Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Based on personal experiences what would you rather spend the money on, and why? Im going to make a whole new heat system for my corns with the herpstat thermostats and all, but I’m a little stuck between these two. I will be using them with heat mats because my corns dont seem to like to use them when the air temp is like 70F. So what would be best to heat the air when they’re acting dum and wont go on the UTH.Haha! Thanks for any responses!

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As I turned around I smelled a
horrible "dirty body" smell, and there standing behind me were two poor homeless men. As I looked down at the short gentleman, close to me, he was "smiling". His beautiful sky blue eyes were full of God's Light as he searched for acceptance. He said, "Good day" as he counted the few coins he had been clutching. The young lady at the counter asked him what they wanted. He said, "Coffee is all Miss" because that was all they could afford. (If they wanted to sit in the restaurant and warm up, they had to buy something. He just wanted to be warm).

~Ty

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound rude or immature. I am just trying to create a better environment for them. I didn't mean to call corn snakes dum because they are certainly not! I am very sorry!
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As I turned around I smelled a
horrible "dirty body" smell, and there standing behind me were two poor homeless men. As I looked down at the short gentleman, close to me, he was "smiling". His beautiful sky blue eyes were full of God's Light as he searched for acceptance. He said, "Good day" as he counted the few coins he had been clutching. The young lady at the counter asked him what they wanted. He said, "Coffee is all Miss" because that was all they could afford. (If they wanted to sit in the restaurant and warm up, they had to buy something. He just wanted to be warm).

~Ty

In my opinion corn snakes really don't need heat lights or heat emitters.. So, I would skip both of them and just stick with the UTH with a hide box placed directly over it ..

~ Mike Russo

Use a UTH and let them decide when they want to be warm and when they don't. They aren't as dumb as you may think.
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6.8 L. getula californiae - 11 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)

id go with ceramic, tons of heat, no light. which means it wont disturb the snakes at night
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jake

my addiction:
0.2 normal ball pythons (lazlo and izzy)
0.1 amelenistic corn snake (maizy)
0.1 blizzard corn (blizz)
1.0 albino cal king (zeus)
0.0.1 wc garter (zim)
hybrid breeders association
hybrid haven

Heat emitters will last longer and cast the same nice gradient heat pattern as a bulb. It's just a source to heat up the air and surfaces below.
As long as it is in a safe place. They are hot. But so is a 100 watt bulb.

Sorry to disagree with those that think UTH heaters are the be all end all heat. I love flexwatt when used PROPERLY. That includes the type of cage/tub it is on.

I have personally seen belly burns from stick on UTH's. I always tell my customers if they use the stick on to add a ceramic tile over the area in the tank. Less hot spots and better spread of heat.

As for spread of heat, one most take in consideration room temperature. Putting a UTH on a 20 long and in a 60 degree basement will not heat the cage, and leave very cold corners.

And sorry again, to disagree, a snake may curl up in that corner and become a bit dormant. And if on a full stomach we all know it can be bad.

Bottom line, one device rarely is best in all applications. Flexwatt is great in racks, as it creates a warmer area and the heat flow forward to create a gradient heat pattern. Place the same flex with a tub on a table top, in a cool room, and it may not do that based on room temperatures.

The best thing to buy is a good thermometer. I mean $2-$3 for a fish type. I personally HATE glass stick on ones. I do not want to know the temperature of the glass which will be somewhere between the hot area of th tank/tub and room temp. Probably closer to room temp too. And I will not entertain positioning it at the top of the tank.

Set up your tank/tub/whatever and let it set 20-30 minutes with the what ever heat on. Then take temperature readings from various and all parts.

After all the goal is the correct temperatures.

wu-wei
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Thanks for reading.
Big Tom

www.herpzilla.com

> I have personally seen belly burns from stick on UTH's.

That's why you use either a thermostat or a dimmer switch.
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6.8 L. getula californiae - 11 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)

I agree with Herpzilla. Which is all the reason I said dumb. I was the dumb one for saying that. They are actually quite intellegent. Anyway, I also like using the lights and the UTH.I've had it like this for 2 years and they are doing great. I personally dont believe that just a warm surface for their belly is good enough. They could curl up in one corner in the winter and think that it's time to brumate. We keep our house at 64 int he winter so that's all the more reason.They get both heat from above and below in the wild and Im trying to provide the most realistic setup as possible for them. I was leaning toward the heat emitter anyway! Thank you all very much for your opinions! This is a pic of one of the cages. That probe is now on the ground.

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As I turned around I smelled a
horrible "dirty body" smell, and there standing behind me were two poor homeless men. As I looked down at the short gentleman, close to me, he was "smiling". His beautiful sky blue eyes were full of God's Light as he searched for acceptance. He said, "Good day" as he counted the few coins he had been clutching. The young lady at the counter asked him what they wanted. He said, "Coffee is all Miss" because that was all they could afford. (If they wanted to sit in the restaurant and warm up, they had to buy something. He just wanted to be warm).

