Under tank heating for Blue Tongues?

[Carott]

Does anyone out there have experience with using under tank heating for Blue Tongues?

I'm designing a new setup and wanted to explore heating with flexiwatt or heat chord with a thermostat rather than an inefficient basking light.

On YouTube I noticed some very knowledgeable and experienced keepers maintain large collections of Blueys in rack setups and presumably you would have to use under tank heating for this.

Note that I still intend to provide a day/night light cycle but don't want to use a light as the main heat source.

Cheers

[Argentra]

Umm...BTS are lizards that NEED to bask with heat and UVB from above, unlike snakes that get their heat from below. So they need to have a basking light.

It's not hard to get a good one, either. I got a simple floodlight bulb from Lowes and it's in a dimmer lamp (clamp lamp that has a built in dimmer knob). There's an Acurite thermometer in his cage and the outdoor probe is set on his basking tile. I simply adjust the intensity of the light until the spot is around 100.
And since blueys brumate over the winter (most of the time, at any rate) they don't need any other heat source.

The rack setup most likely was using Radient Heat panels...but no one I know in the BTS community would support keeping these guys without light heat in a cage. Several good keepers/breeders have stacking cage systems, but they all have built in basking lights.

Bottom line - the best way to ensure good health in a BTS is to keep them in a cage with basking light.

[Carott]

I'm pretty sure the setup didn't use radiant heat panels, here's a link.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj9ixyTM6QU

I'm not sure that BTS definitely need to bask under a light. I grew up with them wild in the back yard and although I did see them basking on occasion, they tended to stick to heavy undergrowth most of re time, they certainly avoid being in direct sunlight after the very early morning.

This is in contrast to wild Bearded dragons that will sit out in the open for long periods.

[xxmonitorlizardxx]

Who uses actually racks, without lighting?
Many people use stackable cages, but not actual racks.
Blue tongue skinks are not snakes. They NEED light!
If you want to use the heat pad for heat and some type of light for light, that's ok I know a breeder that does that.
But a bulb that produces both light and heat would be preferable