Very stupid Q's about UTHs

[Smaug]

My baby hognose is in a twenty gal long with aquarium glass. He is on about 2in of aspen with a heat bulb that was doing just fine, until today, maintaining a 90 degree hotspot or even higher, actually. I own a zoo-med 10-20 UTH that's doing a lot of good on the other side of the room. So do I need to put a repti carpet under the aspen in order to use it? And how necessary is a thermostat? As I don't have one of those. Should it go on the side or the bottom? Or maybe I'll just put a bigger bulb in the heat lamp. I do have a heat gun. Also about thermostats, my tanks are kind of spread out is there any way to get all of them on the same one or two?

[Bogertophis]

UTH (at least the vast majority of them) are designed to go "UNDER THE TANK", not inside...this is for safety, they are not waterproof and you don't want a
shocking end to your snake, do you? Repti-carpet would not prevent spilled water from reaching the UTH (if UTH is actually in the tank). And yes, all UTH
must be regulated...most get too hot & snakes can get horribly & painfully burned from using them without regulation. Most only work (or work well) with a
thermostat also...they cost more but are more reliable. (some will work with manual adjustments using a rheostat but you have to be vigilant because the temps.
are less likely to stay dialed in) Heat rises...so yes, UTH belongs underneath....far less effective on the side, as the heat mostly rises next to enclosure & does
not go inside it. Thermostats can be used to control multiple enclosures but they'd need to be all the same size, for one thing, or the results would vary. And
I see from your list of species kept that they all need different temps...so that wouldn't work very well for you (using only one thermostat).

[Smaug]

Yeah, no frying or burning my precious baby. Would this work? https://www.lllreptile.com/products/...ure-controller

[Bogertophis]

Yeah, no frying or burning my precious baby. Would this work? https://www.lllreptile.com/products/...ure-controller

I would think so, but I can't speak for that specific item...it does say to connect any "incandescent..." which sounds like it's intended for use with an overhead heat lamp
rather than UTH. You might ask the source or LLL customer service. I'm not aware of any forum feedback on this brand/model either. And most of the time
you really do "get what you pay for" in terms of quality & reliability.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

How necessary is a thermostat? It's not an option it's a NECESSITY, if you provide heat in any form it MUST be controlled, thickness of substrate does not control heat, only a thermostat does.

Burns and fire harzard are preventable if you use a thermostat, if you don't it's not a matter of if it's a matter of when it will happens, and you will deal from costly vet treatment to loss.

Of course you need to invest is a reliable t-stat as well the one linked is notorious to fail and when it does it fails wide open.

Invest the money in an herpstat nothing less even if you pay $100 it will last a long time I have has some of those for 12 years and still going strong, that's less than $10 a year.

[Coluber42]

UTH's and deep substrate are not a great combination in general. The deep aspen will basically insulate the UTH, meaning that heat doesn't make it to the top, and the surface of the glass underneath can get dangerously hot because all that trapped heat builds up. A thermostat will stop that from happening, but a UTH just doesn't make a whole lot of sense if you have deep substrate.
It's also more natural for heat to come from above, because burrows in the ground are generally cooler during the day (and more stable temperature overall) than the surface where it's warmed by the sun. So animals come out to the surface to get warm and dig to cool off (among other reasons).

[Craiga 01453]

Bottom line: ALL heat sources should be regulated by a thermostat. There's simply no reason not to use one. It beats cooking your snakes.

[Smaug]

https://www.spyderrobotics.com/index...products_id=76
Ok so I don't have a lot of money but I want to do this right. I think I want to stick to bulbs, they have been working so far. I have a corn in a 20 long, a corn in a 55 long, a hognose in a 20 long and a ball in a 55 gal 18 x 36.
Can the corns share one and the ball and hognose share the other?
Between them all there are eight cords. Can I switch the day and night cords in the herpstat?
Is there a cheaper option than above?

[Bogertophis]

Not making sense to me, sorry...running a thermostat for TWO cages of DIFFERENT sizes? The larger will be too cool or the small one overheated, ya?

And "cheaper" doesn't cut it, IMO. Do it right! I don't recommend heating with bulbs to begin with...they are supplemental, yes, but heat rises & they're outside the
cage (MUST be for safety!) so most of the heat doesn't help the snake one bit, therefore you waste money. And should your "cheap" option to regulate such heat fail,
you can COOK your snakes this way. The only "bulbs" I use are on dimmers & supplemental* warmth only, esp. for snakes that like to climb & bask. (*not heating
entire cage with them)

UTH: heat rises INTO the cage, where the snake NEEDS the belly heat to digest, as opposed to bulb heat that's rising up up & away from the cage. And in case you
don't know, UTH like Flexwatt are very low wattage...cheaper to run. (but for the heat to remain IN the cage, you may need to insulate your cage, sides & back.)

Many keepers need both kinds (or other options like RHP) depends on how cool your house is (either in winter or using A/C), the kind of cages, & the kind of snakes.

[Smaug]

Ok, most of that makes sense. To be clear the herpstat ez is good, right? Or is that the "cheap" option your talking about? I guess I could get four of those but if I need the digital ones that might be a problem. Thanks for putting up with me. My snakes thank you.