~Ty

Actually - in the wild, most snakes are active in the evening (sometimes morning) - and do not get heat from above. They get heat from the ground (and pavement) which soaks up heat from the sun during the day and then radiates heat - like a UTH does.
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6.8 L. getula californiae - 11 eggs (Cal. King)
1.2 L. getula nigrita (MBK)
1.0 L. getula floridana (Brooksi)
1.0 Pantherophis guttatus guttatus (Corn)
0.1 Pituophis catenifer catenifer (Pacific gopher)
3.3 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - 14 eggs (Cal. Alligator Lizard)

You know it has been SO long since i have considered housing a snake in such an elaborate set up that i forgot that some of us still keep snakes in fishtank type enclosures instead of rack systems. So, for that set up & the room temp being in the 60's in the winter.. maybe some type of overhead heating would help.

Although, thinking about it... It would be very funny to see my snake room with 60 or 70 thirthy gallon fishtanks each with one snake inside!!

~ Mike Russo

Haha! Well it would look nice! I hope to get some more and breed in the far future. Im only 12 and my parents dont like snakes so I've been on my own the whole time. I've gotten this far so im not stopping now! I just cant wait until I turn 16 they'll freak when I bring home a venomous snake.
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As I turned around I smelled a
horrible "dirty body" smell, and there standing behind me were two poor homeless men. As I looked down at the short gentleman, close to me, he was "smiling". His beautiful sky blue eyes were full of God's Light as he searched for acceptance. He said, "Good day" as he counted the few coins he had been clutching. The young lady at the counter asked him what they wanted. He said, "Coffee is all Miss" because that was all they could afford. (If they wanted to sit in the restaurant and warm up, they had to buy something. He just wanted to be warm).

~Ty

Ywa snakes get heat from the ground and stuff that absorbed heat whether conductive or IR, so it makes one think of UTH. But the heat has to be coming down to heat those items. And snakes feel that At least to some degree.

I think we all agree it is impossible to recreate nature in a 20ling or a 38 gallon tub. We just want a safe environment. In that note I do not think most people buy stats or dimmers and re check dimmers as room temps change. Most people in here red more info in a week about care than most people hear/read in a year. JMO.

I love UTH when used right. Whats not to like. Low wattage, long lasting. But we all knowmany people will not believe a turtle needs a UVB light, all lizards will drink from a bowl if thristy enough. And a snake will move if the spot is to hot.

Great topic. And on the topic of heat, if you want white bulbs that last a long time use a dimmer, or buy appliance bulbs, they are made teh old way with a dimmer filament. How often to you change a fridge bulb? But a standard house bulb in there and that on and off and it might pop in a week.

wu wei
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Thanks for reading.
Big Tom

www.herpzilla.com

I happen to agree with your statements about undertank heating not being the be-all, end-all solution to snake heating.

Overhead heating can be extremely effective, and I am so bold to say even more effective than belly heat for some cages.

Keepers love racks, and that is one application where belly heat or back heat is the better choice obviously. Also for very low-height cages. Other than that, I don't see what belly heat does for the snake better than overhead heat.
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Mark

Totally agree
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Thanks for reading.
Big Tom

www.herpzilla.com

When using overhead heat, make sure the reptile can not get to the bulb. That's how burn blisters happen.

There are times when overhead heat is needed.
I had a Suriname boa for awhile.

Flexwatt should not be run warmer than 95F by manufacturer spec. Due to gap between flexwatt and the tank bottom, and the fact that it was kept in a glass tank, 95F was not warm enough for the suriname boa. I put insulation around 3 sides of the tank and kept a towel on top, but the warm side still was not warm enough, so I added a CHE and that brought it up to temp. However, the CHE also made it much more difficult to keep humidity where it should be, and my air is already naturally dry.

Heat bulbs though waste a lot of energy, and a lot of heat bulbs will raise the general temperature of the room far more than UTH will. Most snakes do not need to bask, some do on occasion in the wild, but most of them come out at evening/night when heat is radiating up from the ground, not down from the sun. Thus a UTH mimics nature very well. Perfectly? No.
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6.8 L. getula californiae - 11 eggs (Cal. King)
1.2 L. getula nigrita (MBK)
1.0 L. getula floridana (Brooksi)
1.0 Pantherophis guttatus guttatus (Corn)
0.1 Pituophis catenifer catenifer (Pacific gopher)
3.3 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - 14 eggs (Cal. Alligator Lizard)

simple, if you use a light just place it over a rock.
The light will provide ambient heat and the rock will be warmed providing a "basking" spot or belly heat, if you will.
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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"Resistance is futile"
Jimmy Johnson
(Draybar)
Draybars Snakes

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