Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all
I have 2 desert kingsnakes 16" hatchlings and I keep them in 2 terrariums (28"x10"x10" and 28"Lx12W"x16"H). I would like to know as they dont gets large, to how long they can stay in these terrarium.

Actually I use a 40w spotlight to warm up their terrariums, but I am thinking about to change for a non-light and more economic way. I was thinking about undertank heaters, is it the best or are heat stones better?

Must all models avaliable in the market be glued under the tank? This would not be nice when I need to change their terrariums (if I need to) as the heaters are hard to find and very cheap in my country.

can they be used between the glass and the styrofoam plate under the tank? This I guess NOT, right? LOL

Can they be used under plastic terrariums?

Are they durable?

I would like to know pors and cons of zoomed, exoterra and others.
Thanks everybody and sorry my bad english and for so many questions.

I would avoid heat rocks, I have never heard anything good about them. I bought some under tank heat pads from Beanfarm.com and they are pretty good. They do not need a thermostat and stay 15-20 degrees warmer than the room temp. The people at Beanfarm.com are very helpful. Your cage will be fine for the snakes for a year or two. Once they get to the point where they seem like they'd be happier in a larger cage then you can move them into something bigger. I think they'll be fine in the size you have for quite a while, hope this helps Tom Stevens
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TomsSnakes.com

Hello there

Heat rocks can work well (despite all the bad press) if they can be buried in a substrate. Since your cage shows newspaper as the substrate, then an undertank heater is what you will need.

All of the models are typically fine for use as intended. A lamp dimmer is necessary to control the heat output because you cannot always control the temperature of the room, and heat pad temperature varies proportionally with the room temp: the warmer the room, the warmer the heater.

www.beanfarm.com sells great heat pads as mentioned by Tom.

You will find that a heat pad is far more economical than a bulb, but does not provide as nice a temperature gradient as a bulb. Give and take.

Heat pads are the way to go. They are re-usable. Either don't peel the backing off, or peel it off, and stick aluminum foil to it. Then you can tape it down with aluminum foil tape. Derek