Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering if a heat rock on a thermostat would work? I need to get some extra bellyheat into my cornsnakes cage,Its rather big and Im using a 150watt ceramic heat emitter but it doesnt quite reach the bottom of the cage with heat, it gives more ambient heat then anything else..The bottom of the cage is made out of very thick shelfboard(I kinda scrapped together the cage)so the only other solution is a UTH inside the cage(which someone told me to use a piece of tile over it)..I like the tile idea but I would have to order all the UTH pieces and then drive forever to get the tile..The rock would be easier...Any thoughts?
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A heat rock on a good rheostat would probably be OK. You would need to have a way to meausure the temperature of the heat rock and monitor it. For the money you would spend to do it safely, you could find better choices.

I think a UTH under a piece of thick tile is a much better idea. You could buy a big 12 inch floor tile for a couple of dollars at any hardware store.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

Do you think the temp on a heat rock would fluctuate?
See Ive already got a rheostat and Ive got a temp gun.I do have a piece of flexwatt too but not all the little dohickies that attach it to the wire so Id have to order all that..
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A major complaint against hotrocks (as I suspect you know) is that it can have "hotspots"...I would think that even on a thermostat you may be taking a risk. It is my understanding that hotrocks are simply unpredictable. You might use one and find that it works just fine, or you could wind up burning your reptile. I am going to agree with the statement that there are too many other good ways to heat than to mess with a hotrock in any way. Duffy

Well, if I may put my two cents into this, have you thought about placing a false bottom and then directly attatching the UTH to a piece of thick glass just to promote better heat transfer than the tile would. Just a thought.

False bottom is a good Idea, I do have a piece of glass that would work just right for that too...(I always have bits and pieces of stuff around)Thanks....I guess Ill hose the hot rock idea, if its unstable then its useless,I dont want to waste money..
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should be easy enough to frame up a false bottom too, 5 bucks worth of pine, ( 1" by 1" square hobby dowels spaced out around the edge to allow for some cross ventilation so the area inside the false bottom doesn't get too hot!! )

After resuing many burned animals, I would never suggest the use of a heat rock. The other suggestions of UTH's are much better and more reliable options.

First we will dispell the myths.

If you break open a hot rock, you'll find nichrome heating wire. If you tear open a ZooMed or Fluker's heat pad, you'll find the exact same thing. So why is one considered dangerous and the other not? There are good reasons and bad reasons.

The reasons hot rocks get a bad rap:
1. Because they are used inside the cage, you can't attach a sensor for a thermostat w/o the animal knocking it off.
2. They tend to dehydrate animals.
3. People do stupid things like not using temp control.
4. Because most snakes don't bask on top of rocks.
5. Because it is politically incorrect to say that they can be used effectively.

Lets look at each of the reasons above -

1. Can't attach temp controller sensor
If you get 2 of the same hot rock, put one inside the cage, put the other outside and fix the sensor to it, you effectively control the one inside the cage.

2. Dehydration
Dehydration can occur with any heater. There is a new hot rock made from waterproof material that can be set in misted or damp substrate. I've misted substrate around the fake cement model hot rocks w/o issue.

3. People do stupid things
Use common sense. Heaters can't regulate themselves exactly to the needs of every animal. Temperature control is necessary.

4. Most snakes don't bask on top of rocks
Very true. Probably a great reason why a cornsnake shouldn't have a hot rock for example.

5. Politically incorrect
???

How I have used them:
I used them effectively for mountain kingsnakes. I set the hot rock in a pile of granite. Worked wonderfully! But that was for rock-utilizing-in-nature snakes.

So, don't waste your time with hot rocks for cornsnakes, ratsnakes, hognose snakes, bullsnakes and most others. But hot rocks "rock" for rocky-dwelling animals if used with temp control and common sense.

so how do cornsnakes get the belly heat they need in the wild if not by basking on warm rocks?
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They get their warmth from either the ambient air temps or from basking at the mouth of their hides, etc. Cornsnakes are not rock dwellers persay. Not to say one couldn't use a rock, but if you have seen cornsnake habitat, rocks are not their defacto preference. Cornsnakes can do fine with ambient air heat.

You have to remember that belly-heat in captivity isn't exactly like belly heat in the wild. In the wild, the ground absorbs heat during the day (or in areas of lots of trees, the trees heat up, and cornsnakes do take refuge in trees sometimes.) As the sun goes down, the ground radiates the stored heat energy.

The heat is in the ground, and the snake can get closer to the surface to take advantage of the warmth, or go deeper in the burrow to avoid it when it wants to conserve resources. It isn't like one hot square surface surrounded by all cold surface like in our cage/heatpad setups. But, snakes are so adaptable that even our rediculous cage setups seem to work.