Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey, i went to get an undertank heater the other day, and realized i have no idea what size to get, or what kind. There were different types, like for desert and rainforest or something, and i guessed desert because thats where leopard gecks live, right? My tank is three feet long and 12.5 in wide i think. Thanks for any info you can give me, like what size pad i should get, what percentage of the ground the pad should cover etc.

yea as far as the type im not sure it matters. lol Some of the more experinced guys may correct me on that and if im wrong i hope they do!
The size however just chooose one that is right for your tank. Do you have them in a aquirium type cage? If so there usually labeled for what size tank you have. Sounds like you have a 20 gallon or close to that. Just see which one is labeled for your size, i think thats like a medium or large.
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Mike & Wendy

2.0.0 Siberian husky, Jackrussel/schitzu
0.0.1 Ball Python
1.0.1 Leopard Gecko
4.0.0 Beta's
3.1.0 Future Herper's

it's 16" high, forgot to mention that.

and yes, it is an aquarium.

Yea so sounds like you have a 20 gallon. Once again im not exact but I think those are the same measurements as mine and they are 20 gallons! In that case just get a UTH for a 20 gallon. There usually labeled for what size tank they will fit and they also have the measurements of the actual UTH on them. Just get one that will fit under your tank. It will be a little smaller, in otherwards its not going to go from one edge to the other of your tank.
Once oyu have it i would recomend you not stick it to the underneath of your tank. get a 12x12 cheap tile from home depot and stick it to that, or just lay the tile in your tank (assuming your not useing slate tile) and cover it with your substrate, and just lay the UTH under your tank. Makes cleaning easier and if you ever need to change tanks and reuse the UTH you dotn have to worry about trying to take the UTH off of the tank and damaging it. The reason i suggest the tile method is that it distributes the heat a little better. If your useing sand or slate tiles as substrate tho the tile step isnt really important, just some insight and advice!
OK OK im almsot done....lol.... like i said before i really dont think it matters what kind you get, i think the only difference in the desert ones and the rainforest ones may be the amount of wattage it runs at. I dont know but i will look into it now. lol Just get the desert one, those are the ones we use for our leos!

Good luck, hope all this helped!
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Mike & Wendy

2.0.0 Siberian husky, Jackrussel/schitzu
0.0.1 Ball Python
1.0.1 Leopard Gecko
1.0.0 Beardie
4.0.0 Beta's
3.1.0 Future Herper's

I would recomend an UTH that covers no more than 50% of the botom of the enclosure. When I purched heaters for my Corn Snakes I got one to big and thought oh well it will still work fine and I DID stick it to the tank and found out its way to big. Its fine for the snake but it evaporate the water every day. No matter where I put the water bowl it still evaporats it very fast so just like the other poster said do not stick it to the tank
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