Providing heat?

I was reading my copy of The Savannah Monitor Lizard and I got to the section where it talks about heating. I was shocked to see it said to never use a heat sorce that does not also provide light. I continued reading and could not find any explination as to why. My entire life I've used a CHE/UTH combination to provide heat for all of my reptiles, and another source for the light depending on the reps needs. I use the CHE for the basking heat, and combined with a UTH the overall heat gradiant has always been in the proper range. Heck I've used this set up on my iguanas thier whole lives and they both are 7 years old next month hehe, fit and healthy according to thier doc.

Does anyone know why they would say to never use a heat source that doesn't also provide a light?

Thanks for the help!

I have never heard that, nor would I have any explanation as to why. I do use under the tank heat mats, but they are running with thermostats, just like how you would have it with snakes. As well, I do have heat and UV lights running also.

Sounds like we have the same set up. Good makes me feel better. I've been keep reptiles for 20 years and this is the first I've ever read about that!

Thanks Bsash!

There is no way to get proper basking temps for monitors with UTHs...

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Originally Posted by Gregg Madden

There is no way to get proper basking temps for monitors with UTHs...

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he's not trying to.....he is using the UTH to create substrate temp and help with ambient...


His basking is provided by a CHE.

I'm not trying to get a basking spot with the under the tank heat mat, just need a little one to keep the substrate a little warmer. All of my basking and UV is through lights.

The idea of not heating the soil substrate is that if the monitor wants to thermoregulate and provide itself with cooler temperatures it can dig down.

Monitors are basking animals, no kind of regular heater is needed.

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Originally Posted by allergenic

Monitors are basking animals, no kind of regular heater is needed.

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:gj:
If you have your monitors set up properly with a good basking area in a proper caging unit, you will not need to heat up the substrate from the bottom with a UTH or heat mat to get proper ambient air temps...

And like allergenic said, you want the ground to be cool... This is how they thermoregulate... They need many different gradients to regulate their body temperature throughout the day...

What is your cage set-up???

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gregg Madden

:gj:
If you have your monitors set up properly with a good basking area in a proper caging unit, you will not need to heat up the substrate from the bottom with a UTH or heat mat to get proper ambient air temps...

And like allergenic said, you want the ground to be cool... This is how they thermoregulate... They need many different gradients to regulate their body temperature throughout the day...

What is your cage set-up???

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I run heat pads on my ackie setup because if I don't, in the winter my foot deep substrate will reach temps in the 50's regardless that the ambient is in the 80's-90's. Heat generated by lights or overhead sources only force heat downward about 6 inches into moist soil. Since ideal temps for most lizards is no lower than 70's....I would say that giving them such cold substrate is a bad idea....and yes they seek it out if given a chance.

I didn't intend to cause any confusion here, I just wonder if anyone knew why the book would say what is does.

As far as my set up, it just depends on which reptile. My iguanas and BPs have a UTH to help keep the ambiant temp up at night. For all my reptiles I use CHE to provide the basking spot heat and over all temp. For lights I use different repti glo depending on each individual needs.

the set up I have for my Savannah is a 3x3x3 foot enclosure made of wood with a light bar and 2 CHE with about 19in of substrate. The enclosure is smaller because he's not quite a foot in size yet.