belly heat vs back heat

what do you use and why?

belly heat... helps with digestion

I use belly heat. Belly heat helps Ball Pythons digest their food.

Digestion

I'm using both and both seem to work fine for me.

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Originally Posted by temec

belly heat... helps with digestion

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This is my belief as well!

Back heat for the hatchlings. Belly heat for all others.

I use back heat for all my females specifically. I do have a belly heat rack that I use to put any large BPs that show a preference for stretching out.

My rationalization is:

I put the males and females with each other interchangably, hence my racks all of them except for one..have back heat. The reason for this is, I would not want to miss a laying and have the eggs fried because it got too hot.

The animals do not show any problems digesting with only back heat provided (sheesh..I gotta go clean out some more tubs tonight!):rofl:

Dual side radiant heat. :gj:
Warms the bottom and sides of the back part of the tubs.

I use both and they seem to make no difference. Most of my racks are belly heat which is what most use for BP's.

If properly controlled I see little to no difference.

I have both. Im my vision rack I have belly heat, but my handmade rack has back heat. I actually prefer the back heat it seems to keep the snakes warmer IMO.

i use both. from what i gather large tubs have issues with back heat and also does cold rooms.
but back heat is cheaper to run and tends to keep a more even heat. it also tends to be warmer on the ambient temp side.
this also depends on how nicely the tubs fit in the rack.

Back heat all the way! I dislike belly heat because of problems ive had with it in the past. Just not worth it to me :)

Belly heat. When i used a glass cage i used both to keep the air temps up in the 80s

belly heat, loved by snakes.

Both, but more back. I have a four cage sliding glass setup, it has lights that heat from above but it also heats the bottom of each cage. I hope this makes sense. My next cage is going to be a Jason's Jungle rack.
http://www.jasons-jungle.com/racks.html

I don't use racks, but I use both in my RBI cages. Belly heat to create a warm spot, and back heat to keep the ambient in the right range.

I use belly heat. The ambient air temps in the tubs can have small differences with just back heat. The belly heat provides more of a temperature range. For example the room temp is 75 the tub ambient air temp is 75 cool side 80 warm side with a belly heat of 90. If you use back heat the snake will not be able to access a larger thermal gradient. Also, for cooler rooms I prefer belly heat.

I guess this depends on what you are looking for. Temperature stability or larger thermal gradient. I prefer the latter for my applications.

I have one rack and it came with back heat. I think that belly heat would probably be better for cold climates because you wouldn't have to keep the ambient room temperature as high.

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Originally Posted by Hyper Joe

I use belly heat. The ambient air temps in the tubs can have small differences with just back heat. The belly heat provides more of a temperature range. For example the room temp is 75 the tub ambient air temp is 75 cool side 80 warm side with a belly heat of 90. If you use back heat the snake will not be able to access a larger thermal gradient. Also, for cooler rooms I prefer belly heat.

I guess this depends on what you are looking for. Temperature stability or larger thermal gradient. I prefer the latter for my applications.

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Why does the animal not have a higher thermal gradient? I would imagine that, laying up against the side of the tub with back heat *which ball pythons very much tend to do since they like to squish against things*, they are still very much receiving the benefits of said thermal gradient. My temps, on the very side of the tub, reach 90 degrees ( i can even take a photo if you dont believe this) The entire lenth of the tub on that half. ( i have sideways racks, in 32qt tubs with two rows of 11" flexwatt running down the back on each)

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Originally Posted by mooingtricycle

Why does the animal not have a higher thermal gradient? I would imagine that, laying up against the side of the tub with back heat *which ball pythons very much tend to do since they like to squish against things*, they are still very much receiving the benefits of said thermal gradient. My temps, on the very side of the tub, reach 90 degrees ( i can even take a photo if you dont believe this) The entire lenth of the tub on that half. ( i have sideways racks, in 32qt tubs with two rows of 11" flexwatt running down the back on each)

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Hi Alicia,

Nice to meet you =)

I do not disagree with you about the back side getting to a certain temp.
But the below is why I consider the thermal gradient difference...

1- Due to surface area and the BP contact with that surface area is less than if it were belly heat. A 32 quart is 6" high 15" wide which is 90 square inches on the back if used the long way. If you use the same 11' flexwatt as belly heat that would be 165 square inches. Now if you use it the wide way (your said method) that is still only 126 square inches of surface area.

2- Contact to surface area and BP. Normally BPs will lay on the heat with most of their ventral scales(belly) exposed to the belly heat. This is the fastest and easiest way to warm up. This is why colder rooms is better to use belly heat. If they are trying to warm up to a side wall only a portion of their side will be in contact with the wall. They have less surface area touching the heat and heat rises so doesn't help the BP warm up any faster.

3- This is the reason most incubators use wall/side heat (less temp differences/gradient)

*See diagram (hope it works. still kind of new to this forum and how to do things)

http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/v...ellyvsback.jpg

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Originally Posted by Hyper Joe

Hi Alicia,

Nice to meet you =)

I do not disagree with you about the back side getting to a certain temp.
But the below is why I consider the thermal gradient difference...

