Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The proper heating temps for bulls are 75-84, how does everyone heat their enclosures? What is the best way to do so, heating pad, tape or lights and how do you control temps. I have UTH right now on my garters but I am afraid it may be to warm on the glass for my new bull because I never really checked the garters temps. Any suggestions. Should I cover it with a thin slab of slate or switch to tape or a red light. What works best in your experiences.

I just heat my entire snake room with a long, convection type heater. In the winter, the heater is on a higher setting of course, but the way I have the windows insulated and such, I don't have to keep it on much on a higher setting.

In the summertime like now for example, I even turn off the heater during the day since I have the temps in the house up higher. Even turned off, it stays 80-81 in the snake room.

I always recommend 78-82 at the very most for pits.

Take care!

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Genesis 1:1

So the hottest area should be in the 80's, a simple UTH could do that it might get to hot, would you suggest a ceramic heat emitter instead, I do not have the heating options that you do although it would be nice. That way I could heat all the cages at once like yourself. I have a simple reptile UTH for my garter snakes and they do fine but I don't check their temps, it probably gets pretty hot though. I could always cover the heated area with an extremely flat piece of slate that is about a quarter inch thick. What do you think. Thanks for your help

I am not familiar with ceramic heaters or UTHs, sorry! Perhaps someone can chime in on this that has experience with these types of heaters......
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Genesis 1:1

A piece of slate is going to get just as hot as the tank it'll just take it longer to get there. Without a rheostat or a thermostat there is no real way to control the temps with any of the heating devices you've mentioned I would suggest picking one up and a temp gun if you are not already using one
nate

yeah I already have a temp gun, what do you all use for heat.

I use flexwatt in my racks, standard ZooMed UTH in tanks.
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3.6 L. getula californiae - 16 eggs (Cal. King)
1.1 L. getula nigrita (MBK)
1.0 Pantherophis guttatus guttatus (Corn)
0.1 Pituophis catenifer catenifer (Pacific gopher)
3.3 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - 14 eggs (Cal. Alligator Lizard)

Use a thermostat.
The on/off kind are cheap - you can an "a-life 1000" from LLL or a "bah-1000" from Big Apple. They are the same thermostat just different sticker on them. They work well with a UTH.

If you use heat tape you really should use a more expensive proportional thermostat. But a typical UTH works fine with the cheap on/off thermostats.
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3.6 L. getula californiae - 16 eggs (Cal. King)
1.1 L. getula nigrita (MBK)
1.0 Pantherophis guttatus guttatus (Corn)
0.1 Pituophis catenifer catenifer (Pacific gopher)
3.3 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - 14 eggs (Cal. Alligator Lizard)

on another note you should have a thermostat on your garter snakes cage as well, even though its "just a garter" when we decide to keep snakes in captivity we should provide the same amount of care to a $10 snake as a $10,000 snake.
just my .02
nate

Depending on the garters they may even do better t lower temps as there were varieties of garters wild in the middle of gopher teritory where I grew up.

First question short of a thermostat is what is the normal room temp range in the room where you are keeping them? Depending on what it is they may need no heat at all or may even need it cooled down.

About the garters, I never really bothered checking the temps because they were doing great, I used the temp gun today and the cool side is around 74 and the warm was 88 and a gradient in between. The room is usually around 75. Will a thermostat work with any under tank heater???, So I could get any brand of UTH say at my local reptile store and I can just plug it in to the thermostat? Does it just control wattage, I have never used one before. I will definitely check that out though. Thanks for your help.

There are three basic ways to control heat.

On/Off Thermostat - inexpensive. It turns the heating device off when it reaches target temp, turns it back on when it drops below. You need to run a thermostat sensor into the tank, warm side.

Proportional Thermostat - expensive (~ $130 or so). It applies less wattage the closer you get to target temp. Generally far more accurate, and extends the life of heating element (because it never gets full current). Also has a thermostat sensor that you need to run into the tank.

Incadescent Rheostat - get one rated for at least 500W even though you probably don't use that much power. Make sure it is for incadescent. This is a dimmer switch you can use to manually restrict the current to the heating device. Cheap. Extends life of heating element as it doesn't get full current. Only recommended if ambient room temperature is somewhat constant (night drop OK)

You can buy rheostats for reptiles, or you can make one yourself using a dipole incadescent dimmer switch from home depot (use an electrical box). I'll post a pic of mine later if you want.

Be sure to check temp fairly often if you use a rheostat.
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3.6 L. getula californiae - 16 eggs (Cal. King)
1.1 L. getula nigrita (MBK)
1.0 Pantherophis guttatus guttatus (Corn)
0.1 Pituophis catenifer catenifer (Pacific gopher)
3.3 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - 14 eggs (Cal. Alligator Lizard)

Thanks a lot , yeah I think a thermostat would do fine I can probably get one at my rep shop. Thanks again.

Just don't get the ZooMed ReptiTherm.

I bought two of those - they work but using a digital thermometer that records high and low, there is a huge variance in a 24 hour period with both of them.

It also doesn't have a dial with temp indications. The ones that let you specify a temp should always be double checked, but they've been accurate for me.
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3.6 L. getula californiae - 16 eggs (Cal. King)
1.1 L. getula nigrita (MBK)
1.0 Pantherophis guttatus guttatus (Corn)
0.1 Pituophis catenifer catenifer (Pacific gopher)
3.3 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - 14 eggs (Cal. Alligator Lizard)

The discussion has been good, and I like Funky's description of the three heat controller methods.

UTHs are fine. Ceramic heaters also do a fantastic job for pituophis, as do red heat lamps. You can achieve a nice gradient with overhead heat. Just make sure to keep the heater surface away from the snake - i.e. use an 8 1/2" or 10" dome where the bulb doesn't touch the screen top of the tank. Then, use any of the thermostats mentioned.

An ON/OFF controller can be found at Big Apple Herps or LLL for about $40. Proportional controllers are the best for ceramic heaters (extend their life) but cost alot as mentioned.
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Mark

what are the best temp ranges for pits and basking or warm spot temps. Thanks for your help. I'm using a zoo med thermostat on a red lamp and heating pad, I use only one or the other.