Corn snake temperaturs?

[reptilelover0456]

Hi, I have 15 adult corn snakes and 40 babies currently. I am currently keeping all of them with a hotspot of 82 degrees, but I have had mixed opinions on what the hotspot should be. I had it at 90 before but someone said that could cause lower fertility and that they should be kept at around 82 degrees. Is this correct?

[ballornothing]

82 is good. I keep all my colubrids at 82 max.

[solarserpents]

They’re capable of thriving at a variety of temps. I keep my warm side at 87. I wouldn’t go higher than 90. I haven’t noticed any fertility issues with my temps, but they can easily leave the warm side when they want. I have noticed at lower temps that their digestion seems less efficient? Normal poop looks dark brown with urates, but when I’ve kept them at lower temps, they’ll have slower digestion and the poop will look light brown.

[caryl]

My babies are on pretty consistent room temps of 82-86°F. There are occasional drops down to perhaps 79°F for a few hours, occasional rises to 88°F for a few hours. Juveniles and adult females have a hot spot of 85°F which they can easily move away from. Adult males are rarely above 82°F, they also can get away from the heat easily. I get nervous at 90°F . I believe it risks a regurge if they can’t escape it.

Corn snakes thrive here and summer low temps are often in the mid-80s for months. They’re far from fragile as adults, although it’s certainly important that we do our best to give our animals optimum conditions to the best of our understanding. Captives have so many stressors whose effects we can’t quantify. But again, they’re far from fragile.

[banereptiles]

All of these sound like the correct temperatures to me!

@solarserpents

They’re capable of thriving at a variety of temps. I keep my warm side at 87. I wouldn’t go higher than 90. I haven’t noticed any fertility issues with my temps, but they can easily leave the warm side when they want. I have noticed at lower temps that their digestion seems less efficient? Normal poop looks dark brown with urates, but when I’ve kept them at lower temps, they’ll have slower digestion and the poop will look light brown.

@ballornothing

82

@caryl

My babies are on pretty consistent room temps of 82-86°F. There are occasional drops down to perhaps 79°F for a few hours, occasional rises to 88°F for a few hours. Juveniles and adult females have a hot spot of 85°F which they can easily move away from. Adult males are rarely above 82°F, they also can get away from the heat easily. I get nervous at 90°F . I believe it risks a regurge if they can’t escape it.

Even though I am partial to pythons, and even prefer milk, king, and a few other colubrids to corn snakes. This is the only snake I say when asked; what is the best first pet snake? Corn snake hands down, not because of the usually docile nature or good eating response. Because they can not just survive but thrive in such a wide range of humidity and temperatures that a new snake keeper with just a little knowledge can have a great experience with them! Sounds like your temps are great, if you go on the hotter side just make sure they can escape the heat if needed.