Under Tank Heating

So my snakes currently live in a room that we (myself and my cousin) keep about 80-82 degrees and I want to add some under tank heating. I know next to nothing about what to buy and I was hoping to get some advise as to what I should buy. My girls are currently healthy, and my cousin doesn't think her snakes need any extra heating but I would like to give my girls the under tank heating.

Are you going to be using the UTH as a hot spot for your snakes? If you're not, there's really no need for it.

To answer your originial question though, I personally use THG heat tape which you can buy already wired from Reptile Basics. I use a Herpstat 2 thermostat to control how hot the UTH gets. A uncontrolled UTH will burn your snake so make sure you get a thermostat. You can also use a Hydrofarm thermostat which is cheaper.

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Yes I plan to use the uth for a hot spot to the tanks. I'm hoping that the hot spot will allow my girls to gain weight a bit faster and just stay as healthy as possible.

Your girl wont gain weight at all if she doesnt have proper temps, As for hydrofarm, Again i suggest agasint it, this is for plants... nor animals! they can be off by a few degrees, and dont have nearly the safety features as a Vivarium electronics/Herpstat by spyder robotics! For roughly double the price you are getting 1000000x quality thermostat! unless you need right away, yes use hydrofarm as temp but i wouldnt suggest using as a main one!

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Originally Posted by CORBIN911

Your girl wont gain weight at all if she doesnt have proper temps, As for hydrofarm, Again i suggest agasint it, this is for plants... nor animals! they can be off by a few degrees, and dont have nearly the safety features as a Vivarium electronics/Herpstat by spyder robotics! For roughly double the price you are getting 1000000x quality thermostat! unless you need right away, yes use hydrofarm as temp but i wouldnt suggest using as a main one!

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Can you explain that to me please? I have 15/22 of my snakes just in tubs in a room with temps set at 80-85 degrees. Done this for several years now and all of my snakes have grown just fine. With proper feeding they wil grow. YES do get a good thermostat, Herpstats and Vivarium Electronics are great to use!

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Originally Posted by ROACH

Can you explain that to me please? I have 15/22 of my snakes just in tubs in a room with temps set at 80-85 degrees. Done this for several years now and all of my snakes have grown just fine. With proper feeding they wil grow. YES do get a good thermostat, Herpstats and Vivarium Electronics are great to use!

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Those are proper temps.... If hes using a Heat tape for his heat, if he doesn't have high 80's for a "hot spot" his snake will not grow because it would become ill!

I know a few people who Just heat room with no hotspot's to 86 day/82 night but most people do not do that, and air temp/ambient is what there room is so they require the hotspot to let snake digest.

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Originally Posted by CORBIN911

Those are proper temps.... If hes using a Heat tape for his heat, if he doesn't have high 80's for a "hot spot" his snake will not grow because it would become ill!

I know a few people who Just heat room with no hotspot's to 86 day/82 night but most people do not do that, and air temp/ambient is what there room is so they require the hotspot to let snake digest.

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You dont need a hot spot if your ambient temps are around 80. Please stop telling people their snake will become ill if they dont have a hot spot. That's completely FALSE! Also, snakes dont need a hot spot for digestion. Again, please get your facts straight.

This isn't the first time you're giving people false information and it needs to stop. If you're just giving your opinion, don't tell people their animal is going to become sick.

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Originally Posted by CORBIN911

Your girl wont gain weight at all if she doesnt have proper temps, As for hydrofarm, Again i suggest agasint it, this is for plants... nor animals! they can be off by a few degrees, and dont have nearly the safety features as a Vivarium electronics/Herpstat by spyder robotics! For roughly double the price you are getting 1000000x quality thermostat! unless you need right away, yes use hydrofarm as temp but i wouldnt suggest using as a main one!

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Originally Posted by CORBIN911

Those are proper temps.... If hes using a Heat tape for his heat, if he doesn't have high 80's for a "hot spot" his snake will not grow because it would become ill!

