Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am in the process of setting up for my very first snake and have a question about undertank heaters.

If my snake is a burrower, should I be concerned about it resting on the bottom of the tank over the heater, possibly resulting in burns? Is there something I should put on the floor of the tank under the substrate as a barrier? I plan on using Aspen for a substrate and I know that isn't very dense.

Thanks for your thoughts!
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O.1 Cat "Bella"
1.0.2 Red Earred Sliders "Yertle" and "The Twins"
1.0 Husband "John"
297.331 Elementary School Students

You can't just plug the heat pad straight in the wall. You need to run it through a thermostat.
Cold Blooded Addiction

I didn't put mine under the tank, I actually stuck it to the side, about an inch above the bottom. Heats up the side very nicely, and works great for me since my ball was always sitting right on the heater. I also use an overhead light and the two combined on one side of my (rather large) tank make for a pretty close to perfect heat gradient. At night I just flip off the overhead heater.

That may or may not work for your burrowing snake, although I don't see why it wouldn't - out in the wild, their heat wouldn't be coming from below, it'd be coming from above.

~jenny
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1.1 normal ball pythons (Cindy and Darwin)
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
2.1 betta fishes (Vicious, Killer, and Butters)
3.1 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
2.0 horses (Buddy and Sam)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
2.25 chickens (Jacques the rooster and his harem)

but what I really want is more ball pythons!

Well if you have a cobra heat mat that stays 100 degrees always it will not burn your snake. By the time the heat goes through glass or plastic and the substrate it will be even less harmful to your snake (considering burns).

n/p

All heating devices should be put on a thermostat or rheostat - with temperatures measured where the animal sits. If that is directly over the heat source then that's what you work with.
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"