[Temperature] Cool side temperature minimum?

[StarDragon]

Hey everyone!

I had a question for my boa temperature setup specifically the cooler side.

I currently have a boaphile 6'x24"x17.5" cage for my 2 year old female moon-glow boa, shes up to about 6-7' in length now. I'm curious as to what is the minimum temperature to have on the cold side?
Currently the warm side ambient is 84.5F with surface of 90~91F and reaching 94F on top of her hide(She uses XL Reptilebasics hide) and it gets warmer due to being close to the RHP, but the cold side ambient drops down to about a 75F.

I've been concerned lately the cold side might be too cold, she currently has a bit of a huffing noise? I am worried about her possibly contracting an RI. But from what I read in the health issue section its not uncommon for a big girl to hear the huff breathing. (You can hear the (Pew) noise about every 8 seconds) If shes crawling around or flicking her tongue she doesn't really do it. No excess saliva in the mouth from what I've seen, her behavior is pretty normal docile level, sheds fine, great feeding response still. I'm going to take her for a check-up here in a week or so.

During the night she sometimes sleeps on her far cool side and if I pick her up she feels slightly cold. I'd assume she'd move if too cold. She usually spends the majority of time in between both hot and cool side in the center of the cage.
I'd raise the ambient temperature up on the cool side, but then it seems to make the surfaces on the warm side raise up to about 2-3F higher.

So basically I'm asking:
91F surface 84.5F Ambient Hot and 75-76~ surface/ambient cold side, or would it be better to have 94~F surface 86-87~F ambient hot side (Top of her hide might hit 96 degrees) and 78~/78~F on the cool side.

Or my other option which I'm unsure about would be install a seperate very small RHP on the cool side to help maintain the temperature without unnecessary overheating of the warm side, it would require me to get another thermostat which I'm okay with. However I've read you shouldn't have a setup like that.


Thanks for any advice or opinions on the matter!

[Pandorasdad]

Re: Cool side temperature minimum?

I try to maintain an ambient temp of 80-84. I have a basking spot provided with flexwatt, attached to a thermostat set to 90 degrees.

During the night she sometimes sleeps on her far cool side and if I pick her up she feels slightly cold

Remember that your body temp is much higher than a snake's. Your hands, even when feeling a little cold are 90+ degrees. They should never feel too warm in your hands.

If you have a warmer area, and she's not in it, she's thermo-regulating just fine. Don't worry about that. She'll move to the heat if she feels the need.

I would try to get the ambient up. Maybe increase the room temp a bit?

[Zaphod42]

Re: Cool side temperature minimum?

I wouldn't worry too much about the ambient temp being at 75 on the low side. As long as a temperature gradient exists she'll move when she needs to. The ambient temps in my cage are about 80-82 on the cool side of my cage because it's summer and the entire room is warm. During the winter it's more like 76-78 for the ambient temps on the cool side. I've noticed during the summer months several of my boas will hang out in their water bowl in what I'm assuming is an attempt to get cooler. Luckily we don't usually have too many days in a row that get super hot otherwise I'd have to get an air conditioner for that room. The never ending struggle of making sure the temps are good, lol.


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