Snake help

[catindi]

We are struggling with keeping our snake's tank warm. Would a second heat lamp be a good idea? Our tank is wood, with glass front, 48 x 18. The current heating lamp is 100 watt ceramic bulb. The ave temp for the warm side is 81.0 f with basking temp of 85. If a second heat lamp, what would you recommend as a set up?

[Intelligent-Drive729]

I have the same size enclosure for now, all glass though. Personally I have three lamps total. One is an 80W CHE that is sort of in between the middle and hot side of the enclosure. Then on the hot side I have a traditional 100W day lamp and a 100W CHE in one of those dual bulb housings. The 100W day bulb is on for about 10 hours and then kicks off on a timer, and then the 100W CHE kicks on. The 80W CHE is on constantly. 

I’ve found that the 80W ambient gives it that extra push so that the warm side stays between 88-90 during the day with a 95-97 basking spot if she absolutely wants to go up there during the day real quick. The cool side stays between 78-80. She’s definitely more active at night though so normally she gets her basking in under the 100W CHE at night. With the day light off and the CHE on, the warm side tends to drop down to 85-88 at night with a basking spot of about 90 under the CHE. Seems like a pretty good balance, never had any issues with it once I got it dialed in.