I know a few people who Just heat room with no hotspot's to 86 day/82 night but most people do not do that, and air temp/ambient is what there room is so they require the hotspot to let snake digest.

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I would like to know where you think you gathered this information from.
My suggestion is to find a new source quickly.
As far as Hydrofarms, it is the same thermostat that Zoomed sells so your thought process there is off too.



FloridaAlicat you can get off a lot cheaper with THG tape and a good stat.
I am using a Helix on my tall rack, I have VEs on my other 3 racks and incubator, and hydrofarms on my hatchling and QT racks.
What ever you use for an UTH source you want to make sure its regulated.
You could also use back heat also.

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Originally Posted by Mr. Misha

You dont need a hot spot if your ambient temps are around 80. Please stop telling people their snake will become ill if they dont have a hot spot. That's completely FALSE! Also, snakes dont need a hot spot for digestion. Again, please get your facts straight.

This isn't the first time you're giving people false information and it needs to stop. If you're just giving your opinion, don't tell people their animal is going to become sick.

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Um my vet bills last yr would disagree with you!
In order for the ambient temp method to work properly you have to have a very tightly controlled room. Most do not have that much control over their room and have cold parts and such, on that case you do need a hot spot, perhaps not 90 degrees, but you do need hot spots, otherwise your keeping your snakes in the 70s and that will make them sick.
Also if you like feeding large meals this method may not work very well for either.


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Originally Posted by creatism

Um my vet bills last yr would disagree with you!
In order for the ambient temp method to work properly you have to have a very tightly controlled room. Most do not have that much control over their room and have cold parts and such, on that case you do need a hot spot, perhaps not 90 degrees, but you do need hot spots, otherwise your keeping your snakes in the 70s and that will make them sick.
Also if you like feeding large meals this method may not work very well for either.


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Just Pointing that we talking about Ambient temps in 80s not 70s... In winter time my thermostat is set on 95-105 degrees depends on temp in the room (my supper like to turn heat late) and that is temp on heat tape... and temp in rack oscillate 84 warm-78 degrees cold side... I never have any problems with my balls...

I was even advised that Building females Should be kept even colder around 82 degrees to decrease development of Slugs...

I keep Balls since 2009 never have Hot Spot in the full meaning of that world... Just keep temp gradient...

Never had sick snake either

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Originally Posted by creatism

Um my vet bills last yr would disagree with you!
In order for the ambient temp method to work properly you have to have a very tightly controlled room. Most do not have that much control over their room and have cold parts and such, on that case you do need a hot spot, perhaps not 90 degrees, but you do need hot spots, otherwise your keeping your snakes in the 70s and that will make them sick.
Also if you like feeding large meals this method may not work very well for either.

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No one said 70 but you. and I would still argue that.
I saw a frozen collection brought back to life AND never had a problem.
The house was vacant for a couple months, Texas winters are not super cold but the temps in the house were in the low 50s for this entire time with no power.
19 snakes all alive and still well.

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Originally Posted by creatism

Um my vet bills last yr would disagree with you!
In order for the ambient temp method to work properly you have to have a very tightly controlled room. Most do not have that much control over their room and have cold parts and such, on that case you do need a hot spot, perhaps not 90 degrees, but you do need hot spots, otherwise your keeping your snakes in the 70s and that will make them sick.
Also if you like feeding large meals this method may not work very well for either.


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I live in a house that was built back in the 40's, the room where I keep my snakes isn't the best for holding temps, but works good enough to keep them warm. I use a space heater set on a timer that holds temps between 80-85 year round. Ive done this for years now and so far haven't been to a vet...knock on wood. I may just be lucky, but it works.

Ok Your also twisting my words, I never said use a repitmed thermostat either =/


Secondly, most people dont live in a house with 80-85 (usually) maybe he does, I dont know


Most peoples room temp is mid to low 70's So requiring a Hot spot of 86+ would be preferable. IF you have an entire room adapted to heat from mid 80's year round and day round, that's fine I KNOW hot spots arn't 100% need'd always but then you need a higher ambient temp them most peoples live in. So if the average snake keeper as a pet has a snake in ambient room temps with no hotspot it'd likely not be the healthiest of animals.

