Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just purchased an UTH for my Florida king and his 10gal. aquarium; however, the directions say I must use a heavy substrate so that the animal won't burrow underneath and lay directly on the hot glass, unfortunately I use an aspen bedding which he likes to lay under most of the time. Its not too much of a problem to switch to a repti bark substrate or something but is it really necessary and if so what should I switch too and how will the change affect him.

I think the reason they tell you that is that the temps on those heaters can get quite hot. Best bet is to use a thermostat or rheostat to control the output rather than counting on the snake not burrowing to the bottom of the tank through the substrate. You could also raise the bottom of the tank on blocks or something above the pad to allow more airflow which would probably result in a cooler tank bottom. I have a number of those things of varied brands and they all run at different temps. I check them with my handy dandy temp gun and adjust the tank or thermostat accordingly.
Lora

I'd recommend raising the tank a bit for airflow underneath. The UTHs I bought came with rubber feet to put on the bottom of the tank. They do get really hot (human heating pads don't seem to get as hot to me) so you must use a thermostat as well. I then added a think piece of reptile carpet under my loose substrate so that the snake doesn't get right on top of the UTH. Even though it is hooked to a thermostat I still do this, as I fear what would happen if the thermostat stopped working and my snake was directly on top of the UTH.
-----
Check Out My Albums

1.0 Ball Python
"Aragorn"

1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa
"Gimli"

1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
"Indigo"

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
"Kira"

I have UTH's on all my snakes tanks and none of them have thermostats. I just put some of that green carpet over the heater then the substrate (I use reptile bark). My bigger tank for my python I have newspaper over the heater then the substrate and it works great. When she soils the area it's easy to just pull up the paper and replace with fresh. All my tanks have plenty of space underneath since I have 2 on a rot iron stand that are staked and my other 2 are setting on bricks. This has worked for me for over a year now and snakes are doing great.

I'm curious what brand of UTH you bought. I have 2 in use now, and both of them get extremely hot w/o a thermostat. I've been wondering if it's the brand I bought (ReptiTherm) and if next time I should try a different brand.
-----
Check Out My Albums

1.0 Ball Python
"Aragorn"

1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa
"Gimli"

1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
"Indigo"

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
"Kira"

I have been using the same UTH's now for close to 7 years (Zoo Med and some other one I don't remember the name of I think Repti Therm but not sure{looks like felx watt}).
I have never used thermosats or rheostats with them I only keep the tank about 1 inch off the UTH and it is only on one side of the tank. Plus I keep a thermometer on the bottom of the tankand it never gets above 85F to 90F. I have never used human heating pads and won't if you read the directions it says they should not be left on for long periods.

Well there's a difference right there - you don't attach the UTH to the tank. I did (since that's what the instructions said and now I'm guessing I probably shouldn't have.
-----
Check Out My Albums

1.0 Ball Python
"Aragorn"

1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa
"Gimli"

1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
"Indigo"

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
"Kira"

when I got my tank/heater the UTH was attached to the 50 gal tank. was moveing it by myself stepped on the cord and riped the cord right off never attached a uth again plus they get too hot it helps to wrap them in foil.

>>Well there's a difference right there - you don't attach the UTH to the tank. I did (since that's what the instructions said and now I'm guessing I probably shouldn't have.

For me attaching a uth was like a jinx and I would break the damn tank in days. That and I wanted to be able to clean stuff without cords.
I found that, even if taped to the tank, a uth maxed out at 135* still not what I want, but not deadly. I just wire up dimmer switches now.
-----
Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron

Sounds like the same heaters to me by ZooMed. I just dont see the big hype about using them. I haven't had any problems with using UTH with out thermostate. I think with the carpet or newspaper over the area then the substrate they are fine. As long as there is enough ventalation under the tank.

Maybe I just got 2 really powerful ones. The one on my 55 gallon has 3 feet of airflow below it, I use carpet and without a thermostat I had to add extra 'padding' with paper towels under the carpet to keep temps from going through the roof. A dimmer didn't help as it still wasn't able to get the temps in the proper range. It wasn't until I added a thermostat that I was able to remedy the situation. I did stick the UTH directly on the outside bottom of the tank.
-----
Check Out My Albums

1.0 Ball Python
"Aragorn"

1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa
"Gimli"

1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
"Indigo"

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
"Kira"

I have mine on the outside underneath which is where they are suppose to go. I know when you feel the glass directly where the heater is it is hot but once you have all the substrate, or what ever a person choses, you can't feel it that much. I'm looking into a snake that doesn't need any special heating. That would be ideal. I've heard the black milk and black king don't need heating.

Yeah, when I added the substrate it didn't feel as hot - but you can't go by touch. When measured it was a lot hotter than I thought.

Mandarin Ratsnake and Rubber Boas don't need special heating from what I remember.
-----
Check Out My Albums

1.0 Ball Python
"Aragorn"

1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa
"Gimli"

1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
"Indigo"

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
"Kira"

i actually keep the hide just off the hottest part of the heating pad which seems to work for me, also i keep a flat rock of appropiate size in realtion to my snake on the hottest part of the heating pad that way when the coolness of night comes i catch my kings on a top the falt rock enjoying the radiant heat, just a sug,>Mike.S