Red tail boa light

Hey everyone, I got an adult female red tail boa, and I was wondering, since I have a ground heater for her should I use a light? She's not really in a room that can have a day and night cycle, the ground heater is staying at 72.8, not sure why, but I don't want to roast her with a light.

Hey Payton,

I'm assuming by "a ground heater" you mean an "under the enclosure heat source" like a heat pad or heat

tape ?????

If you mean a heat rock I would suggest you remove it asap.

Many a herp gets burned by heat rocks.

A day / night cycle would be nice, but she needs heat more than the light and 72.8 degrees is not nearly

warm enough for a red tail.

She needs an ambient room temperature of around 82 degrees or at least a portion of her enclosure

should be that temperature or even a little warmer.

At 72.8 degrees she will be susceptible to upper respiratory infections and other health and digestive

problems.

For a light source you might want to use a very low wattage light bulb or a florescent bulb and turn

if off at night.

Make sure she can't reach / touch the bulb itself.

If you want to be able to watch her late at night use a red light bulb.

As you probably already know, herps can't see red light.

Good luck and I hope this helps.

It's controlled by the Herpstat Digital Proportional Thermostat, the instructions aren't very clear to me on how to set it up, I got the enclosure from someone else, I believe the heat mat is under the flooring, the floor is warm at 73 but not warm enough, can someone help me set it up? It's set on 90 right now but it's at 72.7, not sure how I messed it up

I'm not familiar with that thermostat so I can't help you with it.

It sounds like the thermostat may be shot.

For now I'd at least heat one of her enclosure with a light bulb to get the temperature up.

You don't want her to get chilled.

I know it's an older thread but to me it sounds like the probe isn't on the heat source. 72.8 sounds like room temperature. What did you find out?