I have a husband who is adamantly opposed to raising the heater thermostat to above 65 degrees in the wintertime. It got into the 40's outside last night, and was 65 in the house this morning. How cool can it get at night inside a corn snake's enclosure without being dangerous for him? The care sheet on this site says it shouldn't get lower than 70 degrees, but the cool end of Spectre's tank (30 gallon long) was only 67 degrees when I checked it. The warm end was only about 78 degrees. We use a 100 watt night bulb for warmth, but in the 30 long it's doesn't heat high enough to raise the cool end temp to 70 when it's only 65 in the house. The little 10 gallon that Pumpkin Jack is in was also rather cool this morning (about 75), although quite a bit warmer than Spectre's.

Do I need to add a heating pad or Under Tank Heater to the tanks? Should I get another lamp for the cool end of the tank just to raise the ambient temp at night? Or is it ok as it is as long as it doesn't go below 65 in the tank during the night? My husband says that if they were wild it would get quite cool at night, even here in Florida, and last night wild corns would have had to manage...but I worry...especially if they were in the middle of digesting a meal....

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~Juliane~

We let many of our reptiles go down to whatever room temp is at night and it's fine. If it does get too cold though (say, below 60f at night) you might want to think about adding additional heat sources for winter.

We are just about to cool many of our reptiles,. the corns and hognoses for example will be going down to 50-60f all the time for up to 8 weeks, but they will not be feeding and they will go into a hibernation-like state to preserve energy and body weight.

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I find that wrapping the end of the lid that is away from the lamp in aluminum foil can help raise the temp and I also use thin pieces of polystyrene on the outer walls of my glass tanks sometimes but I also use a Under Tank Heater with my bulbs and I don't use any bulbs over 60W.

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I would go with a heating pad on the cage. Yes they will survive with the temps a bit low but they won't be able to digest well. And if they have food in their bellies and the temps stay too low for too long the food will rot and may kill them. The snakes in the wild do have other options. When the air temp gets too low they go into cracks and crevices where the sun has heated the ground and it retains the temps into the night. This is the reason so many snakes are seen on the roads at night, getting warm. When the temps in the wild start to dip the snakes stop eating and go into dens to brumate. Brumating in captivity, unless you are preparing to breed, is unnecessary and can be dangerous. If the snake is not in tip top shape it may not survive it.

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Merlin,
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