1- Due to surface area and the BP contact with that surface area is less than if it were belly heat. A 32 quart is 6" high 15" wide which is 90 square inches on the back if used the long way. If you use the same 11' flexwatt as belly heat that would be 165 square inches. Now if you use it the wide way (your said method) that is still only 126 square inches of surface area.

2- Contact to surface area and BP. Normally BPs will lay on the heat with most of their ventral scales(belly) exposed to the belly heat. This is the fastest and easiest way to warm up. This is why colder rooms is better to use belly heat. If they are trying to warm up to a side wall only a portion of their side will be in contact with the wall. They have less surface area touching the heat and heat rises so doesn't help the BP warm up any faster.

3- This is the reason most incubators use wall/side heat (less temp differences/gradient)

*See diagram (hope it works. still kind of new to this forum and how to do things)

http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/v...ellyvsback.jpg

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Nice chart Joe, I'm gonna have to call you Professor;)

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Originally Posted by West Coast Jungle

Nice chart Joe, I'm gonna have to call you Professor;)

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hehe..
Giants, Yankees and reptile fan..
We are going to get along great.

I love the chart!

I use belly heat because with my set up I have no other choice. I think I would still prefer to use belly heat even if I did have a choice, though. I feel more comfortable knowing they each have a basking spot.

in my back heat racks the temp in the tub is 80 in the middle, but my belly heat tub is not 80 in the middle. thats also in a room that is roughly 70 degreees. like it was said earlier back heat keeps more stable temps and i havent had or seen any ill effects. i used to be a belly heat only guy and for what its worth back heat is easier to deploy, cheaper to run, and helps ambient temps.

btw ball pythons dont bask! they are nocternal

will someone help explain to me how you create back heat vs. belly heat?

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Originally Posted by nixer

btw ball pythons dont bask! they are nocternal

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they have been known to find a nice rock thats holding some day heat and sit on it at night. Discovery channel is sweet :) any one els catch that hour long snake special yesterday?

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Originally Posted by JeffJ

they have been known to find a nice rock thats holding some day heat and sit on it at night. Discovery channel is sweet :)

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yes then 3 hours later they show about the "evil" pythons taking over the united states!

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Originally Posted by nixer

yes then 3 hours later they show about the "evil" pythons taking over the united states!

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lol sarcasm? i didnt catch that program

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Originally Posted by zackw419

will someone help explain to me how you create back heat vs. belly heat?

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in a rack setup the heat tape is attached to the back wall of the rack which is back heat.
in belly heat the heat tape is typically routed into the shelf under the back 1/3rd of the tub.

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Originally Posted by JeffJ

lol sarcasm? i didnt catch that program

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i pretty much only watch a handfull of channels and that is one of them

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Originally Posted by nixer

in a rack setup the heat tape is attached to the back wall of the rack which is back heat.
in belly heat the heat tape is typically routed into the shelf under the back 1/3rd of the tub.

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oh, thanks for clarifying

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Originally Posted by nixer

i pretty much only watch a handfull of channels and that is one of them

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same, Discovery, Animal planet and af ew others. im not into that IQ dropping reality crap as of late.

I use belly heat just because it seems like you are loosing less energy into the room through radiation.












Which could explain the last clutch being hatched with five eyes....................

Very useful thread. I've always heard to use back heat for snakes. we use belly with the leos for digestion. Makes perfect sense to use it with the snakes too. :)

belllllly heat baby keep that tummy warm :gj:

i use belly heat and a heat lamp. with a day bulb and a night bulb. is this ok?

Both for me, in case on fluctuates

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Originally Posted by th3jok3r

belllllly heat baby keep that tummy warm :gj:

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HA HA your snakes are all named after Porn stars?? nice.:rofl:

Both.

Back heat on my enclosed 28 qt. racks. Snake digest just fine.

My new rack is Animal Plastics 41 qt. with belly heat.
The baby rack arriving Saturday will be belly as well.

Both are economy. I wouldn't use an open sided with back heat...but enclosed, it works fine.

I want to use both, because my ambient temps get pretty low even with my UTH running and floor temps at 94.. but the lamps just suck my humidity so much I cant stand it.

Belly heat, simply because it is more efficient it is direct heat not indirect. I actually don't think it makes much of a difference in my case the room is quite cold and back just does not get hot enough to provide temps I need.

The comments about digestion and belly heat this is a myth. Snakes are basically a tube of muscles and bone with all the internal organs tucked in the middle. The core temp is what is needed and how the core is warmed is not relevant over head back belly as long as the ambient and surface can allow the snake to hold the temps necessary for digestion it does not matter.

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Originally Posted by ogdentrece

but the lamps just suck my humidity so much I cant stand it.

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Glass is as close to 100% water proof as to make no difference it is not the lamps that are the problem... The open top is, humid air rises. I assume you are talking about a tank not a rack? Change the open top and or the air flow patterns and you can fix this issue. Likely you do not have enough water mass and did not give thought to the way air will move into and inside the enclosure. I have used open top tanks for ages and even with an average room RH of 35% I only add water to the system once a week. This is not the place to discuss RH issues if you would like my ideas and what has worked for me PM and I'll be glad to share them.

Holy old thread Batman!!