Temperature preferences?

[jmonahan]

I have 5 red-sided garters I decided to keep and breed this fall. I moved them into a new enclosure yesterday and was surprised to see a pair mating almost immediately - they've been in captivity for about a week. Actually, there was a big difference in the behavior of all 5 as soon as they entered the new enclosure. I'm using partially composited compost for a substrate with a generous layer of leaves in part of it. Its a fairly big cage: 4ft x 1 x 1. Its great to see them moving about more or less naturally.

I was a little surprised to see that they are not taking advantage of the warm spot under the light - only 78F there. Instead, they're hanging out at the cooler end - probably around 70F. Do you guys have an idea of the actual temp preferences of your snakes? What range of temps do you maintain, and for what species/subspecies?

[guidofatherof5]

I'm not sure there is a set preference as each snake likes to thermoregulate differently.

[snakegirl909]

My easterns seem to love basking under the heat light.
I would love to see pics of your setup, it sounds awesome!

[Tommytradix]

my plains like 85- 90 on the hot side and 75-80 on the cool side and hides hover around 85 the other around 75 most like the warmer hide

[ObsidianDragon]

My little checkered has been hanging out in the hot end (83-87) lately. I wish I could join him. Brrr.

[jmonahan]

Interesting. I fed mine yesterday and they all came out to feed, then rather than bask, returned to the cooler side. I wonder if it has to do with the fact that they were caught during their fall migration to hibernacula. Anyway, here's the setup. Not quiet awesome :-) My carpentry skills leave a lot to to be desired, so this cage was designed to use the simplest of materials: 1x12 inch boards, a couple 1x2 inch trim boards and aluminum u-channel. I noticed there is a small gap between the glass and the wood side of the cage, so I screwed a couple strips of a yard stick to help close the gap. It wasn't big enough to allow the current snakes to escape but new borns would be able to. The enclosure is just under 4 ft.
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[snakegirl909]

Wow... thats sweet. Love the large water dish, and the leaves!!