first snake

[MootWorm]

thank you mootworm, currently the house is sitting at 70 and the temp does drop a few degrees at night. so far my biggest concerns are the temp and humidity control. what are the biggest pros/cons of CHEs/UTHs? so far my plan of action is to first get all the stuff i'd need and set up the tank and see how my temp and humidity are before even getting a snake. but still, CHE, UTH, or flexwatt?

Ok sounds like your house is pretty cool. You may struggle maintaining high enough temps. The biggest pros about CHE would be that they heat a large amount of space, are fairly inexpensive, and can be run 24/7. The only con is that they can dry out an enclosure unless you take measures to maintain humidity. I'd definitely recommend covering the majority of the screen with plastic wrap/aluminum foil/duct tape.

The issue with UTH is that they're small. If you only get one for the hot side, the cool side will be sitting around 70, which is far too cool. You could get away with a CHE on the hot side and a UTH on the cool side. But UTH are pretty expensive for what you're getting. I think even the medium size runs about 25 bucks. Flex watt can be a bit confusing, but there are awesome tutorials on how to get it set up, and it's only a few dollars a foot.

Oh, and I forgot to add, you'll need a separate thermostat for EACH UTH, which will really dig into your budget. Unless you get something like a herpstat 4.

[Ragnar]

so from what i understand i would want to get a CHE for the hot side and run it 24/7 (would i need a thermostat/rheostat to run with it?). and some flexwatt or another UTH for the cool side. would it be a problem if it's heating the hot side from the top and the cool side from the bottom? does the tank need a light as well or will the natural day/night cycle be sufficient for a snake? as you can see i'm really trying to get my ducks in a row before i actually own a snake. And i would need to cover a good portion of the screen with something to keep the humidity in, right? and it makes sense to me to have the hot side uncovered for the heat from the CHE to transmit heat properly.

[Shera]

so from what i understand i would want to get a CHE for the hot side and run it 24/7 (would i need a thermostat/rheostat to run with it?). and some flexwatt or another UTH for the cool side. would it be a problem if it's heating the hot side from the top and the cool side from the bottom? does the tank need a light as well or will the natural day/night cycle be sufficient for a snake? as you can see i'm really trying to get my ducks in a row before i actually own a snake. And i would need to cover a good portion of the screen with something to keep the humidity in, right? and it makes sense to me to have the hot side uncovered for the heat from the CHE to transmit heat properly.

No you want the UTH for the warm side, and the CHE would just provide a boost to the ambient air temp, especially if your house is at 70F. I don't use a CHE, I use a blue night light bulb. you can get a dimmer for the bulb (at home hardware or where ever) or you can use a thermostat, it's up to you. For the UTH it's a good idea to use a thermostat instead of a dimmer, because it can be dangerous if it gets too hot. If you look up Hydrofarm thermostat on amazon you can see it, it's a seedling mat thermostat that was recommended to me here. When you place the UTH (which should cover roughly a quarter to a 3rd of the tanks bottom) on the bottom of the tank (you put it on the outside of the tank), you can sandwich you thermostat probe between the glass and UTH. This won't read the exact temperature that the snake will experience on the warm side, which is why you also want to use a thermometer, or you can buy a temp gun, and then you adjust accordingly (thermostat might be set to 92F, but the warm side is actually 90F, kinda thing, since it's on the other side of the glass. If there is a window in the room, then you don't need to provide any artificial light, but it's a good idea to keep the lights off at night for the most part. If anything didn't make sense, just ask and I will clarify.