Im not knocking or thrashing anyone's method, BUT i believe he needs a Hot spot of 85+ for his snake to be healthy IF hes not giving an entire room (which most people do not when they have 1 snake)

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Originally Posted by CORBIN911

Your girl wont gain weight at all if she doesnt have proper temps, As for hydrofarm, Again i suggest agasint it, this is for plants... nor animals!

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Originally Posted by CORBIN911

if he doesn't have high 80's for a "hot spot" his snake will not grow because it would become ill!

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Originally Posted by CORBIN911

Ok Your also twisting my words, I never said use a repitmed thermostat either =/

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I didn't twist anything you posted that was plain wrong. You must have missed my post so I decided to re-quote and question where you get your information?

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

I didn't twist anything you posted that was plain wrong. You must have missed my post so I decided to re-quote and question where you get your information?

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Well again im not here to argue, and SORRY I miss typed what I meant. Using hotspot as a main word, SURE if ambient temps are higher you dont need one! But its highly preferred to have a hot spot for most people with a "single" snake who doesnt not have a designated snake room.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...L._SL1500_.jpg

Again hydrofarms are for plants.

And I suggest against it, because i believe spending a little extra money for a Proper 100% quality thermostat designed for reptile keepers.

And again most snakes, IF left in a normal room temp (which would be an assumption based on the average quality with no more info given) will likely not thrive, if not given proper temps. But if we want to say your snake can do fine in low to mid 70's for its life without any complications ok we can go with that... the attacking here is quit funny when I was giving advice, USUALLY with giving proper advice you give warnings on the negative.

"If you don't have a thermostat for a UTH your snake will likely burn its self"

so if you don't give proper temps YES your snake will likely get ill, "you should give your snake a proper hot spot" (with nothing else seems uninformative and a common idea we'd all assume everyone knows)

So again SORRY for my 100% wrong misinformed information Mr misha. I should assume we all have 85+/- ambient rooms temps through our house, and yes we wouldnt need a "hotspot" as this is a very high ambient heat for the common house.

As I said I'm not here to argue, but to help. The info i gave is not false at all. If a snake doesn't have proper hot spot/heat yes it can/will become sick.

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Originally Posted by CORBIN911

Your girl wont gain weight at all if she doesnt have proper temps, As for hydrofarm, Again i suggest agasint it, this is for plants... nor animals! they can be off by a few degrees, and dont have nearly the safety features as a Vivarium electronics/Herpstat by spyder robotics! For roughly double the price you are getting 1000000x quality thermostat! unless you need right away, yes use hydrofarm as temp but i wouldnt suggest using as a main one!

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I have to disagree with you here. Personally, I really like the Hydrofarm ones. They are great if you cannot afford the big fancy ones; they do a fine job. I have two, and have never had an issue with them whatsoever. That doesn't mean it can't happen, but it could happen with any kind of electrical equipment we buy. That, unfortunately, is a risk we take.

The reason they can be off in degrees is because they turn off/on to adjust for temperature, rather than being on all the time. For me, 2 or 3 degrees Fahrenheit is not a big deal; I don't think it would be a big issue for my pets either. It is not as if it is swinging from 80F-90F when set for 85F; it's more like 83.5F-86.5F.

However, if you have the money, then yes, I'd go for thermostats specifically designed for reptiles. But, Hydrofarm do in a pinch :)

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Originally Posted by NH93

I have to disagree with you here. Personally, I really like the Hydrofarm ones. They are great if you cannot afford the big fancy ones; they do a fine job. I have two, and have never had an issue with them whatsoever. That doesn't mean it can't happen, but it could happen with any kind of electrical equipment we buy. That, unfortunately, is a risk we take.

The reason they can be off in degrees is because they turn off/on to adjust for temperature, rather than being on all the time. For me, 2 or 3 degrees Fahrenheit is not a big deal; I don't think it would be a big issue for my pets either. It is not as if it is swinging from 80F-90F when set for 85F; it's more like 83.5F-86.5F.

