Reptile & Amphibian Forums

well personally i think the guy can just keep his rude comments to himself. i done plenty of research and i know quite a bit about the subject. i know i need to get rid of the heat rock. hmmm.... i wish you told me something that i didnt already know. now that would have been a help. and i know that you just wast the "ALMIGHTY SNAKE GOD" when you started so get over it. if you cant say any useful information then dont say anything at all. i bought all the books and read caresheets and so on. all i asked for was some advice. not your stupidity coming out of your mouth. and no thanks to you i got the problem fixed. it is now staying around 88 till i get his problem taken care of. and i may not have the kind of money that you do to be able to buy all this stuff heat pads, heat tape, blah blah blah. so what i am taking care of it myself and i wont let you or anybody else talk me out of my hobby. so go find somebody else to try and ridicule!!!!
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*John*

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inappropriate photo removed.

Edited on October 17, 2003 at 22:25:19 by phwyvern.

They still sell those things? Poor snakes. That makes me feel like crap to know people are still using them.
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I have yet to see a case where a reptile was harmed by a "hot" rock. I have however, seen several instances where a reptile was harmed by an UTH. In the case of the "hot" rock and UTH, it's not as much the device as how you use it.

I have used "hot" rocks in the past. I have put them inside of a thick sock though. Just like insulating the UTH and aquarium buttom by using substrate shavings. My reptiles are housed in rack units, so this conversation is mostly academic.

For the record, I do not recommend "hot" rocks only because they really provide too small a surface for Ball Pythons. An UTH is better.
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Jay A. Martin

I am backing up J. Martin and jsmallwood on this one... Ive only seen ONE picture of burns from a hotrock (this was a picture like in 97') and ive seen about 5-6 pics of UTH burns. People are only saying dont use hotrocks becuase they see other people telling them...80% of the time they never bought a hot rock. People need to stop being like sheep.

They'd be pretty useless for a larger snake- the snake could only heat part of its body at a time. UTH's just give the snake more of a choice in heating itself up. Any heating source can fail, and commerical UTH's do generally just get too hot.
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

That's why you need to have the UTH hooked up with some sort of thermostat to help regulate the heat and make sure it doesn't get too hot. That's how I have mine set up. It's very warm to the touch but not scolding hot. Otherwise, like you said, they can get too hot if the snake happens to get directly over it on glass or something like that.

I have switched to a ceramic heat "bulb" but when I used my old UTH I always put a paper towel on the glass and then the substrate on top of that to ensure no direct contact with the snake. Just a suggestion. Also proper ventilation under the cage helps keep the heater at a more suitable temperature.

AND the reason that you've only seen one picture of a hot rock burn is because for the most part, any educated snake owner knows that they are crap, and wouldn't use one. If one out of every hundred ignoramus snake owners uses a hot rock, of course you'll only see one pic, how about the 300 snake owners that were too embarrassed to tell anyone that their snake got injured using one?

Over the course of working in the pet industry for several years, I have had people bring me animals with heat rock burns, rat/mouse/rabbit bites, MBD, etc...... How many PICTURES have I seen of these? not as many as I have seen in person.
People just don't think to take pictures of this stuff, either that or they are too embarrassed to let others learn from their mistake.

The Hot Rock was manuafactured by sizzle stone. When the snake healed, you could still see the pattern of the rock branded into the belly of the snake. Not taking sides here, just mentioning that I have seen severe burns caused by hot rocks.

Mark

>>I am backing up J. Martin and jsmallwood on this one... Ive only seen ONE picture of burns from a hotrock (this was a picture like in 97') and ive seen about 5-6 pics of UTH burns. People are only saying dont use hotrocks becuase they see other people telling them...80% of the time they never bought a hot rock. People need to stop being like sheep.

Yeah, and you need to stop being an idiot and stop telling what I have and have not seen in my time (13 years) breeding snakes. I have seen it, and thus I gave my opinion on it. How that makes me a follower or a sheep, is beyond me. I care not whether you agree or disagree with my conclusions of my observations, but to call me a sheep because I agree with a lot of people who are against hot rocks is ludicrous. And dumb.

But hey, I'm a sheep, whaddo I know?
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I've also sadly witnessed first-hand what heat rocks are capable of doing. When I owned a retail/wholesale facility here in Ohio I had a number of people bring animals in w/ burns. I never sold them nor did I use them in any of my enclosures, with the exception of a few lizard set-ups where they were buried in substrate. Never liked 'em, and I always told my customers that were newer to the hobby to stay away from them. I really don't think the problem was with what was said originally, it was how Mykee said it. Not really my place to say, but it seems he gets a little irate at newbies every now and again and I personally haven't read any of his replies/posts where I felt persuaded to make any changes in my immediate husbandry techniques.Jeff on the other hand has excellent viewpoints and plenty of experience, and he more often than not lends a helping hand for most, even if on occassion it may read "short" or even blunt - but he's one to listen to for advice in my book. Either way, let's all keep it light in here, go easy on the tags. Life's too short...pay it forward
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Troy James Cromwell

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Ha ha, and the only reason I'm short, is because I can't type worth beans!!! The more I type, the sillier it gets!

Thanx bro.
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as is a hot rock. Just if a UTH fails there is generally some room in between them and the animal. As is the case with all heating elements a simple solution is a Rheostat or thermostat ($15-30). Most people using heat tape dont have a problem because they use thermostats. If not controlled with a thermostat there would be tons of animals being burned by them. I do not like or use hot rocks because they do not provide a good area, they aren't easy to use in rack, and aren't as easy as heat tape and or uth's but they all need a controller to be used safely.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

There posts are rude and insulting. I wonder if they are some bad a** dudes and like that in person or if they just feel bold behind the safety of their computer screens. I think all they accomplish is showing everyone that they are childish a**holes. They're loosers if you ask me and they take away much more than they contribute to this forum.

So keep asking questions, gathering information, draw your own conclusions and enjoy the hobby. We all knew squat at point and have made mistakes along the way. Live and learn...

Oz

i use the biggest heat rock you can get. i put a thick sock on it. i have a hatchling ball, he is only 22 in. the heat rock is not hot to the touch. i check it periodically through the day. i am planning to get a uth. and fyi, my temps are rising. thanks everybody.
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*John*