hot rock+ reptibark

So tell me if anyone objects to this. Right now I have a 10 gallon tank with an UTH, but the air temps are 70-75 about. I am currently building a cage 35 inches tall, so the air temp would probably be a problem. I have decided not to use a hotrock, but to just go with a ceramic heat emitter. I would be losing a basking spot, but at least the air would be warmer. Should I put some sort of cage over the heat emitter so he can't touch it? Oh yeah, I am also going to have an UTH on his new cage.

what is the temps at the bottom of the tank where your snake is ???, I might be wrong but air temps dont need to be very high as long as the temp is correct where the snake lays and hides.

On the warm side of my girls (cleo) tank is is 90 deg on the floor, and 78 deg on the cool side. I don't use anything other than the natural light in the room anymore because the heat lamp was drying things out way to much

Any time a heat source, like a emiter or a bulb is inside the cage it needs a screened cover to prevent the snake from touching it as it will be very hot on the surface.

Also if you like the look a hot rock provides it can be subed with a flat piece of slate or lime stone and the rock can be placed over part of the UTH to warm the rock a little.

IMHO hot rocks shouldn't be sold at all, but are because inexperienced people will often fall for the sales talk (which, of course makes for profit to the retailer).

I wouldn't use them for any reptile as it risks the animal getting a horrible burn. I use UTH's for some of my snakes but ceramic heaters enclosed in safety guards and on a thermostat for my boids...like this.

They work really well and they give the snake a basking spot if he wants it too, plus there's no danger of him getting burnt.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...2/PICT0055.jpg

(That's a much younger Byron showing off just after he'd had a shed:D )

OK.. hot rocks have No means to regulate their temperatures. And yes, I know that there are a few that do have a rheostat; but they have an irregular surface, thus there is uneven heat distribution on the surface.
Reptiles have no porous, feely-type skin like we do; thus, they cannot feel themselves baking to deth.
When I was a kid, I had an iggy; he ended up burning on a hot rock. You could see the irregular burns on his chest; from the hot spots on the rock..

is this 35" tall cage for a bp? for a big cage you might want to look into radiant heat panels sold by helix and pro products. also you might want to run 2 tstats one for the hot side and one for the cool side, it's going to take a lot of heat and control (thermostats) to keep a cage that big warm enough.


vaughn

What watt ceramic heater would be nescissary for heating a 16x16x35" cage? It's not quite that big, because the bottom is a square with a corner cut off and the top 15" slope into a triangle into a point in the back, so I would guess it's about 4780 cu. in., or 2.75 cu. ft. Right now, I have a ZOO-MED rh4 undertank heater, but my snake likes climbing, so I want to get the air temps up more.

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Originally Posted by justcage

ANY heat producing product for a reptile cage has to have some type of control device on it.. No matter if it is a bulb, mat or coal stove:)

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i know, the last part i was just messin with shelby:P :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by olaf

What watt ceramic heater would be nescissary for heating a 16x16x35" cage? It's not quite that big, because the bottom is a square with a corner cut off and the top 15" slope into a triangle into a point in the back, so I would guess it's about 4780 cu. in., or 2.75 cu. ft. Right now, I have a ZOO-MED rh4 undertank heater, but my snake likes climbing, so I want to get the air temps up more.

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It will really be hard to say what wattage you need. Every cage is different and will react differently to a heating element in some aspect.. I would go one size larger than you think and then jus have the thermostat control the temps...

I think that this is for a room, but would something like this work, or would it be too powerful? It's got a thermostat built in, so that might be helpful.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=4100060