Its funny, you tear apart a ZooMed heat pad for example, and you find nichrome resistance heating wire. Break open a hot rock, and you find the same thing (in certain brands.)



So, the only difference is that one is in the cage and gets direct contact to the animal, while the other is below the cage and gets almost direct contact by the animal.



Not all species of snake are suited to a hot rock. In fact, probably few. And one has to make sure that the surface is not too hot. Also, few snakes use the top surface - they use the sides. So you have to get creative (like angle the rock a bit) and maybe put some rock or tile for the heater to heat up as well.



A hot rock was my method of choice for the baby zonata I had here. Worked great. I've used them for baby rosies as well. I would usually put a "leaner" rock against it, or a piece of ceramic tile.



Here is how I set it up: got two of them and plugged both in to a temperature controller. One rock went in the cage. The other went in a plastic shoebox with the same substrate as the cage. Attach the probe of the controller to the one in the plastic box. By controlling that one, you control both. Worked fine.



Adults may not get enough surface area contact to make a hot rock worthwhile, as I found with large rosies. But a small snake that uses rocks in nature will do fine with a hot rock used as described. So, while they aren't the best heater for all species or for larger animals, they can work in some cases for some snakes. Also, hot rocks tend to dehydrate the animals, so regular hydration of the snake is necessary.
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Mark

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