All about UTH

I've been using a 150 watt Heat lamp to do my heating for Hera and I have seen so many people recommend UTHs. Well I have several questions before I go and consider getting one.

How do you know what size to get? I can guess that you would only want it to cover 1/2 to 1/3 of the tank since having it cover the entire tank will give to heat gradient. Is that about right?

How safe are they? I have heard that if done improperly they can seriously burn the snake, is this a common occurrence and how do you prevent it?

What type to get? I have seen something called Flexwatt mentioned a few times, is that a UTH or something else? Will it work for tanks or is more suited for rack setups? Are there any particular brands to stay away from?

How do you control the temps it generates? I have seen people mention that you need a thermostat or a rheostat with them to control the temps. How does that work? Do any UTHs come with them?

And lastly how is a UTH with humidity? I know that BPs benefit more from belly heat but will using a UTH increase or decrease humidity?

Sorry for the flood of questions, but I trust you guys' judgment more than me just blindly searching around on the net.:bow:

well first.. its gonna be really hard to maintain ambient heat with a uth alone depending on the size of the tank.. with a tub uth can easily keep temps good but aquariums are soo hard..

and yes flexiwatt could be used with a tank and its not a uth per say its heat tape but a uth would be better simply because it adheres to the bottom and it doesnt have to be wired it comes ready to go

and you want to use a thermostat i bought a reostat a week ago and it is a waist of money.. it takes a few days to get set right just because its a trial and error process turn the knob up wait turn it down wait.. not too mention its really unreliable you are much better off buying a thermostat

and it wont hurt your snake they are fairly safe to use.. what burns your snake is heat rocks.. its possible but with a thermostat you will be fine

and uths dont mess with your humidity too much at all.. nothing compared to a lamp.. i actually move my snakes water bowl partially over my uth when the humidity is low

and if you have a tank the only way you can really maintain a good gradient and ambient heat is 2 uths (1 under each hide) hooked up to a thermostat.. i have the herpstat II and 2 zoo med uths but i have a fairly large tank so its needed if you have a smaller tank then maybe a single heater is doable.. but yea if you do buy a uth you wont regret.. they beat lamps no matter how you look at it

hope this helped good luck

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Originally Posted by Stubean15

well first.. its gonna be really hard to maintain ambient heat with a uth alone depending on the size of the tank.. with a tub uth can easily keep temps good but aquariums are soo hard..

and yes flexiwatt could be used with a tank and its not a uth per say its heat tape but a uth would be better simply because it adheres to the bottom and it doesnt have to be wired it comes ready to go

and you want to use a thermostat i bought a reostat a week ago and it is a waist of money.. it takes a few days to get set right just because its a trial and error process turn the knob up wait turn it down wait.. not too mention its really unreliable you are much better off buying a thermostat

and it wont hurt your snake they are fairly safe to use.. what burns your snake is heat rocks.. its possible but with a thermostat you will be fine

and uths dont mess with your humidity too much at all.. nothing compared to a lamp.. i actually move my snakes water bowl partially over my uth when the humidity is low

and if you have a tank the only way you can really maintain a good gradient and ambient heat is 2 uths (1 under each hide) hooked up to a thermostat.. i have the herpstat II and 2 zoo med uths but i have a fairly large tank so its needed if you have a smaller tank then maybe a single heater is doable.. but yea if you do buy a uth you wont regret.. they beat lamps no matter how you look at it

hope this helped good luck

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Great Advice here!!!^^^^

I agree with everything above. Using a UTH will help the humidity since lamps dry it out, so there are only positives with using a UTH.

http://www.zilla-rules.com/products/...controller.htm
I am running the 1000wt for my 55

http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...Heatinghttp://
with the 16w medium

Thanks so much for the info guys! And thanks Pit for the links!

Btw, if I have a 55 gallon tank, should I get the 55 gallon UTH? will that cover the entire thing? and would a UTH and a basking lamp work for good temp gradient?

***Everybody has their own opinion's, and ways of doing things. So don't flame me, because most everybody on here uses UTH's***

I hate UTH's, they only raised my humidity with a rather large water bowl sitting on top on the uth, and the temp had to be turned up higher than it needed to be. You pretty much have to have a thermostat, unless your room temps stays 100% level 24/7-365 day, otherwise you will find yourself adjusting your rheostat every time you walk in the room. Also, mine never really raised my ambient temps, and I had to use a lamp to raise them. So what's the point of even using the UTH?

I'm sticking with my ceramic heat emitters, and my repti-foggers on timers to keep my humidity up.

But like I said..."To each is it's own". If you want to try a UTH, go ahead. I may have just had bad luck with my experience. :confused:

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Originally Posted by Cody John Steele

***Everybody has their own opinion's, and ways of doing things. So don't flame me, because most everybody on here uses UTH's***

I hate UTH's, they only raised my humidity with a rather large water bowl sitting on top on the uth, and the temp had to be turned up higher than it needed to be. You pretty much have to have a thermostat, unless your room temps stays 100% level 24/7-365 day, otherwise you will find yourself adjusting your rheostat every time you walk in the room. Also, mine never really raised my ambient temps, and I had to use a lamp to raise them. So what's the point of even using the UTH?

I'm sticking with my ceramic heat emitters, and my repti-foggers on timers to keep my humidity up.

But like I said..."To each is it's own". If you want to try a UTH, go ahead. I may have just had bad luck with my experience. :confused:

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I've also been considering a Repti fogger at some point, just for easier control of humidity. What do you think of them? OH and is it ok to handle her during a shed? Her eyes just turned opaque yesterday and I'm still holding her even though I know she has an increased chance to bite me, is this ok?

