Temps

[stu]

Hey guys, quick question. Now that winter is here, I've been keeping the temp in my apartment cooler during the day/night. I've noticed that the temp in my boa's tank gets down to 75 anywhere that is more than 5" away from the heat pad. Do you guys think this is too low and that I should supliment the heat with a heat light and place it above the cool side until the temp comes up to 80?

[Heidi]

I have used a heat lamp over the cool side on a dimmer before to increase the cool side temps and it seemed to work fine. It may just take doing some insulating to retain heat in the enclosure though. My very lowest temp away from the heat pad goes down to room temp, usually 72 at night and 76-77 in the day. In my opinion as long as they have a gradiant and a place to get away from the heat/cold then they should be fine. You have a glass cage right? Can you cover it with some insulation in the back and sides to retain some of the heat in?

[stu]

Yes, it's glass. I think I need to get another full log to use on the warm side though because he absolutely loves the 1 on the cool side and he never goes on the warm side which has a half-log on the ground.

I have flat corkbark 12"x12" sheets on the sides of it that probably help to insulate a little.

Do you think I should move his water dish to the cold side and put the log he loves in the middle so that the temps in it are a little higher?

I also have the top almost completely covered, so not much heat is escaping through the screen top.

[Heidi]

Sometimes just a little moving around gets them moving around. I had a problem with Selene not pooping and I didn't change the temps at all but did some cage rearranging and she started using more of the cage and pooping. There was a hide she never even knew existed and when I moved it to the other side she started using all three of the hides I had in there for her where before she would only use one mostly and on occasion the middle one.

[stu]

Sounds good, I'll give that a try tonight, thanks