appropriate type (I find 100w ideal for my snake and 75w for the geckos in order to keep the temps cosy).

Your snake is a yearling, and provided he is a good size it would be better for him to day/night cycle. All my guys have all heating turned off during the night and things do start to get switched on again by late morning (as it is winter they have less basking time). It got as cold as 4 degrees the other night (9 in the reptile room) and everyone is still carrying on just fine. You’ve got to remember that in the wild they do face some crazy variable temperatures, especially over a day to night period.

Would be curious to see a picture of the enclosure to see how you’ve set it up.

Thank you for the information! This is a huge help (certainly helping me stop panicking about leaving the guy without heat for the night).

I’ll post a photo tomorrow with what I have set up.

I in all honesty am not overly sure why I have the two globes - it was what I was given with the enclosure itself, and those were the instructions from the guy who gave it to me.

Would I be better off getting a Ceramic Heat globe instead of the
Basking and infrared, if it’s hooked up to an on/off thermostat?
 
Thank you for the information! This is a huge help (certainly helping me stop panicking about leaving the guy without heat for the night).

I’ll post a photo tomorrow with what I have set up.

I in all honesty am not overly sure why I have the two globes - it was what I was given with the enclosure itself, and those were the instructions from the guy who gave it to me.

Would I be better off getting a Ceramic Heat globe instead of the
Basking and infrared, if it’s hooked up to an on/off thermostat?


I couldn’t say for certain, as I mentioned I don’t bother with thermostats for lights for the most part.
If the basking light does emit UV light, it may have some potential benefits to the snake, and I usually do prefer them over the ceramics.
It can come down to a personal preference- is having a light on in the snake enclosure going to bother your or not?

If you’re not fussed about UV, you can but Phillips light from Bunnings for a couple of dollars. Produce good amount of heat and are cheap as chips compared to most reptile lights
 
If your enclosure has 2 fittings,it is designed to have a heat lamp and a UV lamp.Some people say you don't need UV for snakes (I have UV in all my enclosures but I think all critters get some benefit from UV) get rid of the infra red ,useless piece of sh17 and get a basking lamp.As Buggster said Philips spot lamp is great,I use heaps of them.
Also you don't need night heat,is it hot in the bush at night????
 
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