Does my UTH need a thermostat? What about Thermometers?

[The Serpent Merchant]

Ok, so I post this information on a daily basis here on BP.net so I decided to make a write up for future reference.

The most important aspect of keeping reptiles in captivity is providing the proper temperatures/humidity to simulate the reptiles natural environment.

There are a few options available today to provide heat for your reptile. All have their advantages and disadvantages. I'm going to go over the most popular heat sources in the reptile industry: Heat lamps, Ceramic heat emitters, Under Tank Heaters/flexwatt, and Radiant Heat Panels

The heat lamp:

The simplest of all heat sources, these are incandescent light bulbs that project heat downward warming everything in the cage (including the air!)

When dealing with nocturnal reptiles like ball pythons infrared heat lamps are preferred to white lamps as the bright white light can stress them out and cannot be left on 24/7 meaning that an additional heat source would be needed for night the heat. This is not the case with infrared lamps as they put out very little visible light compared to the amount of heat that they out out.

I suggest getting a heat bulb one wattage size above what you think you need (providing that your lamp can handle the wattage) and use a lamp dimmer to turn down the heat produced to get things just right.


Pros:

• Simple to use
  
• Cheap
  
• Heat everything directly under them

Cons:

• Are often too bright to be left on 24/7 (thought some are not *Infrared/backlight bulbs put out very little visible light)
  
• Can burn a reptile that comes in direct contact (needs to be in a lamp outside the cage except in terrestrial lizard cages)
  
• Use large amounts of electricity
  
• Greatly reduce the amount of humidity in the cage

Ceramic Heat Emitters:


Ceramic Heat Emitters or CHE's or short work the same way electric stoves with coils work. They radiate heat without producing any visible light. These are great for providing heat 24/7 without having to worry about brightness.

CHE's tend to get very hot and except for desert reptiles most will require a lamp dimmer or thermostat to keep the heat output in the correct ranges.

Pros:

• Simple to use
  
• Cheap
  
• Do not produce any light

Cons:

• Can get very hot
  
• Can burn a reptile that comes in direct contact (needs to be in a lamp outside the cage except in terrestrial lizard cages)
  
• Use large amounts of electricity
  
• Greatly reduces that amount of humidity in the cage

Under Tank Heaters (UTH's)/Flexwatt:


UTH's are by far the most popular heat source for ball pythons since they do not effect the humidity levels in the cage. UTH's attach to the bottom of the cage (on the outside) and heat the floor of the cage. They do NOT change the temperature of the air in the cage so if the air temperature in the cage gets below 75 degrees an additional heat source (usually a heat lamp or radiant heat panel) will be necessary. UTH's get very hot, in fact they can and will get hot enough to kill your snake if they are not regulated. A thermostat is the best way to regulate a UTH. Lamp dimmers will work but the heat output of UTH's changes when the temperature of the room they are in changes so lamp dimmers will have to be constantly monitored/adjusted. Thermostats on the other hand automatically adjust the amount of power going to the UTH so you won't have to adjust them once they are dialed in. You will also need a good probed thermometer. because UTH's do not change the air temperature in the cage the stick on/non-probed thermometers will not be able to tell you how hot the UTH is making the cage floor. If you do not know hot hot the cage floor is your snake can easily get burns (which can be fatal)

I will go over thermostats and thermometers at the end of this write up.

Pros:

• Does not produce any light
  
• Does not reduce humidity at all
  
• Uses very little power

Cons:

• Must be controlled by a thermostat (which can be expensive)
  
• Malfunctions can be hard to notice

Radiant Heat Panels:

Radiant Heat Panels or RHP's for short are popular in the PVC caging world. RHP's do not work well for tubs/racks/glass tanks. RHP's are mounted to the ceiling of a custom made cage/professionally made PCV cage and radiate heat downwards. They do not produce any light.

Some do not require a thermostat, but many do. so I will not include that in the Pros/Cons since it is variable.

Pros:

• Produce no light
  
• Work very well along with UTH's or alone

Cons:

• Expensive

Here are good places to get RHP's:

RBI: http://www.reptilebasics.com/rbi-radiant-heat-panels

Pro Products: http://www.pro-products.com/index.ph...d=55&Itemid=59

Now I'll go over thermostats and thermometers.

Thermostats are devices that use a temperature probe to measure the amount of heat that a heat source is outputting. They them vary the amount of power going to said heat source to keep the temperature in the desired range that you set it to. There are 2 major types of thermostats. On/off style thermostats, and Proportional thermostats.

On/Off Style Thermostats:

On/Off style thermostats such as true Hydrofarm, Ranco, and Johnsons thermostats are cheap but lack accuracy. they work the same way a home A/C thermostat works. They run the heat source at 100% power until the set temperature is achieved. The thermostat then turns the heat source completely off until the "swing" is reached. The swing refers to how many degrees below the set temperature the thermostat lets the temperature fall before turning the heat source back on again. This is why they are inaccurate.

Pros:

• Cheap
  
• Will do the job

Cons:

• Inaccurate
  
• Usually don't have some of the additional safety features that proportional thermostats have.

Here are some good on/off style thermostats:

Hydrofarm: http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR.../dp/B000NZZG3S

Ranco: http://www.reptilebasics.com/ranco-etc-111000-pre-wired

Proportional thermostats:

Proportional thermostats such as the Herpstat, Helix, and VE-200/300 are extremely accurate and much safer than on/off style thermostats do to more advanced design and high build quality. This does come at a price though. The cheapest I have seen a proportional thermostat sell for (new) is $99. The cost is worth it though. These thermostats especially the herpstat have far more capabilities than on/off thermostats and as I already said are more accurate and safer. Instead on simply running the heat source at 100% power or 0% power proportional thermostats adjust the amount of power in small increments. this allows them to maintain the correct temperature very accurately (usually to a fraction of a degree off of the set temperature)

Pros:

• Safe
  
• Accurate
  
• More features (such as the ability to automatically drop temperatures at programed times/regulate humidity/turn lights on/off/etc.)

Cons:

• Cost

Here are somme good proportional thermostats:

Herpstat: http://spyderrobotics.com/

VE line: http://www.reptilebasics.com/thermostats (note the VE-100 is not a proportional thermostat)

Helix: http://www.helixcontrols.com/DBS1000.htm

Thermometers:

Thermometers are very important they tell you exactly how cot/cold your cage is. You should never guess how hot/cold your cage is. The stick on thermometers sold in pet stores aren't very good. they are terribly inaccurate, overpriced, and don't measure in the right places. What you want is a good digital thermometer with a probe like this one:



This particular thermometer is sold at Walmart for $12 and measures 2 temperatures, and humidity. A single unit is all you need in the typical ball python cage set up. The probe will go on the hot side (directly over/under the heat source) and the unit will sit on the cool side and measure the cool side temperature/humidity.

Another option is temperature guns. these measure surface temperatures of anything that you point them at (Glass/anything reflective will not work well with temperature guns as it will mess with the readings)

Temperature guns are handy if you have multiple cages and want to be able to check them all easily.

Here is a good source: http://www.reptilebasics.com/thermometers

Questions, Comments, and Concerns are welcome

Thanks for reading hope it was helpful.