However, if you have the money, then yes, I'd go for thermostats specifically designed for reptiles. But, Hydrofarm do in a pinch :)

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That is fine, I only recommend something id stand by and I'm sorry for that, But Don't we all put our names/word on something we'd trust. Specially if from the US, the herpstats are MUCH cheaper, here for a basic its 180$+ vs 100$? In the US,

And the fluctuation inst what im talking about (yes i know its not proportional) but they are Accurate to 2 degrees (this is what i meant as I used the repti rs500 or w.e it is called about 1.5 years ago and it was even off by 1.5+/- Which yes isnt awful but again, You get what you paid for) and the herpstat/Ve-100 were made for reptiles and are meant to be accurate and precises...Aswell there saftey is a little off as they control from 68-95, But only turn on if reaching above 110.

I just use a separate thermometer, so that way if my Hydrofarm runs high or low, I can adjust it a degree up or down to dial the temperature in properly.

BTW, nice to see you still around here NH93…a lot of the "regulars" haven't been around much, myself included. Friendly faces are always good :)

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Originally Posted by Mephibosheth1

I just use a separate thermometer, so that way if my Hydrofarm runs high or low, I can adjust it a degree up or down to dial the temperature in properly.

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:gj::gj::gj: Solid information there.




So again tell me how my snakes wont grow if I don't run belly heat??
There is no attack when the information is wrong and YES unregulated belly heat WILL burn, doesn't take a scientist to figure that out.
Want pictures of a couple rescues??

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

:gj::gj::gj: Solid information there.

So again tell me how my snakes wont grow if I don't run belly heat??
There is no attack when the information is wrong and YES unregulated belly heat WILL burn, doesn't take a scientist to figure that out.
Want pictures of a couple rescues??

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Aswell why have 2 of one thing, or waste money on things not need'd with a Herpstat/vivarium... Again my option, You get what you pay for, if you want to by the cheap option Yes itll work but how long and how much comfort does it give??? When I used the reptitemp 500 i was IR gunning hot spot daily and always adjusting... Now that i have the Herpstat2, I temp gun 2-3times a month? just to make sure the Heat pannels on the Rack are working fine with no malfunctioning heat tape. Again Owning "certain brands" of thermostats are all opinion and self made decisions, Maybe some people dont mind doing bin/tank temp testing every other day, BUT with me, and many others paying 150-200$ for a Safe and secure item that protects and keeps my Thousands of dollars of investments safe! Thats the reassurance i Like, Even a 100 or 30$ snake, its a pet, its loved, And i purchased my first herpstat for my 119$ 109g normal ball python (first ever pet) and use repti500 until it came in. Again to feel SAFE, and give best possible chance for little to no errors for my pets.


If you look up, I apologized for not fully explaining, As iv said now 2-3 times with high ambient heat belly heat isnt need'd BUT AGAIN most people with 1-2 snakes dont run a "room temperature" of 82+ year round, Again a common house temp is 73-75 and winter 68-70... Again Sorry I didn't fully say "Unless ambient temps are mid to high 80's belly heat is not need'd if temps in room are lower belly heat will be required if your ambient dont reach again mid to high 80's"


And In no way it takes a scientist to figure it out, BUT what does it take? Who knows, because there are a serious amount of people who 1) don't use thermostat with UTH or 2) Are misinformed by pet stores saying plug this in for hot spot and (some say use carpet to avoid burn) because its a quit common occurrence on forums to see "whats wrong with snakes belly"

Like I Said i Apologize for not giving a full thorough explanation when explain to get a proper heat gradient for his snake.

I solve the ambient temp vs. belly heat with a heat lamp & dimmer switch.

UTHs (in my experience) don't produce enough ambient heat to get that 78-82 F ambient you need on the cool side. So I have my UTH, my heat lamp/dimmer combo, and my dual temp thermometer in the tank. I use the Hydrofarm to dial in the UTH (it's currently set at 100F and the hot side temp is at 92 F). I then use the lamp dimmer to dial in the ambient temperature to 78-82 F. Worked all winter, and even managed to get full-piece sheds with the Heat lamp going.

