Need some advice with heating

[joHtoD3]

Ok...I have been hearing both sides of the coin here and now I'm confused. I've been giving some advice on the forums but now I'm the one asking for help...lol...anyway, I have a Pastel BP and he is about 2 feet in length. I've had him for about a week now and the heat bulb that that came with my hooded dual light/heat Zilla fixture, is defective. Zilla has a brand new one on the way. My concern is, is that the last ball I had had a heating rock and it worked just fine for him. Now after about 15 years, the general concensus is not to use one. The pet store rep told me that the radiant heat from the heat lamps were best and that even the heat pads were not good. I've heard arguments for both the heat pads v. heat lamps. So what's the deal and what would be best? So far the heat lamp has let me down. Thanks for any help you guys can give me!

[Reptile King]

I personally think the under tank heater works best as long as you have it controlled with a thermostat or dimmer. The heat lamps will cause your humidity to disappear and I don't trust "hot rocks". I am always concerned that they will short out and burn my reptile. If you are having issues with the ambient temps you could always use a small space heater to increase the ambient temps. That is my $0.02 anyway.

Good Luck!

[angllady2]

Having tried both Ceramic Heat Emitters { heat light without the light } and Flexwatt under tank heat, my experience is the Flexwatt or a similar UTH is the way to go.

Let me tell you why I think so:

1. Price - If you have several snakes, the fixtures and heat bulbs or ceramic emitters are going to cost a fortune, an average of $15-$20 per fixture and another $20-$30 per emitter. Bulbs are of course cheaper, but burn out faster.
I bought 10' of prewired flexwatt, enough to go under 8 tubs placed side-by-side, for around $38.00 shipped. If I had gone the heat lamp route, I'd have spent a minimum of $ 200 for the 8 snakes, that is a big difference.

2. Convenience - This is a big one if you have several snakes. With heat lamps on top of the enclosure, you have to move them to feed or clean. Finding a safe place to set a hot lamp is tricky, and you have to unplug or turn of the lamp when you move it. Not to mention, you need an outlet for every lamp.
With my flexwatt, I never have to worry about it unless I have to completely empty the tub, and even then I just lift the tub off the tape, clean it and put it back. I only need two outlets for my flexwatt, because I have one piece per each 4 tubs. That means I can use only one thermostat. I'd need at least 4 thermostats if I used heat lamps, that is another huge expense.

3. Humidity - Heat lamps and emitters suck humidity up like a vacuum, meaning constant misting to maintain healthy levels for your snakes, and your sheds will almost always be difficult.
With a UTH, humidity is sooo much easier to maintain.

4. Snake safety - With a properly regulated UTH, burns are almost unheard of. Not so with a lamp or emitter, you have to really be careful your snake cannot reach the screen where the lamp is or it could burn it's nose.

Not to mention, all my snakes seem MUCH happier with UTH, and it seems to help them digest their food better.

Just my .02

Gale

[joHtoD3]

I have been wanting to try the UTC heating. What would you guys recommend and far as product and brand?

[Reptile King]

I'm going to switch from zoo-med under the tank heater to the ultratherms. It is my understanding that the ultratherms do not have hot spots like the zoo-med brand does. I'm not familiar with utc.

[Kaorte]

I personally like the zoomed UTHs for single setups.

The most important piece of equipment that you need when using a UTH is a thermostat. The reptitemp 500r is the most basic and inexpensive model and works well for single setups.

[joHtoD3]

Ok I didn't want to wait on the new bulb to come so I went out and got a UTH and a rheostat and it is working great! My BP, Monty, is happy now and is getting warmed. The tank temp and humidity levels are actually where they should be now. I really appreciate allthe advice and the guys! Monty Thanks you all to!