Vivarium UTH

What's the best way to set up a Heat mat in a vivarium? Am I right in saying that underneath the vivarium it won't transfer much belly heat because of the 18mm material in between? I use newspaper as a substrate. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

For one of my herp cages I have a zoomed uth and it passes through 1/2 inch of PVC and .5-1 inch of care fresh just fine. Another option is either a Kane heat mat or a big apple herp intellitemp heat mat which both can be use inside the enclosure.

It should be underneath and NOT inside as it has a large chance of burning the snake. Not only that, but there will be a bunch of unnecessary wires in the cage as well. I have mine underneath and set at 90 and its just fine, the snakes are always warm.

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Originally Posted by Katan

It should be underneath and NOT inside as it has a large chance of burning the snake. Not only that, but there will be a bunch of unnecessary wires in the cage as well. I have mine underneath and set at 90 and its just fine, the snakes are always warm.

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Kane and intellitemp mats are made so you can use them inside the enclosure. I even posted about using them inside and everyone gave me the thumbs up to do so. They have just as much chance of burning a snake or other herp as one that goes under. The only way its going to burn is if your not using a quality thermostat. With the wires they would be in the way if your using a glass tank and don't know how to drill holes in glass. I have Kane mats and intellitemp mats in my vision cage, I drilled holes for the wires to go through and plugged the hole and you can barely notice them. Also they help with the ambient air temp being on the inside, not a lot but enough to notice.