Heat Mat or Ceramic Bulb

[Joppsta]

To cut a long story short I've recently joined a group on facebook and I'm questioning some of their recommendations as what I've read online regarding some of what they are suggesting is "wrong" and I don't want to be "that guy" without actually knowing what I'm talking about..

Anyway:

http://i.imgur.com/NTU9PPg.png

Essentially I am just wondering if the last post here holds any water.

"Ceramic bulb is safest option with bulb guard on a pulse stat. This years the air aswell as heating the ground, which provides belly heat. Heat mats shouldn't be used with vivs, and unless your room is heated to 24c or more, will not provide adequate heat. You will find with a ceramic and hotter ambient temp, the humidity will drop slightly, so you could see how it goes with the orchid bark then. However i do love lignocel, so would recommend having a look at that "

The subject matter is substrates and heat sources.

From what I have read over here: http://www.worldofballpythons.com/ar...isconceptions/

"Ball Pythons require a hot area, and a cool area in the enclosure. Ball Pythons are cold blooded animals and they require an outside source of heat to maintain the correct internal temperature. They need heat in order to metabolize food properly, among many other daily bodily functions. The most common heat source recommended for reptiles are heat lamps. Heat lamps come in coloured bulbs (some labeled as night and day) and also in non-light emitting ceramic bulbs. Both are great sources of heat for many reptiles, but are not suitable for Ball Pythons. They require belly heat, not basking heat. In northern Africa you will never see a Ball Python on top of a log or rock basking in the afternoon sun. They like to spend the day hiding under branches and rocks in the dark, with their bodies on the warm ground. In the wild they will hide all day, and if your Ball Python is healthy it should do the same. The solution, since your snake doesn’t bask like other snakes and lizards, is to use an Under Tank Heater (UTH). There are many types of UTH’s available today such as heat tape, heat cable or heat pads. All of these perform the same function and should be regulated with a thermostat. Do not use a heat rock with a Ball Python. It cannot be regulated properly with a thermostat and will burn your snake."

So basically what I'm getting at is that this article here, at least as I interpret it means that you should have a heat mat no question. Combining a heat mat with a ceramic bulb to keep ambient correct? Maybe possibly but I don't know and hence this is why I'm here posting this thread. I'm not wanting to spread misinformation as there is plenty of that going around.

- Joppsta

[Oxylepy]

It's not as simple as it seems. Sometimes the bulb will actually be a decent option, but most of the time the heat tape is the winner.

A bulb can work with deep substrate better than heat tape would. A bulb will also heat the air, and finally a bulb will rip the humidity out of your enclosure like nothing else, unless the bulb is fully inside the enclosure and you have little airflow (which will generate its own problems).

But, in general, go for heat tape, cover your enclosure to retain humidity, and don't put more than a couple inches of substrate it. Oh, and make sure the heat tape is controlled

All that said: I'd bet a lot of these people are either misting every day, or their snakes have bad sheds. Mising at all means you should consider doing something else to maintain the humidity. And having bad sheds means you should probably consider something to boost humidity.

A lot of people have come to the conclusion that belly heat (thermostatically controlled), and restricting airflow enough to maintain humidity are the way to go.

[Sauzo]

Yes and no. CHEs are basically just a dangerous version of a RHP. In Europe, they seem to love them with the metal cages inside the viv. The way they work is they heat anything under them which then said items give off heat which heats the air.

The problem with RHPs and CHEs is if your room is warm say 78-80F, then the CHE/RHP isn't going to do much. If you set the probe to the cool side at 80F, it will barely ever come on. If you set the probe on the hot side to say 90F, then the cool side is going to go up and you wont have a cool side. I ran into this problem with my RHP in my 4x2 Pro-Line. My BP would constantly push on the cool side trying to get out. Now I got her AP cage with just belly heat and she is happy and quiet.

Belly heat aka flexwatt, THG etc works awesome if you have a warm room. I personally only use flexwatt on all my AP cages but I keep my house fairly warm at 75F and the snake room usually is 78-80F. Flexwatt does nothing to heat the air.

Also if you use flexwatt, you shouldn't be more than 1/2" thick in substrate. A snake isn't stupid. It will sense the heat and push a nice little nest on top of it. All my snakes dig little nests and relax on the belly heat.

So bottom line is there is really no right or wrong answer. It boils down to can you give the snake a high 80s hot spot and a low 80 to high 70 cool spot? If that works with a CHE or RHP, then good. If that works with flexwatt, good.

As for a CHE being the safest, I call BS. A CHE inside the viv is the most dangerous. A RHP works the same as a CHE and can be touched and doesn't need a cage for it. It can also be splashed with water and be fine where as a CHE would probably explode. And flexwatt is just as safe as a RHP assuming you are using a quality t-stat for any heat source. The nice thing about flexwatt is the snake cant get to it at all.

[Joppsta]

Well, I have since been removed from the group for continuing to persist that heat mats are an acceptable solution with a thermostat. And also arguing against the fact ceramics are "the most safe". Actually pretty frustrating but as I'm not sure of the name and shame policy here I won't mention the name of the group.

I just find it funny how people choose to be wilfully ignorant. Heaven forbid you've been "doing it wrong" all these years. Every day is a school day after all and when it comes to animals it's them that suffers because of your ignorance.

[SKO]

This is why I am only a part of one group on FB. People are so nuts lol. I saw in a comment section on a video that "I had a ball python over five feet long that I fed goldfish to because he didn't like mice. Ball pythons only need to be fed 2-3x a year".

My eyes started bleeding.

[PitOnTheProwl]

Proper temperatures are whats needed, they do not "need" it to be belly heat.