Heat in back of the rack vs belly. What is your preference?

Captive care and husbandry.

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jayder85
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Heat in back of the rack vs belly. What is your preference?

Post by jayder85 »

I am getting ready to begin construction on a new rack. I have some longer strips of flexwatt and wondered how it would perform on the back wall of the rack instead of on the shelf itself (which is how all of my current racks are set up. Which do you prefer and why?
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Kelly Mc
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Re: Heat in back of the rack vs belly. What is your preferen

Post by Kelly Mc »

I have found in my juvenile bins, that if the substrate is deep enough, flex watt on the back can be set at higher setting, creating a broader band of warm temperature options usable to the snakes, which labyrinth positions of favor in the sub.
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justinm
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Re: Heat in back of the rack vs belly. What is your preferen

Post by justinm »

Kelly Mc wrote:I have found in my juvenile bins, that if the substrate is deep enough, flex watt on the back can be set at higher setting, creating a broader band of warm temperature options usable to the snakes, which labyrinth positions of favor in the sub.
I agree. Both of my racks are setup with a heating cable in a groove that runs through the back. This offers a choice to the snakes.
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BillMcGighan
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Re: Heat in back of the rack vs belly. What is your preferen

Post by BillMcGighan »

Probably not applicable to your immediate need, but some snakes have higher fertility clutches of eggs if the male's belly (testes) stays a reasonably cool temp. On a couple species I improve % clutch fertility by eliminating under cage heating.

On the other side of the coin, some snakes have fewer digestion problems with under cage heating. I'm sure ambient air temp relations to mass temps and spaciousness of the cage to provide real choices are factors.
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Kelly Mc
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Re: Heat in back of the rack vs belly. What is your preferen

Post by Kelly Mc »

Its something to note that snakes can comfortably attain ventris heat in more positions then being flat to the floor. I have some snakes in glass vivaria that have coiled cable under one end, and a UTH on an adjacent wall. They use them both, often choosing the wall heat in lateral repose in an aspen tunnel.
Kfen
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Re: Heat in back of the rack vs belly. What is your preferen

Post by Kfen »

BillMcGighan wrote: I'm sure ambient air temp relations to mass temps and spaciousness of the cage to provide real choices are factors.
I second this as an important consideration. I only have a rack with back heat in a room with low ambient temps. To help alleviate this, I added ridged insulation onto the back and sides of the homemade melamine rack. I also added a Plexiglas door in the front to reduce the cool air entering the enclosures. Even with these measures, there is a substantial gradient from front to back which is ~24".
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Kerby Ross
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I just .......

Post by Kerby Ross »

I just use ambient room temps for my snake room. For my snakes and for my egg incubation.

My snake room gets into the mid 80's during the day time and high 70's at night.

All I have now are cal kings.

:)

Kerby...
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Scott Waters
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Re: Heat in back of the rack vs belly. What is your preferen

Post by Scott Waters »

Depends on the species. Colubrids, I agree with Kerby, they seem to do just fine with ambient or really any placement of heat tape. But for boas and pythons, I go with underside.

scott
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