Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a lamp above the cage for heat and light with a 100 watt bulb is that to much and too hot? thanks

nate

It depends on a couple things. What size is your enclosure? What type of enclosure is it an aquarium, a wooden cage, a plastic cage?

jeff

It depends on what temp it makes your cage/tank. But I'd go for a UTH to provide heat on the warm side and supplement with overhead heat if needed. BPs need belly heat more in my opinion. I have a UTH on the warm side and since the cool side temps get too low in my house I supplement with an infrared heat lamp on the cool side (also a great nightlight). Be sure you measure temps on top of the substrate - or if using loose substrate measure under it. Basically measure where your BP will feel the temps - it's belly.
-----
Check Out My Albums

1.0 Ball Python
"Aragorn"
1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa
"Gimli"
1.0 Saharan Sand Boa
"Frodo"
0.1 Rough-Scale Sand Boa
"Arwen"
0.1 California Kingsnake
"Gentoo"
1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
"Indigo"

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
"Kira"

I dislike UTH as a main source of heat. I use heat lamps as a main source and if I need more than I use a nice piece of black slate rock on the side of my heat lamp, which the lamp heats up nicely, and everything works great! UTH heaters don't heat up your enviornment just the one spot they are sitting, heat lamps if done right (right watt, right place, etc) works well for all of that. Then if you do want a place to warm the belly just use a piece of black slate under the heat lamp, much cheaper and more realistic looking and no chance of a UTH getting to hot or not hot enough or whatever else could happen. Just my opinion.

Jason

This is what I've talked about before as far as so many differing opinions on how and what to use as heat sources for BPs. Some say, use UTHs because belly heat is most important and overhead lamps kill humidity. Others say, use overhead lamps and you don't have to worry about an UTH getting too hot and the heat lamps are all you'll need, etc. Some say use a combination of the two, which is what I'm doing right now. I can definitely see why a newbie can get so confused with all the differing info. flying around out there concerning husbandry. I say, do what every is best for you and your BP. I don't think their is a true right or wrong when it comes to heating as long as you give your BP a cool and warm side to move to and don't use a hot rock to do it, of course. That's how an owner has to approach it, otherwise the amount of differing opinions on the subject and other subjects concerning the husbandry of BP's can drive a person nuts and they'll constantly think they are doing something wrong since someone will always be telling them that, no matter what they try. Well, that's just my opinion on the whole thing.

I've seen a lot of newbies come on forums with non-eating BPs and come to find out their husbandry is off and once fixed the problem is remedied. A lot of times it's temp issues like using only overhead lights (and usually not measuring correctly). Once they switch to UTH (possibly supplemented with overhead heat) things seem to get better. Could be coincedence, but I've often wondered if that means belly heat is more important. But, like I said could just be coincedence as I know I've heard some say they use just overhead light okay - or is it just they've got BPs with a better feeding response? Who knows.
-----
Check Out My Albums

1.0 Ball Python
"Aragorn"
1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa
"Gimli"
1.0 Saharan Sand Boa
"Frodo"
0.1 Rough-Scale Sand Boa
"Arwen"
0.1 California Kingsnake
"Gentoo"
1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
"Indigo"

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
"Kira"

Asking us to predict the temperature of your cage is virtually impossible. The short answer? Maybe too hot, maybe not. Wrong type of heat either way, but as for it being too hot, well no way we can forsee that answer.

>>i have a lamp above the cage for heat and light with a 100 watt bulb is that to much and too hot? thanks
>>
>>nate

This really is something you should already have taken care of. You should have a digital thermometer to get a good reading. Not trying to be mean and maybe I misunderstand what's going on here but if you don't already have a thermometer you have done a poor, poor job of preparing your snake enclosure.

FYI, don't get t'd off at someone if they are trying to help you.
-----
Rob Talkington