Hey guys !! Im new to snake some help ?

[GarterGuy17]

Oh wow thanks for the tip .

[EasternGirl]

Yeah...Wayne is right...I buy the sunbeam bulbs at the dollar store too...except I do buy the red night bulbs at the pet store. And I do like the double socket terrarium hood....it is more expensive though...so you may want to go with what Wayne said and get the more inexpensive reflector hoods.

[GarterGuy17]

I'm actually looking for one now , but how do you do it ? meaning do you change the bulb every morning and every night ? or what.

[infernalis]

I'm actually looking for one now , but how do you do it ? meaning do you change the bulb every morning and every night ? or what.

Garter snakes don't need a bulb at night... I keep about 70 in my house, and have worked with hundreds of babies, never once did I heat the cages at night.

They are North American colubrids, they spend very chilly evenings outside in nature, have been forever.

Unless you allow your house to fall below freezing inside at night, it is completely unnecessary to run a heat lamp at night.

Please don't confuse garters with tropical snakes or boids.

$7 at wal mart...

[GarterGuy17]

Oh thanks for the heads up I would have been buying unnecessary bulbs , that Is the hood i'm going to get then now I just have to go out and buy all this stuff. Again thanks for all the tips

[chris-uk]

....
With under heat mats you have to make sure the tank is propped up on the bottom so that the heat can escape from underneath, and you have to make sure you have plenty of substrate over the mat...but not too much. About 2 inches is good. You may want to wait until the snake is a little bigger if you are getting a baby...I worry about snakes burrowing down and getting burned on the hot glass with heat mats...but that is my opinion...others use them and do not agree. I don't use one with my baby albino...I worry too much about him burrowing and getting burned.

The depth of substrate over a heatmat should be minimal shouldn't it? I vary substrate depth across the width of the viv, around 1cm over any mats, and deeper for burrowing on the cold side.

My mats don't get hot enough under the substrate to cause burns - what sort of temps do people have their mats at to worry about burns? I've monitored both surface of the substrate and the glass underneath and the glass doesn't get too hot when the substrate is at 28C.
With an albino I'd be more concerned about UV from a lamp than burns from a heat mat.

[GarterGuy17]

Well in my case I still feel a lamp would be much better then a heat pad because of the fact that hardly any sunlight come's through my window and I don't want to have to turn the rooms light on when ever I wanna see the snake and as I said before I read that some garters are more active with a light source. I'm not sure about your snakes but would you disagree with this theory ?

[chris-uk]

I use heatmats and LED lighting in my vivs. Garters are diurnal so more active in the day, are in our livingroom and hallway so they get more than enough light, they are more active in the late afternoon and evening so I don't think light is the only factor, they come out more when we are around.
If your room doesn't have a lot of natural light I'd be using a lamp rather than mats.

[GarterGuy17]

Just as I thought thanks for the heads up chris.

[infernalis]

I prefer lamps... Never used a heat pad.