I haven't needed to worry about the temperatures in almost 3 months, as the thermometer tells me that the hot spot and ambient are both indicated.

You still haven't explained your statement of a snake not growing.
Im done on this post, its a lost cause.

FloridaAlicat, there are plenty of folks here that actually know what and why they do what they do. Read and use your best judgment.
Good luck.

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

You still haven't explained your statement of a snake not growing.
Im done on this post, its a lost cause.

FloridaAlicat, there are plenty of folks here that actually know what and why they do what they do. Read and use your best judgment.
Good luck.

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LOL, a snake will not grow if it doesn't have proper heat to live and thrive. Simple as that Its comment sense.... You and misha are trying to arguer no hot spots, when and if you have a AMBIENT temp of 85+/- SNAKE room/W.e room you'd like to call it.... Your belittling or accusing me for lack of knowledge is ironic when your giving false information or attempting to say a snake doesn't need proper temps.

I HIGHLY doubt a snake was left in 50 degree weather for 3 months and 0 of them had any complications, I know these animals are hearty and not fluffy as people say they are, but lets be serious here, that story seems a little far fetched.

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Originally Posted by CORBIN911

LOL, a snake will not grow if it doesn't have proper heat to live and thrive. Simple as that Its comment sense.... You and misha are trying to arguer no hot spots, when and if you have a AMBIENT temp of 85+/- SNAKE room/W.e room you'd like to call it.... Your belittling or accusing me for lack of knowledge is ironic when your giving false information or attempting to say a snake doesn't need proper temps.

I HIGHLY doubt a snake was left in 50 degree weather for 3 months and 0 of them had any complications, I know these animals are hearty and not fluffy as people say they are, but lets be serious here, that story seems a little far fetched.

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IF I wanted your opinion on what happened I would have asked you for it. I don't blow smoke, a slow warming was called for over almost 2 weeks.
Then again I know breeders that keep their rooms in the 80s year round.
I don't give false information because I don't open my mouth if I don't have any hands on experience.
Im not accusing you of anything that you are not saying yourself.



Now you did make me liar. Im done here PM me if you would like to know more information.

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

No one said 70 but you. and I would still argue that.
I saw a frozen collection brought back to life AND never had a problem.
The house was vacant for a couple months, Texas winters are not super cold but the temps in the house were in the low 50s for this entire time with no power.
19 snakes all alive and still well.

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Let's stop and think logically about this a second, if you are shooting for 80 ambient temp, correct? And have a drafty corner of the room what are the chances that it will be a warmer corner? Not like in that case all the cages in that area will be at what temp???


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Originally Posted by CORBIN911

LOL, a snake will not grow if it doesn't have proper heat to live and thrive. Simple as that Its comment sense.... You and misha are trying to arguer no hot spots, when and if you have a AMBIENT temp of 85+/- SNAKE room/W.e room you'd like to call it.... Your belittling or accusing me for lack of knowledge is ironic when your giving false information or attempting to say a snake doesn't need proper temps.

I HIGHLY doubt a snake was left in 50 degree weather for 3 months and 0 of them had any complications, I know these animals are hearty and not fluffy as people say they are, but lets be serious here, that story seems a little far fetched.

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Here is all I was saying...OP's very first sentence was "So my snakes currently live in a room that we (myself and my cousin) keep about 80-82 degrees and I want to add some under tank heating." And you said "Your girl wont gain weight at all if she doesnt have proper temps". I ask WHY? He said his room temps are 80-82 degrees, so it will be fine! And even if the room temps drop lower, properly fed they will grow!

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Originally Posted by Mephibosheth1

BTW, nice to see you still around here NH93…a lot of the "regulars" haven't been around much, myself included. Friendly faces are always good :)

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That just made my day :) thank you! (Been busy with moving + working + mother is ill... but I'll be around!!)