# Habistat extention



## leesgreat (Feb 11, 2012)

Hiya I'm a newbie with reptiles I brought my 1st Viv yesterday it come with heat mat a Eco terra heat lamp and a 30 inch tube light I have brought a habistat on eBay i was wondering if I could plug a extention lead in to the habistat and then plug the lighting and the heat mat in to it will this be ok or will the temperature drop to much in the Viv or would it make my corn snake ( when I buy one) I'll for unsteady temp with it rising and dropping 

Any help will be much appreciated 

Thanks Lee


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## Diamondback (Aug 29, 2009)

leesgreat said:


> Hiya I'm a newbie with reptiles I brought my 1st Viv yesterday it come with heat mat a Eco terra heat lamp and a 30 inch tube light I have brought a habistat on eBay i was wondering if I could plug a extention lead in to the habistat and then plug the lighting and the heat mat in to it will this be ok or will the temperature drop to much in the Viv or would it make my corn snake ( when I buy one) I'll for unsteady temp with it rising and dropping
> 
> Any help will be much appreciated
> 
> Thanks Lee


Hi lee

Welcome to the forum, if I understand you right your asking if you can run an extension from the habistat to control the heat mat and the fluorescent light ?

The answer to that is no I am sure that you cannot and should not dim a flourescent cent tube, using a standard controller etc. 

But you can the heat mat 

Hope this helps


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## McToons (May 7, 2011)

An extension lead between the thermostat and the heating is no problem at all.

Just looking though I'm a little confused. You suggest putting the heat mat and lighting into the habistat, now I may be not understanding what equipment you have.

You first suggest a heat lamp and a 30 inch tube.

You then suggest a heat mat and lighting.

Just be aware that whatever you plug into the thermostat will be affected by it. If it's an on/off mat stat and you have both a heat mat and light plugged into it, the light will be turned on and off in accordance to the functioning of the thermostat.

I'd keep my lighting and heating seperately if I were you. If it is a habistat mat stat you have it might not be best suited for a heat lamp either as due to the nature of the thermostat it'll just keep turning the lamp on and off all the time.


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## leesgreat (Feb 11, 2012)

Ok that all I really needed I was a bit puzzled by it and thought I'd better get some advice from experienced keepers,
Many thanks


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## McToons (May 7, 2011)

Just to be on the cautious side, what equipment as far as heat and light do you have exactly?

I mean you say a mat, an exo terra heat lamp and a tube?

We know you have a habistat thermostat but what type is it? Mat Stat? Dimmer? Pulse?


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## leesgreat (Feb 11, 2012)

Habistat mat stat not sure what watt it is as not received it yet but the heat lamp is a 100 watt with a 40 watt bulb and the tube light is a exo terra repti-glo which is 25 watts


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## McToons (May 7, 2011)

leesgreat said:


> Habistat mat stat not sure what watt it is as not received it yet but the heat lamp is a 100 watt with a 40 watt bulb and the tube light is a exo terra repti-glo which is 25 watts



Right well the mat stat isn't ideal for a light emitting bulb. The way the stat works is that it'll power on until it reaches temperature then power off until the temperature drops by a couple of degrees before powering back on. This will result in the light being turned on and off constantly, I can't say what effect this well have on the corn, some may say it's bad for them others may say it's fine. Not only that but it could reduce the life of the bulb.

Something else to keep in mind; the habistat thermostat is only rated to 100 Watts. You're using a 40 watt bulb so it doesn't exceed this but just be mindful.

Lastly don't run the tube light through the thermostat. Have it plugged in permanently then just run it on a timer or manually turn it of at night.


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## leesgreat (Feb 11, 2012)

Ok thank you very much for the info


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## leesgreat (Feb 11, 2012)

Sorry did you mean pit the tube light on manully at night, did you mean all night or for a few hours?


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## McToons (May 7, 2011)

leesgreat said:


> Sorry did you mean pit the tube light on manully at night, did you mean all night or for a few hours?


Turn it off at night and leave it on during the day. You can put it on a timer if wanted. Cheap from somewhere like Wilko

[Edit]

Just for my own peace of mind, I'll say you'll need to turn off the light emitting heat source at night too. I mean you wouldn't like if someone kept turning a light on and off at you all night :Na_Na_Na_Na:


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## leesgreat (Feb 11, 2012)

Ok got what you mean now  sorry if I'm the biggest noob you met lol


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## berbers (May 29, 2010)

i think you've got your heat and lighting a little confused.

the tube light is not required at all for a corn snake so you might aswell ditch it. run the heat lamp through a *dimmer stat* during the day and the heat mat on an on/or stat during the night.

plug them into seperate timers so you dont have two heat sources coming on at the same time.

the dimmer stat will power the bulb depending on how hot the viv is, ie if the temp inside is fairly warm , the bulb will be quite dim. as the viv cools down the buld will become bright therefore gibving out more heat.

some people will say that you can heat a corn snake viv with just a mat and on/off stat but i think they're better with a photo period (day/night, light/dark)

hope i havent confused matters further!!


