Heat Lamps and UTH's affect on BGE Bills

[Bp_Lee_2011]

Do Heatlamps an UTH's cause a noticeable jump in your BGE bill (24/7 use)

Does the price affect on BGE bills vary when using Infrared and Non- Infrared and on varied wattage?

Is there anything that you can do to lessen the expense of these obviously necessary items?



Reason I ask is I wanted to get a 2nd snake and my bf keeps saying that another heat lamp is going to make or BGE Bill that much higher. I personally didnt think they used that much electric.

I did however notice a change when I had to use both a UTH and a 150 W Infrared this winter just to keep my tank at 85

[Adam Chandler]

You don't need a light for a BP. All you need is a UTH and a thermostat, and a UTH hooked up to a thermostat does not use much electricity.

[Bp_Lee_2011]

It would heat up enough to keep it at 85? (Sorry I know my question is dumb..) I thought those UTH would only get so hot, does the thermostat force it to go higher?

[MissDizzyBee]

A thermostat will not force it higher. It will do the opposite...keep the UTH at an appropriate temperature so that the snake won't burn itself when lying above it. As to whether it will keep your ambient at 85, that depends on your room temp and setup. Low tubs are easier to heat than glass tanks, for example. A UTH may be able to manage a tub but is unlikely to manage a 20g aquarium.

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[Adam Chandler]

It would heat up enough to keep it at 85? (Sorry I know my question is dumb..) I thought those UTH would only get so hot, does the thermostat force it to go higher?

The thing you want to remember is BP's don't care about the ambient temperature of this enclosure, which is why any thermometer that stick on the glass is useless.
Ball Pythons only care about the surface temperature on the floor of their enclosure. Which should be 78-83 on the cool side and 88-92 on the warm side(over the UTH). In order to properly measure the temperature of the floor of the enclosure you need a thermometer with a probe resting on the surface (which tend to not be very accurate) or the best way to measure surface temps would be a IR thermometer, like this:www.tempgun.com/

If your UTH is just plugged in the wall odds are the temperature of the surface right over it is 130+, which is why you want to have a thermostat hook up to it in order to keep the surface over the UTH at a constant 88-92 degrees, even as the ambient temperature of the room fluctuates.
A thermostat I would recommend is really any on this page:http://www.reptilebasics.com/thermostats
A thermostat will provide your BP with a increase in quality of life with stable temps and provides you with piece of mind. And since a UTH hooked up to a thermostat will uses less electricity you will be saving money on your electricity bill.

[Bp_Lee_2011]

Maybe my UTH is bad... I can rest my hand on the floor of his cage without it feeling very hot... (which if that is the case that isnt helping my bge bill either...)

[MissDizzyBee]

Which brand do you have? I know the t-rex ones are designed to only get up to 100°. The thickness and conductivity of the material its mounted to can make a difference to how much heat gets through as well.

You should check the temperature with a digital thermometer. 90-100° won't feel very hot to the touch.

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[Bp_Lee_2011]

Can thermostats control more than 1 item Like could i hook up 2 UTHs to one thermostat (as long as the temps would be the same for both animals.. ie 2 bps, 2 corns...)

[Vypyrz]

A thermostat will not force it higher. It will do the opposite...keep the UTH at an appropriate temperature so that the snake won't burn itself when lying above it. As to whether it will keep your ambient at 85, that depends on your room temp and setup. Low tubs are easier to heat than glass tanks, for example. A UTH may be able to manage a tub but is unlikely to manage a 20g aquarium.

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That is correct. The ambient temp of the room your snakes are in is what decides how much supplemental heating is needed. My snakes are in a spare room with a space heater. I keep my house thermostat at 75F all year, so the space heater only has to heat the room up 5 degrees and the UTH's (4) have to heat the warm spots up 10 degrees. In cases where supplemental heat is needed to maintain ambient temps inside the tank, I usually recommend hooking the heat lamps/ceramic heat emitters to at least a lamp dimmer. Just because you have a 150W bulb, that much power may not be needed to maintain the desired temps, so using a dimmer will let you set the bulb to a lower level of power that still maintains the temps. It will also help to maintain temps if you if you insulate the tank with something like foam board, cardboard, or styrofoam insulation. I like the foam board because you can usually find it in different colors and it is sold at places like Wal-Mart or Target in the school supplies section with the poster board. Basically, you cover the back and both ends and the bottom under the cool side. For the top, cut a piece to fit over the screen, but leave about a 1.5 inch gap from the lamp. Then wrap the piece with aluminum foil and place it on the screen. This will keep alot of the heat from escaping which will allow you to run the heat bulb at a lower power setting with the dimmer. Hope this helps.

[MissDizzyBee]

Can thermostats control more than 1 item Like could i hook up 2 UTHs to one thermostat (as long as the temps would be the same for both animals.. ie 2 bps, 2 corns...)

You could. Mine has two outlets on it. You can also use the thermostat in conjunction with a dimmer for even more control over each device and the temperature gradient.

My apartment is unfortunately quite cool most of the year so I'm using a combination of UTH and heat lamp for a plexigrass enclosure at the moment. I also insulate the glass and have a foil top to increase humidity so the lamp doesn't suck it all out.

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