The repti-foggers are AWESOME!. But......a little overkill for most tanks, even for a 40 or 50 gallon on the LOWEST setting. So I have mine on timers. ( On 1 hour - Off 3 hours ) 24 hours a day. $60 for the fogger & $20 for an LCD screen timer from The Home Depot. Plus, you are only suppose to run Distilled water in them to keep them from getting deposit build up. Lastly, they will drop your temps by 5-7 degrees or so when they cut on.

So they are expensive to start a setup with, and to run (buying distilled water for them) But... you never have to worry about humidity.

It's just about whatever you want to do.

Ohhh, and the shed thing. I have no clue if you are suppose to hold them or not while they are shedding. They will sometimes be a little upset about being bothered during their shed, but if you aren't getting tagged. I wouldn't worry about it.

Ahh ok, I didn't know about them dropping temps or needing distilled water. That kinda turns me away from them.

Well you don't have to worry about it dropping your temps unless you have your Ceramic heat emitter, UTH, or just plain lamp bulb on a thermostat to keep the temps from falling when the fogger cuts on.

Well you could run tap water in them, I've seen reviews of guys running it, and they said the foggers normally lasted 4-6 months running all the time with tap water. I don't know the life expectancy using the recommend distilled water.

I'll keep it in mind, although I am still looking at getting a UTH. If I don't like it I can always return it.

Alright, you will probably like the UTH...I think I might just be too picky.

Anyway, if you get one. Post an update and tell us what you think!

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Originally Posted by Cody John Steele

Alright, you will probably like the UTH...I think I might just be too picky.

Anyway, if you get one. Post an update and tell us what you think!

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Will do!

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Originally Posted by Cody John Steele

Well you could run tap water in them, I've seen reviews of guys running it, and they said the foggers normally lasted 4-6 months running all the time with tap water. I don't know the life expectancy using the recommend distilled water.

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You could always take it out during your tank cleanings and run vinegar through it to clean out the deposits, you just have to make sure you get it rinsed out good with clean water? I only use distilled water for their bowls anyway. I have thought about a fogger for the 55 to up the humidity a little more during sheds.

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Originally Posted by thedarkwolf25

Btw, if I have a 55 gallon tank, should I get the 55 gallon UTH? will that cover the entire thing? and would a UTH and a basking lamp work for good temp gradient?

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I dont see why you couldnt use the big one, I just got the medium instead because I got it for like $12 from a local pet store that was going out of business. I also have a heat emitter on the hot side but it is plugged into the controller as well;)

[QUOTE=Cody John Steele;1464173You pretty much have to have a thermostat, unless your room temps stays 100% level 24/7-365 day, otherwise you will find yourself adjusting your rheostat every time you walk in the room. Also, mine never really raised my ambient temps, and I had to use a lamp to raise them. So what's the point of even using the UTH?[QUOTE]

The Zilla controller has a probe and temp setting on it, have mine set at just about 97 to keep the glass at 93 to 95. I also run a heat emitter just because we do keep our house cold with the a/c at 65 to 70.

My girls will lay on the UTH when they get cold.

If a heat lamp has it's own dimmer switch in it does it benefit from the thermostat?

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Originally Posted by thedarkwolf25

If a heat lamp has it's own dimmer switch in it does it benefit from the thermostat?

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all a dimmer does is control the amount of current going to the lamp, has nothing to do with temperature, besides less current = less heat output. but it doesn't care if the cage is 80 degree or 100 degree just keep putting out that same output. not that they can't work, but it takes some tweaking and variables can't be changed too much.

a thermostat measure temps and adjust accordingly, it regulates the power based on what temp the cage is at. much better system.

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Originally Posted by OhhWatALoser

all a dimmer does is control the amount of current going to the lamp, has nothing to do with temperature, besides less current = less heat output. but it doesn't care if the cage is 80 degree or 100 degree just keep putting out that same output. not that they can't work, but it takes some tweaking and variables can't be changed too much.

a thermostat measure temps and adjust accordingly, it regulates the power based on what temp the cage is at. much better system.

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Ok, thanks a bunch!

I just built a rack for my 22 snakes and I switched over to 4" heat tape and I have had no issues with a hot spot or humidity. Now when I had just my undertank heaters I had more issues with humidity being to low unless the water bowl was right on it. I love using heat tape so far but I've only had it for a couple weeks

Hi,

There are many ways to get the temps and humidity where you want them but there is also a lot that can be said for re-phrasing.

I'll put my alternative version in red inside your post to illustrate. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cody John Steele

***Everybody has their own opinion's, and ways of doing things. So don't flame me, because most everybody on here uses UTH's***

I hate UTH's, they only raised my humidity with a rather large water bowl sitting on top on the uth, and the temp had to be turned up higher than it needed to be.

They solved the problem of my lamp leaching out the humidity and I was able to use a smaller waterbowl and ditch the fogger as a result. I did need to adjust my thermostat as with every new heater though

You pretty much have to have a thermostat, unless your room temps stays 100% level 24/7-365 day, otherwise you will find yourself adjusting your rheostat every time you walk in the room. Also, mine never really raised my ambient temps, and I had to use a lamp to raise them. So what's the point of even using the UTH?

As with every heat source you need to use a thermostat unless your room temps are extremely stable.

I'm sticking with my ceramic heat emitters, and my repti-foggers on timers to keep my humidity up.

But like I said..."To each is it's own". If you want to try a UTH, go ahead. I may have just had bad luck with my experience. :confused:

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But, as you correctly said, your current setup is working for you and the animal which is really the only thing that matters. :gj:

How you get there is really not that important.

dr del