# Heating and Lighting in Viv for Corn Snake



## corncake (2 mo ago)

I am moving my corn snake into a bigger setup and I'm struggling to find the right heating and lighting solution. 

I'd prefer a heat lamp but because the viv is relatively short it's difficult to find lamp guards that won't take up half the height of the viv. The viv is 40cm tall and any lamp guard is around the 20cm mark. Is that too close to the basking spot? Or would using a lower wattage bulb be okay?

I'm considering a ceramic heat emitter as they are smaller and would take up less space and using a UVB bulb for light and UVB for the corn. Is this an acceptable solution? If so, I'm unsure as to what strength UVB bulb to use there seems to be a lot of conflicting information out there so I'm looking for some guidance on what the best solution is for my corn snake. 

This is my first corn and conflicting information is making it difficult to make a decision on what would be best. Also, I know the viv is too small for an adult corn (Terapod 3" viv. 36″(L) 14.57″(D) 15.75″(H) ) but mine is only about 5 months old so it's only temporary.


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## Jojo420 (2 mo ago)

Ceramic heat emitters are far better than traditional heat lamps, as they don't emit light, so they don't mess up the day/night cycle. Also, you can get short bulbs for smaller enclosures, along with shorter cage guards that go over them. A UVB bulb isn't absolutely necessary, as they will be fine without it, however, they can benefit from having one. Afraid I don't know the right strength for your snake, (I don't have a corn but have a milk snake) as I have an LED light in the enclosure. Hope that's of some help ✌🐍


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## corncake (2 mo ago)

Jojo420 said:


> Ceramic heat emitters are far better than traditional heat lamps, as they don't emit light, so they don't mess up the day/night cycle. Also, you can get short bulbs for smaller enclosures, along with shorter cage guards that go over them. A UVB bulb isn't absolutely necessary, as they will be fine without it, however, they can benefit from having one. Afraid I don't know the right strength for your snake, (I don't have a corn but have a milk snake) as I have an LED light in the enclosure. Hope that's of some help ✌🐍


Thank you, I didn't even think of the day night cycle I was thinking of using a heating mat in the winter as my room gets quite cold but that solves the issue completely!!


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## Swindinian (May 4, 2020)

I use Arcadia T5 Shade dweller UV light for my two corns. The adult regularly basks (cryptically) under the UV, the juvenile more occasionally.

I don’t heat their vivs night time. Day time they have halogen bulbs. The stat automatically does day/night cycle. 
If you want a low profile heat source, then look into reptile radiators / radiant heat panels. They attach to ceilings. They emit a gentle heat, IR-C wavelength.


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## Elly66 (Feb 27, 2021)

I use a mercury vapour uva/uvb bulb for my corn. It provides heat and light during the day. At night, it goes off as a heat source is not needed unless you live in a very cold house.


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## corncake (2 mo ago)

Swindinian said:


> I use Arcadia T5 Shade dweller UV light for my two corns. The adult regularly basks (cryptically) under the UV, the juvenile more occasionally.
> 
> I don’t heat their vivs night time. Day time they have halogen bulbs. The stat automatically does day/night cycle.
> If you want a low profile heat source, then look into reptile radiators / radiant heat panels. They attach to ceilings. They emit a gentle heat, IR-C wavelength.


I've never even heard of reptile radiators but they seem like the perfect solution to my problem, can these be used for basking spots or only for general ambient viv temp do you know?


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## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

Personally I would look at using a halogen spot lamp (in a suitable guard) on a dimmer stat and have the lamp above a piece of slate or stone. Have a plug in timer on the output of a dimming stat so that the output from the thermostat is on during the day and off at night. For Corns you don't need heat over night, not even supplementary provided by mats etc.


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