Duration of daytime/nighttime temperature cycle?

[surfimp]

Hey all-

Well, I need a little bit of help. I've got my cage at the proper temperatures but I'm not sure I'm getting it to those temperatures at the right times, or long enough.

My nighttime temperature is 78-80 F on the cool side, and lasts approximately from 9:00PM to 12:00 noon the following day, at which time the entire room in which my cage is housed starts warming up. Max daytime temperature of 81-82F cool side and 84-86F warm side is reached about 3:00PM or so and lasts till about 9:00PM.

So basically my temperature cycle is 18 hours cool / 6 hours warm, although the temps never drop below 78F in the very coldest part of the cage and much of the cage is 80 F or warmer during the "night" phase.

I have not noticed any indications of my baby heat hugging, in fact she often seems to be found away from the heat in the morning.

Ambient room temperature is controlled by a Helix 1500 watt system and a space heater. Cage temperatures are controlled by a Helix DBS-1000.

Thanks very much for all help!

[Jonathan_Brady]

is 84-86 your ambient temp or is that the hot spot temp? if it's the hot spot, you could probably raise it up to about 90 and that ought to raise things a bit everywhere. but actually, i really wouldn't worry. everything sounds good to me. as long as you have a cool side around 80 and a warmer side about 6-8 degrees warmer, you are just fine. don't worry so much. in fact, you are probably stressing yourself out when your snake is actually quite happy!
let me know what you decide to do. later, jonathan brady

[surfimp]

Thanks Jonathan!

My ambient temperature/cool side temperature runs 80F at night, with a few spots on the cage floor measuring surface temperatures of 78F according to my Raytek temp gun. But the air temp over there is 80F. Warm side at night runs about 83F.

During the day, ambient/cool side temperature at it's peak is about 81-82F, with the warm side about 84-86F.

However, I've decided to try it just a little bit warmer (I think my snake is used to Jeff's place), so I've upped my Helix 1500 watt system from 80.6 F to about 82.5F. This controls my snake room's temperature, and with the way I've got my probe set up, manages to keep the air around the outside of the cage about 3-4 degrees lower than the thermostat set point. In conjunction with the under-cage heating, however, that set point is basically the ambient temperature I get inside the cage.

I don't have any night-drop system set up at this time (although I do have the equipment for it), as I have found that the natural drop in temperature manages to effect this quite nicely. If my calculations are correct, this should give me an ambient cage nighttime temperature of about 81-82F, and it should take less time during the day for the cage to warm up to it's maximum daytime temperature, thereby giving my precious, adorable and utterly sweet baby some additional warm daytime temp time.

[cb76]

some animals have their biological clock signals from the day/ night cycles and the temp cycles.

i guess its ok if everything is working out, but i wouldnt have soo many dark hrs.

what i do is check the local forcasts a few times a yr and set up my timers to turn on and off the day/ night cycle according to my area!

i also have the heat working in a similar manner. when its night or shut off time- the temps are set to drop to the desired levels.

anyways, good luck!

will