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## McToons (May 7, 2011)

leesgreat said:


> Habistat mat stat not sure what watt it is as not received it yet but the heat lamp is a 100 watt with a 40 watt bulb and the tube light is a exo terra repti-glo which is 25 watts


No mention of a heat mat in his list dude, he'll have to run it via the mat stat for now and have it off at night and have a temperature drop. Unless he goes out and buys another stat or heat mat/heating alternative.

And although there's no need for the UV, if he's using an on/off stat to run his heat bulb he might as well use the UV to give a bit of consistent light instead of it going dark every time the stat clicks off, that was my thought at least.


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## leesgreat (Feb 11, 2012)

McToons said:


> No mention of a heat mat in his list dude, he'll have to run it via the mat stat for now and have it off at night and have a temperature drop. Unless he goes out and buys another stat or heat mat/heating alternative.
> 
> And although there's no need for the UV, if he's using an on/off stat to run his heat bulb he might as well use the UV to give a bit of consistent light instead of it going dark every time the stat clicks off, that was my thought at least.


I do have a heat mat it come with the Viv sorry for all the confusion lol


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## McToons (May 7, 2011)

leesgreat said:


> I do have a heat mat it come with the Viv sorry for all the confusion lol


Oh well that changes things then.

You could in theory then run the heat mat on the thermostat. And you can use the UV tube to provide a day time for your corn for a day/night cycle. This would mean you don't need the Exo Terra lamp at all. Or you can fit the Exo Terra with an energy saver bulb to give a day time and leave out the UV tube.

If you have a good amount of natural daylight already coming into the viv you can leave out both the Exo Terra and the UV!

Either way, going down this route you'd leave the heat mat on 24/7 running on a thermostat.


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## berbers (May 29, 2010)

theres lots of different ways of running a corn snake viv. most important things are to provide a day/night cycle (can be done with natural light if the room is bright enough) and a thermogradient.

heat one side of the viv to approx 30-31oC and let the other side be cooler. its highly reccomended that any heat source is run through a stat.

keep us updated with how you choose to set your viv up. to begin with it may be a case of trial and error to find out whats best for your snake: victory:


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## McToons (May 7, 2011)

berbers said:


> theres lots of different ways of running a corn snake viv. most important things are to provide a day/night cycle (can be done with natural light if the room is bright enough) and a thermogradient.
> 
> heat one side of the viv to approx 30-31oC and let the other side be cooler. its highly reccomended that any heat source is run through a stat.
> 
> keep us updated with how you choose to set your viv up. to begin with it may be a case of trial and error to find out whats best for your snake: victory:


Heh was gonna add this earlier as an edit but the kids needed sorting!

+1 in agreement, there's many ways of doing it, making sure you cover what your snake needs is the main aim.

Be sure to drop a pic and an intro in the snake section when you're set! 

:welcome:


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## leesgreat (Feb 11, 2012)

Ok thanks, I will prob keep the tube lighting as it is a very nice bright pearl White colour and run the heat mat 24/7 I will prob end up selling the heat lamp as I can't find no private corn breeders in my area as I want a hatchling so I can build the bond and watch it grow as it gets older, the shop near me are selling hatchlings at 47.50 which I personally think is way over priced what do you guys think?


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## McToons (May 7, 2011)

leesgreat said:


> Ok thanks, I will prob keep the tube lighting as it is a very nice bright pearl White colour and run the heat mat 24/7 I will prob end up selling the heat lamp as I can't find no private corn breeders in my area as I want a hatchling so I can build the bond and watch it grow as it gets older, the shop near me are selling hatchlings at 47.50 which I personally think is way over priced what do you guys think?


Well it is a shop and they have other overheads to take into account, that said though near £50 does seem a lot for even a shop Corn.

You could do worse than look on the classifieds here, there's several breeders that use these forums.


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## leesgreat (Feb 11, 2012)

Yeh I've had a look through some pages nearest one was about a hour and a half in car and I don't drive lol but will get there in the end positive thinking aye lol


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## berbers (May 29, 2010)

if you go to a decent reptile specialist shop they will be able to offer you help and advice with your set up aswell as after sales care. as a newbie to snake keeping i'm sure you'll find this kind of support invaluable.

dont try to pinch pennies, paying for the snake is a one off cost and choosing the _right_ animal for you is well worth the money. (my first corn snake cost me £55 from a shop but it was well worth that little bit extra in terms of service that you just wouldnt get from a breeder)


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## leesgreat (Feb 11, 2012)

It's a wooden Viv with sliding glass doors so the heat mat has to go inside, will it be ok to put newspaper down over the heat mat then have bedding on top so the snake don't move the bedding and burn him self???


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## berbers (May 29, 2010)

Thats fine, or lino for a nicer look


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## leesgreat (Feb 11, 2012)

I've got my corn now and the full set up got a lock on it's way to me, iv added a few links and a little intro in the snake pictures thread  thank you all for you time and advice much appreciated


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## berbers (May 29, 2010)

what have you chosen for heat / light etc?


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## leesgreat (Feb 11, 2012)

I have Used a heat mat and mat stat, currently still got lamp in but don't use it as I'd have to take back off to get plug through will sort it out when it's due a clean out


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