Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I use infared heat globes for my pythons, but they only last a short time. After a month I notice the cage temp. start to slowly drop, and I need to go get some new ones. They're really expensive, and I was wondering if ceramic heat emitters (or any other suggestions you have) were better? I want something that lasts longer, do heat matts eventually burn out, or do they stay hot forever?

Thanks in advanced, Jack
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There's a village in Texas missing it's idiot

Ceramic heat emitters are somewhat expensive ($20 per bulb or so), but can last up to 100,000 hours. Heat mats are good for a surface heat source, but do not necessarely provide enough of an ambient temperature to keep the entire cage warm.

A combo of both is good, but bulbs and cages can be made to provide both. Cobra heat mats are relatively cheap and very versatile. I believe 6x11 mats cost $17.
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Current Collection:
0.1 Antherystic elaphe guttata guttata - Corn Snake
1.0 Elaphe vulpina gloydi - Eastern Fox Snake
0.1 Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta - Black Rat Snake
0.1 Leucistic elaphe obsoleta linheimeri - Texas Ratsnake
1.1 Morelia spilota cheyni - Jungle Carpet Python
0.1 Tiliqua scincoides intermedia - Northern Blue Tongue Skink

I just go to walmart during halloween season and buy a bunch of their $1.00 blacklight bulbs for the year. They are 75 watt bulbs. Since they're already all gone, you can just buy a blacklight bulb...they run maybe $4-6 or so, but dont waste your money for a "reptile" bulb. I've done tests, they all produce the same wavelengths.
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-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

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Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Caligula)... coming soon

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There's a village in Texas missing it's idiot

try a kane heat mat. their great! big apple herp sells them, but their prices are high. the offer a 125% price match garantee. search kane heat mat on yahoo and find the cheapest listed price. i got a 18x28 for 68 dollars!they heat up to insane temps. and they are inexpensive to run.