Rethinking belly heat

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Being new to snakes but familiar with reptiles for years...I have never really been a fan of Belly heat myself.

In nature, the heat comes from above and warms the ground/surfaces that reptiles are on. While I do have a problem with heat lamps (ones that emit light), I do like heating systems like the Pro Heat that is a heat emitter. It can be regulated with a thermostat, and then for light in your enclosure, a simple softer non heat producing light source will do the trick.

I have had lizards (Primarily Bearded Dragons) and turtles. While my turtles I kept outside using natural sunlight for warmth and such. The bearded dragons I had in an enclosure inside. The earth's surface doesn't heat itself. The warmth of the ground on a hot day comes from the sunlight that bears down on it. Likewise. Under the tank heating is not "natural" while above heating is.

Any heat that is absorbed by the ground will lose its heat as it is covered. Take standing on a beach on a summer day. The sand burns your feet. But if you stand in that spot long enough, it loses it's heat and it is more comfortable to stand on. Likewise, a turtle basking on a rock...or an alligator on the shore of a river...

Hence why, I prefer personally, to use a heat emitter mounted in the top of my enclosures to replicate the way the sun heats the earth. UTH's I tend not to use for enclosures except for a temporary enclosure/small enclosure for a baby before it moves up to a more permanent place once it gets bigger.

Just my two cents...

Your not getting it. The sun heats the objects on earth that most if not all reptiles will bask on. They will absorb heat from above and below. A UTH and any belly heat acts like a surface that was heated by the sun and emits heat for our reptiles to absorb.