UTH question

[blueberrypancakes]

My UTH is crap. It doesn't get near the heat that I need for the tank. I also have to use an overhead heater. (Attached to a thermostat, temps monitored with digital thermometers on both sides)
Lately Jackson has gotten into climbing to the top of his tank, and I had to move everything away from the vicinity of his heater. He's getting bigger, though, and I realize it's only a matter of time before he is big enough to touch the top without being on top of anything. Sooo... I am in the market for a new UTH.
I spare no expenses on my Jackson, but UTHs are rather pricey. Do you know where I can get one that is relatively cheap? Can anyone tell me how they work? (The ones that work properly, that is...) Thanks!

[RichsBallPythons]

Was the heating pad bought new. Was it peeled and stuck to the cage and later removed or was it tapped.

Downside to buying retail heat pads is the heating coils will break/bend causing hot spots on the heat pad and or not work anymore when you peel them off. Always use tape to secure them.

Also the Heat pad will NOT maintain your ambient air temps in the cage on cool side. This is where room temps come into play.


Just order some flexwatt and have it wired up for you or you can do it your self.
www.reptilebasics.com

[RetiredJedi]

+1 for Flexwatt or Ultratherm.

[FrankieCarbone]

+2 ultratherm, with foil tape to secure it....

[RestlessRobie]

Ok so I will be going to FLEXWATT with a Vivarium 300 prop tstat in the near future. But my question is which flexwatt should I use under a 20 long Aquarium 3 4 or 11 inch? If I go with the 3 or 4 inch should I just run 2-3 strips about half the length of the tank. This is only until the little guy grows a bit the the my son and I have plans for building custom enclosure together. Which will be great for Father Son Bonding.
Thanks again as alway BP.netyou guys rock
Robie

[blueberrypancakes]

Thanks all! I bought the heater new and stuck it to the underside of the tank using the peely sticky stuff on it. I can feel the heat it gives off, and without the substrate (paper towel on top of reptile carpet) it would def burn. Do I need to worry about ambient temp if his belly is warm? I'm a little confused... I have the thermostat hooked up to the heat lamp and the sensor is placed on the bottom of the tank- it is set at 90. Should I be doing this differently? Jackson is a healthy little dude, eats like he ought to, active at night, good bowel movements... Just to say he seems to be doing well...

[RetiredJedi]

Thanks all! I bought the heater new and stuck it to the underside of the tank using the peely sticky stuff on it. I can feel the heat it gives off, and without the substrate (paper towel on top of reptile carpet) it would def burn. Do I need to worry about ambient temp if his belly is warm? I'm a little confused... I have the thermostat hooked up to the heat lamp and the sensor is placed on the bottom of the tank- it is set at 90. Should I be doing this differently? Jackson is a healthy little dude, eats like he ought to, active at night, good bowel movements... Just to say he seems to be doing well...

I only use an Ultratherm heatpad on my glass tank (no heat lamp or ceramic heater) but I also have the room I keep it in at around 78 degrees with a ceiling fan and the ambient temps in the tank are at a constant 81 degrees.

[RetiredJedi]

Ok so I will be going to FLEXWATT with a Vivarium 300 prop tstat in the near future. But my question is which flexwatt should I use under a 20 long Aquarium 3 4 or 11 inch? If I go with the 3 or 4 inch should I just run 2-3 strips about half the length of the tank. This is only until the little guy grows a bit the the my son and I have plans for building custom enclosure together. Which will be great for Father Son Bonding.
Thanks again as alway BP.netyou guys rock
Robie

I chose the 4 inch because I emailed the Reptile Basics guys and they pretty much confirmed my thought process and that is 4 inch flexwatt will work for quite a while. They also said that the worst case scenario was I would end up down the road using a 41qt tub and in that case I might decide to use two strips of 4 inch. If you look at a lot of the rack setups on YouTube, those guys are almost always just using 4 inch flexwatt and foil tape.