Night temps

[Wockner]

Hello again,

just a quick question. right now as you guys have obviously noticed its getting really cold. and it is making me worry about my Stimmie ( waiting on the sex before i name them) right now i am waiting to buy a high end thermostat i really wanted to buy a decent one but they are very expensive and i am waiting until i can spare the money.

so I dont know what to do right now, should i leave the heater on all night and day to maintain perfect heat, or should i turn it off at night times and let the temps drop low? what is too low at what point should i just leave it on cause its getting too cold? and what do you guys think about thermostats should i get a high end one or a cheap one? i guess i lied about the "quick question"

also... as a side question i have notice these small clear things hanging from his underside, they are too small to be scales which leaves me to wonder if its healthy or not. would like to know if this is normal.

 

[Bushman]

How old is your Stimson's Python? If it's a hatchling it's better to keep it warm at night. Adults can be cooled at night, but what sort of minimum temps are you talking about? i.e how cool does he/she get at night?
You probably should get a thermostat asap, even if it's a mid-range one. Otherwise you may get away without one if you have a big temperature gradient within the enclosure, with plenty of hides and perches for your snake to choose its preferred temperature.

 

[Wockner]

5 months now, soo ill take that as keep the heater on and buy a thermostat. he has a close to perfect gradient though without the thermostat, im not interested in the off on thermos and would prefer the Dimmer style one instead and they so happen to be the most expensive

 

[SnakesGrandad]

I have a 5 month old Stimson and use a dimming thermostat and a heating rock with a inbuilt thermostat.

With a room temp averaging 18C to 20C her enclosure has thermal gradients ,depending on hot or cold end, height and proximity to the Ceramic heat globe of about 34C to 27C. Meaning she has options to Thermo-regulate depending upon where she wishes to plonk herself down.

I have set the thermostat for a night drop to 25C but the Thermostat controlled rock is a 24hr a day thing and has a surface temp of 31C to 33C. If she chooses, she can occupy that or climb up onto the fluro light cage as the temps towards the top of the enclosure are always greater as heat rises.

My thermostat is of the dimming kind and has separate heat and light sockets with light timer capabilities. It cost me about $79.00 and I have checked its temp accuracy with a separate thermometer and its spot on.

I've only had the snake coming on 3 weeks and I am only a new novice keeper. But she has fed twice no worries and gained weight, and is very active at night despite the drop in temperature. She also is quite happy to be handled.

The breeder I bought her from said not to worry too much about keeping high temps at night as long as she's getting good heat during the day, especially for a few days after feeds, as the stimmies often inhabit areas with substantial heat gradients between night and day.

If and when she displayed any negatives to this set up I would of course have to revise my thinking.

You really should invest in a thermostat if not for the safety and comfort of your animal but just to make things easier for yourself.

Before I bought the snake I had my daughters enclosure set up and running for a week while I repeatedly monitored temps independently of the thermostat in various locations to make sure A: The thermostat worked and B: The snake had suitable thermal gradients to be healthy and comfortable both day and night.

Before anyone mentions it, I also researched heat rocks and am aware some have had problems with overheating. I am led to believe that these problems occurred with older non self regulating rocks without inbuilt thermostats,people assuming the low wattage would keep temps safe. I am hoping that the problems with the earlier heating rocks has been well and truly sorted.

 

[Wockner]

just a update i bought the thermostat $190 jesus... it does all this funky stuff determines day time with this sensor that seem to only pick up sunlight i need to shine a torch at the sensor for it to say its day time but with the slightest sunrise it will turn on, 'das sum crazy technology der bro'. and i have set it too 34C on the hot spot with a night drop of 6C which makes its around 28C.

 

[hnn17]

snakesgrandad is the heat rock made in china ? maybe get another thermostat for it in case the inbuilt one fail.

 

[Wockner]

I think im going to always avoid heat rocks i just dont really trust them, they have the ability to deal some damage. i just have a decently sized flat rock they warms up quite nice, if he wants the belly heat he can go there.

