Soon To Be New Owner(I hope!) Questions.

I've only gotten a chance to skim this - I'm at work, you see - but you guys have been providing the greatest info! Thank you especially, Jo, not only for the very detailed answers, but the peek into how a snakes+kids household works. Mikey IS a cutie -- I hope at some point to be able to post Rhi+snake picks too!

Gonna read more in-depth after work, and probably have more questions. Thanks again, all of you, for putting up with two newbs like us!

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...just how, exactly, do you know little Julius Squeezer is hungry for another?

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Julius Squeezer... OY VEY. You see what I have to live with?!

Okay, again, and with feeling! I'm reading here and there on the forums and some people are saying that there should be 'breathing room' between the bottom of the enclosure and the UTH. Is this true, or is it safe to put the enclosure directly on top of the UTH? The enclosure in question is probably going to be sterilite.

And in that regards, as asked above, is it safe to set the UTH itself on metal? Or wannabe wood? Should I place a towel or something on the metal, then the UTH, then maybe another towel, and then the enclosure itself? I do not want to take the chance of starting a fire OR burning my snake!

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Originally Posted by LSama

Okay, again, and with feeling! I'm reading here and there on the forums and some people are saying that there should be 'breathing room' between the bottom of the enclosure and the UTH. Is this true, or is it safe to put the enclosure directly on top of the UTH? The enclosure in question is probably going to be sterilite.

And in that regards, as asked above, is it safe to set the UTH itself on metal? Or wannabe wood? Should I place a towel or something on the metal, then the UTH, then maybe another towel, and then the enclosure itself? I do not want to take the chance of starting a fire OR burning my snake!

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Once again, everything should be fine if used with a thermostat.

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Originally Posted by LSama

Okay, again, and with feeling! I'm reading here and there on the forums and some people are saying that there should be 'breathing room' between the bottom of the enclosure and the UTH. Is this true, or is it safe to put the enclosure directly on top of the UTH? The enclosure in question is probably going to be sterilite.

And in that regards, as asked above, is it safe to set the UTH itself on metal? Or wannabe wood? Should I place a towel or something on the metal, then the UTH, then maybe another towel, and then the enclosure itself? I do not want to take the chance of starting a fire OR burning my snake!

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The UTH should be attached directly to the bottom of the enclosure. And there should be a little bit of air between the UTH and the surface of whatever piece of furniture it is sitting on. It doesn't have to be much...but if you have the UTH sandwiched completely between the two, then it may cause a hazzard.

I have mine sitting on top of a lateral filing cabinet that has a really nice wood top. I have a cloth over the top of the wood to hopefully prevent any heat damage to the wood itself. I've also got some reflectix under my UTH to reflect the heat back up toward the enclosure, and further insulate the piece of furniture below it.

And it is controlled by a reliable thermostat...so should never get too hot to begin with. :)

I don't think I would put the uth directly on a metal surface. Not for fear of starting a fire, but because metal absorbs heat so readily. You'll be losing heat to the surface below rather than putting it in the enclosure. Like Judy said, put some reflectix down, then the heater, then the enclosure on top of that.

Next thing is, there's been a lot of discussion about fire danger. It would get hot enough to KILL your snake long before it got hot enough to start a fire! You really MUST use either a thermostat or rheostat to control your uth. The best way to handle it is to use a thermostat with the probe directly on the uth, and set to around 92 to 95 degrees fahrenheit. It can be adjusted from there to get the correct temps in the enclosure. This is the way most recommend setting up heat in a rack system, which consists of a wooden or plastic "bookshelf", and Sterlite (or other brand) tubs slid into the shelving. I currently have around 30 snakes housed exactly this way, with Sterlite tubs sitting on plastic or wooden shelves, and "Flexwatt heat tape" taped directly to the shelf, and the thermostat's probe taped directly to the heat tape.

Steve

More questions! Woo! I'm full of these!

In regards to heating: In personal experiences, do you guys usually get a UTH for the cool side, to bump it to 82 or just one to bump the hot side to 92, and let the residual heat 'warm' the cool side? I ask this because, as pointed out, the snake will be in the basement, and as it gets cool down here, I'm worried that one UTH is not going to do the trick.

And, if I DO have to get two, am I going to need a second thermostat to keep the UTH for the 'cool side' to that 82?

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Originally Posted by LSama

More questions! Woo! I'm full of these!

In regards to heating: In personal experiences, do you guys usually get a UTH for the cool side, to bump it to 82 or just one to bump the hot side to 92, and let the residual heat 'warm' the cool side? I ask this because, as pointed out, the snake will be in the basement, and as it gets cool down here, I'm worried that one UTH is not going to do the trick.

And, if I DO have to get two, am I going to need a second thermostat to keep the UTH for the 'cool side' to that 82?

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I only use one heat pad. Usually if the room temps are around 77 here, the temperature in the tank on the cool side will get to 83.

Thanks--I'll get one, and set the enclosure up(a great deal of this will be done tomorrow, in fact!), and if I don't have enough heat, I'll just buy another. Not that big of a deal. But I didn't want to buy two and find out I didn't need both of them.

For an enclosure that's 22 x 14 x 6.5, which of these would be a good size to get?

http://www.zoomed.com/html/under_tank_heaters.php

Because my 'hot' side should only be about 1/3 of the tank, yea?

Maybe you should get flexxwatt if you are using a tub???? I'm going to get it as soon as all my snakes get their fecals done and it's much cheaper and almost everyone here uses it.All you would need is one foot of 11" Flexwatt which should cost only 3.50. If you can't wire it, you can pay for it to be wired. It only costs about 8 bucks more. That one foot though, will last you for a very long time into adulthood. (Your snakes adulthood of course ) :P

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Originally Posted by bpkid

Once again, everything should be fine if used with a thermostat.

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Ummmmmmmmmm, not quite........


Because the UTHs generate heat (in order to heat your tub/tank ...duuuuh)
you need to provide air space underneath. Air space of at least 1/2" is good, but I found out the hard way that my cedar chest STILL got too hot (started to crack the wood from the heat)....so MY suggestion would be, that if you're going to put it on the metal trunk, that you either give it about 1.5" of air space (we have a couple of our tanks this way w/the plastic cane tips glued on as feet), or some sort of fireproof blanket/pad or covering over the lid of the trunk in addition to air space.

They (the UTHs) can get hot enough that if sitting on a combustible surface they could ignite something eventually.....Better to be safe and all that.

If the room is cold, your UTH isn't going to be able to compensate enough to keep the ambient temp of your snake housing warm enough.

Your UTH will boost the temp only about 10-15*. U can't expect it to be efficient to keep 1/2 the tank 95* when the room is only 50 or 60.....There are couple ways available...(when I got my first snake, MY roomie loooooooved the AC and it really buggered my snake, so I came up w/some workarounds.....) to get your temps right

1. Either keep your basement apt. /snake's "room" at least 70-80 (or so) so then the UTH is the "hot side" OR

2. a little more wattage UTH w/dimmer for cool side and then CHE/heatlamp or a 2nd UTH w/the thermostat for the hot side..


Hope this helps with some ideas!

Welcome to the site Ladies! :handshake


RuLyn


:oops: :oops: :oops: OOoooops, Sorry Judy...You all are more nimble of finger......*leaving to sit in the corner*