uth che or both in a glass tank.

Ok so I have a 20 long tank that I'm currently maintaining and ambient temp of 82 with surface temps of 86ish. I do have a uth that I'm not using till my new thermostat gets here
But my main question is on the issue of belly heat and their need to regulate their body temp. Some folks say if the general temp is good belly heat isn't needed. Some say it is. But it seems to me if they need to be able to regulate their temps then they need a cool end and a hot spot rather than just a general temp. Also stick with the size uth recommend for the tank or go bigger? My current uth is for a 30/40 so it takes up about half of my 20L tank. I will be using a thermostat. Thanks for your advice!

check this out:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-With-Pictures!

Thanks I have seen that and used a lot of that info when I set him up. But I had to turn off the uth and only use the che temporarily.
So it's not so much how to question so much as what's the best way to do it. I get that the uth will not heat the tank and since my cool end temps are to cool I'll probably need the che. So I guess my question is weather or not to use the uth or just maintain a general temp with the che.

Either or will work. I've done CHE only and CHEs with UTH and both ways work. It really depends on the warmth of the room the cages are in. If they are in a 75+ room, then you can probably just get away with a UTH, otherwise if you want to use the UTH, then you will need to lamp dimmer a CHE to get the ambient to around 78-80. I haven't used UTHs in a very long time as I never really liked them but I recently rigged my 2 glass temporary cages with them on Herpstats and use a CHE as well on really low to just get the ambient to 78-80. The room I keep them in is around 77. I run just a RHP for my 6' Colombian girl in a Pro Line cage and it works fine too and set it with a Herpstat to 80 cool side.

Also how cold is the cool end? Something like 78 would still be fine. All my girls seem to like it around 78-80 on the cool end.

Well right now there is no cool end. It's 84 ambient with surface temps around 86. When I realized I had a problem with the uth the cool end was below 70. But it was cold outside and i have a cold house in general. Im thinking I need to do both. It's warming up here and bit so I think I'll fire up the uth with the new thermostat and see what the cool side does. I do have the che on a dimmer also.

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Yeah 70 is way too cool. I would personally just run the UTH on the hot side and set it to whatever the snake likes. I found some like it around 88-90 and some like my big Colombian girl likes her hot side around 86. Then I would just use the CHE on the dimmer and adjust it to keep the cool end around 78. That will give the snake a good gradient and not turn the hot side into an oven with the UTH and CHE. Then just fine adjust as needed until you see the snake thermos regulating.

I guess that's where some of my confusion is. I had always heard they need belly heat and needed the variance to regulate their body temps. Then I hear some folks say they don't need belly heat and a general temp in the whole enclosure is fine.

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All that matters is that your snake has a proper thermal gradient. I believe you can use UTHs, RHPs or CHEs effectively. I primarily use UTHs but I boost the ambient temps for my carpet pythons with IR heat bulbs. It's warming up here too so I've turned the heat lamps down really low. I plan to switch to RHPs exclusively when I order their new enclosures.

What's RHP stand for? Radiant heat ...?

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by DaNeal31

What's RHP stand for? Radiant heat ...?

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My bad D. RHP= radiant heat panel. IMO they're probably the most efficient heat source.

http://www.reptilebasics.com/rbi-radiant-heat-panels