 

[dragonlover1]

snakesgrandad is the heat rock made in china ? Maybe get another thermostat for it in case the inbuilt one fail.

everything is made in china now even the thermos

 

[dragonlover1]

I don't get all the negativity with heat rocks.Okay some might have defective wiring and could spark out and cause a fire BUT I think that reptiles are smart enough to move off before being burnt as they can thermo-regulate in nature so they should know the belly is getting a bit too hot,so "ouch I'm moving".
And yes I do have a heat rock which I have used intermittently for more than 12 years for various critters with no problems

 

[Bart70]

I don't get all the negativity with heat rocks.Okay some might have defective wiring and could spark out and cause a fire BUT I think that reptiles are smart enough to move off before being burnt as they can thermo-regulate in nature so they should know the belly is getting a bit too hot,so "ouch I'm moving".
And yes I do have a heat rock which I have used intermittently for more than 12 years for various critters with no problems

I think the problem is in the way in which they heat - Happy to stand corrected but from what I understand is they heat up quickly and the heat is quite concentrated - literally burning the snake before it realises and moves off. Comparing thermo-regulating in nature to sitting on a heat rock that turns on underneath them is not comparing the same thing - To my knowledge there are very few occurrences in nature that would mimmick an electric heat rock so I am not sure your theory is sound.

Must be something in it by the numbers of people that have experienced burnt animals using them......

 

[Stingray01]

I have a 5 month old Stimson and use a dimming thermostat and a heating rock with a inbuilt thermostat.

With a room temp averaging 18C to 20C her enclosure has thermal gradients ,depending on hot or cold end, height and proximity to the Ceramic heat globe of about 34C to 27C. Meaning she has options to Thermo-regulate depending upon where she wishes to plonk herself down.

I have set the thermostat for a night drop to 25C but the Thermostat controlled rock is a 24hr a day thing and has a surface temp of 31C to 33C. If she chooses, she can occupy that or climb up onto the fluro light cage as the temps towards the top of the enclosure are always greater as heat rises.

My thermostat is of the dimming kind and has separate heat and light sockets with light timer capabilities. It cost me about $79.00 and I have checked its temp accuracy with a separate thermometer and its spot on.

I've only had the snake coming on 3 weeks and I am only a new novice keeper. But she has fed twice no worries and gained weight, and is very active at night despite the drop in temperature. She also is quite happy to be handled.

The breeder I bought her from said not to worry too much about keeping high temps at night as long as she's getting good heat during the day, especially for a few days after feeds, as the stimmies often inhabit areas with substantial heat gradients between night and day.

If and when she displayed any negatives to this set up I would of course have to revise my thinking.

You really should invest in a thermostat if not for the safety and comfort of your animal but just to make things easier for yourself.

Before I bought the snake I had my daughters enclosure set up and running for a week while I repeatedly monitored temps independently of the thermostat in various locations to make sure A: The thermostat worked and B: The snake had suitable thermal gradients to be healthy and comfortable both day and night.

Before anyone mentions it, I also researched heat rocks and am aware some have had problems with overheating. I am led to believe that these problems occurred with older non self regulating rocks without inbuilt thermostats,people assuming the low wattage would keep temps safe. I am hoping that the problems with the earlier heating rocks has been well and truly sorted.

Why would you risk it? You say u have heard bad things about them but continue to use it. Must not be that concerned.

 

[andynic07]

I don't get all the negativity with heat rocks.Okay some might have defective wiring and could spark out and cause a fire BUT I think that reptiles are smart enough to move off before being burnt as they can thermo-regulate in nature so they should know the belly is getting a bit too hot,so "ouch I'm moving".
And yes I do have a heat rock which I have used intermittently for more than 12 years for various critters with no problems

I think it is the way they are made. There is coils of heating filament under the resin and firstly the coils can be uneven making hotspots on the rock and the thickness of resin over the filaments can be different causing hot spots as well. Also the thermostat function on them works in a different manner I believe. As Bart has said there is a big difference from thermoregulating and a heat rock heating up with hot spots. I am sure there a lot of heat rocks that work fine and may even only be 1 or 2 % that fail but it is the consequences of the failure that put me off using them. An analogy that I like to refer to is if you had a choice between your car not going or not being able to stop which would you choose?

 

[harlemrain]

I don't get all the negativity with heat rocks.Okay some might have defective wiring and could spark out and cause a fire BUT I think that reptiles are smart enough to move off before being burnt as they can thermo-regulate in nature so they should know the belly is getting a bit too hot,so "ouch I'm moving".
And yes I do have a heat rock which I have used intermittently for more than 12 years for various critters with no problems

http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/general-reptile-discussion-42/warning-heat-rocks-graphic-196704/