Under Tank Heaters?????

[BuckeyeBalls]

Nature doesn't come with a UTH deal, so why should mine? The bulb should warm the base of the tank enough for proper digestion.

Well correct me if im wrong. But nature didnt come with a cage that traps a snake in forcing him not to leave correct?

Now by saying that if a snake is to cold/hot they can move to a warmer place seeing as they have a big open space to choose where he or she can move to in the wild. If you confine it to a tank and he/she is to hot/cold and nowhere in the tank can they get the heat they would like where they supposed to go?

Between this comment and your climbing ball cage which u want to under feed. I have a feeling we will see a topic where your asking how to get ur bp to eat

Good luck tho

[unhip_crayon]

1) A lamp is not nearly as powerful as the sun.

2) Ball pythons are nocturnal and get zero benefits from the sun.

3) They normally stay in termite mounds and rodent burrows all day and all night unless they are hungry. The termite mounds and rodent burrows stay insulated and keep a constant temp through the day and night.

4) Also, heat lamps in closed setups like we use to keep our snakes, kills the humidity and will often cause a bad shed.

5) Ball pythons absorb most of their heat from their belly, not the top of their body.

1) Well, the sun is millions of kilometers away, where as the lamp is inches away and focused in an enclosed volume. The heat produced is equivalent and in some cases greater.

2) I've got day and night lamps. The night lamp provides the heat while remaining unseen by the bp since its not in its visible spectrum.

3) Covering the insides of your hides in mulch or some type of insulator will work great and increase humidity levels.

4)Heres how I plan on increasing humidity levels, tell me what you think. I've got an old decorative fountain my moms throwin out with a working pump. So I plan on building a tiny waterfall thats about 10-12 inch's high which should increase humidity.

5) Lamp heats ground, ground heats snakes belly.

[unhip_crayon]

Between this comment and your climbing ball cage which u want to under feed. I have a feeling we will see a topic where your asking how to get ur bp to eat

Good luck tho

hahaha Probably

[unhip_crayon]

Now by saying that if a snake is to cold/hot they can move to a warmer place seeing as they have a big open space to choose where he or she can move to in the wild. If you confine it to a tank and he/she is to hot/cold and nowhere in the tank can they get the heat they would like where they supposed to go?

My light will be on one side of the tank with a basking spot. I have two hides on the hot side. One is elevated and should be the warmest, the second is underneath which should be the coolest. And a third hide will be on the other side of the tank which should be about room temp.

[Kaorte]

The waterfall will not increase humidity as much as you think and it would be difficult to clean if you snake decided to crap in it.

It anything, I would use a combination of a uth to maintain a hot spot and a lamp to maintain ambient temps. Using a lamp to create a hotspot of 90 means that somewhere else it the cage could be much hotter then 90. With a uth and a thermostat you can controll temps very precisely.

In the end, a uth and a thermostat is a cheaper alternative to lamps, which need replacement fairly often.

[unhip_crayon]

So how often do lamps need to be replaced on average? And do UTH's need to ever be replaced? Any UTH and thermostat recommendations?

Using a lamp to create a hotspot of 90 means that somewhere else it the cage could be much hotter then 90.

With my lamp, the hottest spot in the tank is right under it, everywhere else is a bit cooler

[Kaorte]

So how often do lamps need to be replaced on average? And do UTH's need to ever be replaced? Any UTH and thermostat recommendations?

Lamp bulbs need to be replaced as often as normal household bulbs that are on all day do. So every few months.

A UTH will rarely need to be replaced. It only needs to be replaced if it malfunctions and stops heating up properly. It would be a year or two before this would happen to a good UTH.

I prefer zoomed UTHs for single setups and reptitemp 500r thermostats for single setups.

[snakesRkewl]

Or you can buy 5 or more flexwatt heat pads, clips and wire shipped for the same price as one zoo-med heat pad.

I have 2+ year old flexwatt that looks brand new(when dusted off, lol)

[PurplePython]

I heard the same warnings. I just hooked my UTH to a lamp dimmer until I could find a REPTITEMP 500R online for cheap.

either use a dimmer or a reptitemp 500r on your UTH and you will have no problems. They can both be found for under $25 also, so its not that expensive.

ball pythons need belly heat to dygest food with ease.

[bsash]

When it comes to heating choices I'd also say buy quality and buy from a quality supplier. Of all the corners you can cut when making purchasing choices for a snake's enclosure, I really don't think the heating decision is the place to worry about the pennies. Buy good quality stuff, from a trusted supplier, use a tstat and use it according to the specs for that piece of equipment.

Absolutely correct. Buy good quality stuff, don't pinch pennies on the heating supplies, it will cost more in the long run. As for under the tank heat mats, I have always used them, and still have some that are approx. ten years old and still work fine. Use a thermostat and everything should be good.