Heating pads or Heating lamps?

I'm tryin to get my snake tank set up better than it is and I am just wondering whats better Heating pads or lamps? I'd like to know what everyone else uses also...

Heat pads for sure. But if you have low temps, then there is nothing better than radiant heat panels.

In the summer I will shut her light off frequently, but now that winter is here I find myself always using the heating lamp. I'm in Maine, so a UTH isn't enough to keep her ambient temps up.

She loves her UTH, takes a nap on it after every meal.

I voted heat pads. I use only heat pads in my bp and cali king tank. Although i use both in my rtb cage to keep the ambient temps up. The heat pads alone wont do it for her large tank.

Heat lamps will suck humidity out of a tank making it nearly impossible to keep the humidity at an acceptable level.

Belly heat aids in digestion, in my opinion.

But, you must use a reptile thermostat with belly heat to prevent burns.

i use both.. because if you just use the lamps.. when you shut it off at night the temps get way too low... well at least the ones in mine do...

and if you use just heat pad it wont get the temp hot enough.. but be carful when using them.. if you don't have something fairly thick in between your snake and the heat pad it can burn your snake..

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Originally Posted by Andrew24

if you don't have something fairly thick in between your snake and the heat pad it can burn your snake..

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It shouldn't be able to burn the snake if it is controlled with a thermostat, which it should always be.
Using substrate to regulate the snakes temperature is a no-no.

In tanks i use a heat mat on the warm side and an adjustable lamp(red bulb) on the cool side. Too cold up in the northeast for just a UTH. My room temps are 73 deg. I use a red bulb and my day/night cycle is produced from natural room lighting.

I use an Under Tank Heater and a ceramic heat emitter becuase the temperatures fluctuate to much in the old apartment that I live in. It gets very chilly at night. I am considering getting an addtional heat source to heat the room that my snake is in.

i use a uth during the winter and nothing in the summer i live in phonixe az and my house temp is 85 so i have found that my snakes soke durring the summer if i dont just shut down the heat. i dont breed so i dont know what babys would do if i didnt have heat on them.

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Originally Posted by joshy171

i dont breed so i dont know what babys would do if i didnt have heat on them.

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Nothing if it was 85 degrees, they'd be just fine :)

i voted for heating pad, but i do use both in the winter to keep ambient tumps up in my tubs. but the majority of the year i just use UTH's

I live in Chicago, heat lamps and moss in the hides. Works fine. Just my two cents.:)

Depends on what kind of enclosures you have and what your room temperature is. All my enclosures are PVC Animal Plastics and are heated by radient heat panels on a thermostat. I don't use UTHs or heat mats because they're unnecessary to me. I just keep my ambient temperatures at 80

Heating pad all the way.

Whatever works best. I can't imagine using just a lamp. On the other hand, I can't justify using only belly heat in a room that's under a certain temperature.

At a certain point you have to make a decision. You either a) Heat the room. Or b) use two heat sources. If you just have one Ball Python, a working setup would have overhead heat to control the ambient temperature, and belly heat to supply a hot spot.

I would say uth if I had to choose. I don't use either though... I use ambient temps for my snakes.