Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OK, I just bought a 24x24x12 Barrs cage for my 2 year old Albino Snow Corn.

She has been in an aqaurium up till now, and I have always used the repti-therm under tank heaters.

The Barrs cage does not have a screen top, so I don't think I can use a heat lamp.

What can I use to heat the cage from the underside? Can I use the repi-therm UTH? The package says they are intended for glass only.

Need some advice/suggestions. Thanks!

I use repti-therm UTHs on all 9 of my Barrs cages. I was worried about the same glass-use warning, so I went out and bought an expensive thermostat.

The plastic distributes heat a lot more easily than glass tanks do, plus the repti-therm brand's tendency to substantially overheat is what's dangerous. There are other brands (like the T-Rex Cobra pads) that don't reach as high of temperatures, but you should still have those plugged into a thermostat as well.

I wouldn't trust using a rheostat for plastic cages simply because the heatpad is still too hot even on the rheostat's lowest setting.
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chickabowwow

Xelda,

Thanks for confirming in your post further down that Cobra heat pads and Ultratherms are the same product. I think the only difference is that the Ultratherms come in more sizes.

But back to this post.

>>I wouldn't trust using a rheostat for plastic cages simply because the heatpad is still too hot even on the rheostat's lowest setting.

That might be the rheostat. I have had a couple of rheostats over the years that would barely dim down a light bulb. Others have dimmed the same bulb in the same fixture down to a faint glow that you could only see if the rest of the room was dark.

I'm not sure what the difference is. Maybe MarkG will chime in and explain it.
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Current snakes:

1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

Chris i can answer this one as i wasa commercial Electrician for 11 yrs lol .

The big thing people dont realize when buying rheostat dimmers is the quaility ans use factor.As you stated some dimmer barely effect the bulbs wattages and some will dim themto the effect of a match 10 miles away. ALOT of it depends on the dimmer you buy. Most people make the mistake of buying just a "300w-600w dimmer" and think wow that wasnt to bad only $9.00.... well if you ever take the time to look at the dimmer section in a HI store you will see they range from$7-10 all the way up to $50.00 its the old saying ... you pay for what ya get lol now even some of the $10 dimmers if you buy three of them each one will have a different dimming effect to them on the amount they dim a light.its all in the making of the rheostat itself.IE" wire type & sizes number of plates on the rheostat inside the dimmer etc etc most people when buying them for the purpose of reducing wattage to heat will but the "el Cheapo" everytime then they have issues like posting "My dimmer went bad why ?" or .... my dimmer doesnt change the effect of the heat Why. The difference is in simply in the quaility of the device itself you if you HAD THE MONEY WOULD YOU BUY A YUGO ? OR A CADILLAC?
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Buisnesses come and go everyday, what keeps you here is how you treated the customer the day before....My Boa Can Kick Your Boas _ss!www.cheapcages.com
Visit the new website while the Jungle gets made over.

One of the great features on a BARRS cage is the way the bottom is designed. The cage floor is actually raised 1/2 inch because of the "legs" in the four outer corners. So, you can just slide a UTH under one end of the cage and the UTH will have about 1/2 inch of breathing room; it never touches the bottom of the cage so you need not worry about the "sandwich effect" where heat just builds up with nowhere to dissipate.

An easy approach would be to place a thermometer probe right on the cage floor over the heated area and use a decent rheostat like the Lutron Lamp Dimmer available at Home Depot.

I have three of that size BARRS cages but I use 6x12" PP RHPs to heat them, since they are in normal room temperatures environments (which can drop to 67 or so in Winter) and I need to heat the cage air as well as provide a basking area. I control the RHPs with a proportional thermostat; the probe is in the cool end and the thermostat is set for around 82.

Regards,

Bill

I'm sorry. I misread your cage size and thought it was the 24 x 12 x 12 cage.

I have one of the 24 x 24 x 12h cages as well and I use the PP 10 x 12" RHP to heat it. The previous info about the UTH still applies.

Bill

I have 8 Barrs cages and heat them with Exoterra Heat Wave pads on ZooMed Rheos. The Heat Wave pads are thin, very safe, and cost effective. For a proper gradient I place the pad at one end of the cage attached to the bottom with a single strip of aluminum foil tape along the far end of the pad. Used this for years with no problems-Bill.