Heat Tape?

[kitedemon]

PLEASE look at the herpstat intro for 100$ it is much better than on off types for the situation. Hydrofarms IMO need to be coupled with an accurate thermometer as they are have such poor accuracy on their own. (4ºF +/-) . Good thermometers cost more that the difference between the thermostats. It is better than the T-stat shuffle, buy cheap and shuffle back for better in a month or two.

[martin82531]

I would unplug your UTH until you have a thermostat

[kitedemon]

What are your temps hot side cool side and the ambient temp? I would NOT turn off you UTH if the hot spot is 1/2 way correct (under 100ºF) I would do the best to balance it until you get a T-stat. My snakes would not last long with no heat in my rooms (60ºF today) the concern is a burn but not all UTH get to the same temp especially when you look at the effect room temps can have.

[AdamF]

I would unplug your UTH until you have a thermostat

X2!

No thermostat=risk of serious injury to animal, and fire to house!

[kitedemon]

X2!

No thermostat=risk of serious injury to animal, and fire to house!

So if I had no T-stat you would be suggesting a royal python could live for a week or two at a temp of 60ºF or less (it is now 53ºF in my snake room)? REALLY? Especially if I was using an ultratherm that when the room temp is 60º it only heats to 87ºF MAX. The advise you are offering is just as dangerous to the snake as the reverse. I personally do not offer advise that could kill someone's pet when I don't have enough information to know what the exact situation is.

I have a rescue in currently because of irresponsible advise from a forum (could be this one... I didn't ask or want to know) and you have just offered the same advise. Ball Pythons do not do well with no heat and temps in the high 50ºs for weeks... they get RI and very very ill the owner of this particular snake had a ultratherm heat pad... (it has to be replaced it does not cannot hold a warm spot to 90º not enough power. Should it be regulated yes. but...)

The point is I do not nor is there enough information to offer advise with no knowledge of the OPs situation and yet still people are.

[TheSnakeGuy]

X2 Get the Hydrofarm Tstat on amazon. I bought it for 28$ with free shipping. Far as I can tell it's the best deal around and it works just fine.

[AdamF]

So if I had no T-stat you would be suggesting a royal python could live for a week or two at a temp of 60ºF or less (it is now 53ºF in my snake room)? REALLY? Especially if I was using an ultratherm that when the room temp is 60º it only heats to 87ºF MAX. The advise you are offering is just as dangerous to the snake as the reverse. I personally do not offer advise that could kill someone's pet when I don't have enough information to know what the exact situation is.

I have a rescue in currently because of irresponsible advise from a forum (could be this one... I didn't ask or want to know) and you have just offered the same advise. Ball Pythons do not do well with no heat and temps in the high 50ºs for weeks... they get RI and very very ill the owner of this particular snake had a ultratherm heat pad... (it has to be replaced it does not cannot hold a warm spot to 90º not enough power. Should it be regulated yes. but...)

The point is I do not nor is there enough information to offer advise with no knowledge of the OPs situation and yet still people are.

I am not commenting on OP situation. I am stating simply, "no thermostat with heat tape is high risk". Period. Now if you ask me, "Should I risk killing my snake by 53 degree temps, or by burning him, and possibly my house?". I cannot give you a real good answer to that question. Can anyone?

Furthermore, before one "rescues" a pet (any pet), one should be sure the situation they are bringing the animal into, is actually good for the animal. If you wish to rescue BPs with the only options being over heat them, or freeze them, I suggest you re-consider rescue efforts, until you have proper set-up. The OP asked the question about heat control, and we answered.

Good luck to you...and the poor snake

[kitedemon]

I run fully controlled better than most. Exact temp control over ambient warm and cool accurately too. I actually own an accurate thermometer. Your advise if I had a unregulated UTH (I don't) is to turn off the heat. Good thinking. Apparently you don't know that UTHs Flexwatt are available in different wattages. I guess you never heard of LOW density carbon elements...

So AdamF what exactly are the temps of the OPs enclosure? What UTH do they have? What are the ambient room temps? Before you offer advise that could kill the OPs snake don't you think you should KNOW WHAT THE SITUATION IS??? NO, just give advise without having any facts and who cares if it kills their snake it isn't yours right? Great advise there. The EXACT SAME advise that gave the snake RI so badly it is blowing blood bubbles.

So about a month ago did you tell someone that they should unplug a UTH that had no T-stat that wasn't getting hot enough? Well if you did it was great advise, the snake is on deaths door, good going.

