Under Tank Heaters?????

I have been warned by a family member (and he has had and bred snakes for a long time) to shy away from U.T.H's as they could fault and really injure or kill ur pet. Trying to get an idea of how many of u guys use them and how u feel about them. I think that if I use one it will greatly help my humidity prob. as opposed to my ceramic heater that does a wonderfull job with the temp but the humidity is too low. Any and all feedback welcome-Ty -Ray

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Originally Posted by scales owner

I have been warned by a family member (and he has had and bred snakes for a long time) to shy away from U.T.H's as they could fault and really injure or kill ur pet. Trying to get an idea of how many of u guys use them and how u feel about them. I think that if I use one it will greatly help my humidity prob. as opposed to my ceramic heater that does a wonderfull job with the temp but the humidity is too low. Any and all feedback welcome-Ty -Ray

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Vast majority here probably use belly heat of some sort...UTH's, heat cable, Flexwatt. I use heat cable in my adult racks and flexwatt on my hatchling rack.

Yes they can get really hot and cook a snake... IF they are NOT used with a thermostat or dimmer at least!!
The Thermostat to control the output of heating devices is the MOST important piece of snake keeping equipment there is!

You should always try to go with belly heat (aka under the enclosure heat sources such as UTH pads and Flexwatt heat tape) for most snakes since they naturally get their warmth from surfaces... not from ambient air or sunlight except in very few cases. UTHs are great when used properly with a controller. Your friend obviously never used a thermostat, had a UTH burn out, and swore off them without even trying to control them.
The instructions on most pads are out of date and don't even consider regulation methods. :)

Ty anybody else????

If kept with a thermostat, the likely hood of the flexwatt or UTH failing is low (only if you keep the t-stat probe directly on the UTH!).
Even if it were to short out and cook your snake, if your checking on your snakes regularly hopefully you would be able to catch it or the snake would thermoregulate to the cool side of the enclosure.
Back-heat is another idea and is often used for baby racks.

When it comes to heating choices I'd also say buy quality and buy from a quality supplier. Of all the corners you can cut when making purchasing choices for a snake's enclosure, I really don't think the heating decision is the place to worry about the pennies. Buy good quality stuff, from a trusted supplier, use a tstat and use it according to the specs for that piece of equipment.

I use flexwatt on my tanks with now problems as long as they are tied into a thermostat. I keep an extra stat on hand that is wired up and ready to go incase one of the other ones go down.

Right now I only have UTHs for my Kenyans, but after reading this and a few other posts I was going to get them for the rest of my snakes. I had a quick question about the thermostat though: How exactly is the best (opinionated) way to set up the UTH, tstat,probe combo?

Wow happy with all the feedback please keep them coming ty.:D

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Originally Posted by Daemonicus

Right now I only have UTHs for my Kenyans, but after reading this and a few other posts I was going to get them for the rest of my snakes. I had a quick question about the thermostat though: How exactly is the best (opinionated) way to set up the UTH, tstat,probe combo?

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I foil tape the UTH to the bottom of my rack, tub, tank (whatever you are using and put the thermostat probe right on top of the UTH.

Then I take my thermometer probe and foil tape it directly over the hotspot on the inside of the enclosure and put the actual thermometer on the coolside.