Heat Lamps and UTH's affect on BGE Bills

[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.