The op has not mentioned the temps the ambients or anything at all, and yet you still suggest to kill all the heat even if the heat may not be that hot (the max temp on the 17" flexwatt low density is 88º in a room that is 80ºF)

Offering advise with out having the information needed is IRRESPONSIBLE. It is DIRECTLY responsible for the snake in my care with sever RI bad advise from a form. The EXACT advise you have just gave. Try not to kill other peoples snakes with your poor advise.

[AdamF]

I run fully controlled better than most. Exact temp control over ambient warm and cool accurately too. I actually own an accurate thermometer. Your advise if I had a unregulated UTH (I don't) is to turn off the heat. Good thinking. Apparently you don't know that UTHs Flexwatt are available in different wattages. I guess you never heard of LOW density carbon elements...

So AdamF what exactly are the temps of the OPs enclosure? What UTH do they have? What are the ambient room temps? Before you offer advise that could kill the OPs snake don't you think you should KNOW WHAT THE SITUATION IS??? NO, just give advise without having any facts and who cares if it kills their snake it isn't yours right? Great advise there. The EXACT SAME advise that gave the snake RI so badly it is blowing blood bubbles.

So about a month ago did you tell someone that they should unplug a UTH that had no T-stat that wasn't getting hot enough? Well if you did it was great advise, the snake is on deaths door, good going.

The op has not mentioned the temps the ambients or anything at all, and yet you still suggest to kill all the heat even if the heat may not be that hot (the max temp on the 17" flexwatt low density is 88º in a room that is 80ºF)

Offering advise with out having the information needed is IRRESPONSIBLE. It is DIRECTLY responsible for the snake in my care with sever RI bad advise from a form. The EXACT advise you have just gave. Try not to kill other peoples snakes with your poor advise.

Kindly re-read my (and your!) posts. I advised ONLY that any UTH source should be regulated, period. Also, the OP said he couldn't use a tank, and had to sue plastic tub. In addition, a hot spot of "100 or so", can still lead to RI for snake in a room with 60 degree ambient temp. What temp is the cool side? A UTH warms only a spot. The advice from any on this forum would be:

To properly care for a BP they require a warm spot of 88-92 and a cool spot 78-80. However you achieve this without fire risk is up to you.

Can a BP manage at a low of 76 from time to time, or a hot spot of 93-94? Of course they can, but nobody here will endorse a 100 degree unregulated UTH in a room with 60 degree ambient. FYI I have experience with UTH, Flexwatt and over head heating. Even low wattage FW can start a fire if unregulated.

I wrote "an unregulated heat source is high risk" So did another who responded. The only way to eliminate that risk is to unplug it. Frankly, without knowing the ambient temps, and humidity, the whole situation is bad. For the last time, an unregulated heat source, especially under plastic tubs, is ill advised and dangerous, EVEN IF THE SNAKE CAN GET SICK.

[kitedemon]

X2! (I would unplug your UTH until you have a thermostat)

No thermostat=risk of serious injury to animal, and fire to house!

Sound like no heat to me. Apparently you still fail to understand not every product and situation is the same. There are products on the market DESIGNED to run not beyond 100ºF most low density do. Given the loss to ambient temps plastic insulation and substrate they often produce interior temps that are below 92º and yet the advise is the same no heat. Yes all heat sources need to be regulated in fact after the amount of rescues (160+) I have seen I would suggest that this be proportional or accurate thermostats only but that is me. But the fact that with absolutely no information a dramatic change like unplugging a heat source should not be suggested. We do not know ambient temps interior surface temps or anything at all. we don't know if there is a secondary or anything about the set up.

The snake I have in rehab was in a tank in that case and had a UTH and che the advise turn them off until you get a dimmer and thermostat. The fact the hot spot surface temp was 88 or below and the cool side was 76 or below whom ever gave the advise didn't know or care. So the 11 year old kid did the 'right' thing and too temps that were too cool and went to stupid cold. Than then started saving for a thermostat. We got called in by the parent asking for help the kid is frantic and seriously freaking about the state of the pet the snake is despondent and has no strength to hold its body up. We evaluated the enclosure and set it up correcting the issues and gave him a rehab snake from a previous place to look after while we try to save his snake.

I am sorry I have come on strong but it makes me seriously pissed when advise is tossed about that is potentially very dangerous for the animal with out anyone mentioning that it is and with no knowledge of the situation or conditions at all. There is nothing intelligent to recommend with out information. For all we know the OP might have a Kane pad with a rheostat built in or a pad with resisters to cut power to the element (ultratherm) and as more and more companies recognize that unrestricted temps are not safe they will (hopefully) be more and more low density self regulating systems (still should have a t-stat) but the risks of both burn and fire are dropped to very low.

technology is changing it is time to adapt.