Quote Originally Posted by ckuhn003 View Post
Pardon my ignorance but is a RHP essentially a UTH attached to the rear back of the cage? And if so, wouldn't a UTH conceptually work better w/ ambient temps since heat rises? Again, I'm a beginner and just trying to gain information.
An RHP is a radiant heat panel. It can get much hotter than a UTH (about 160F). It typically mounts to the top of the enclosure. It works by radiating heat; objects in the enclosure (hides, substrate, the animal, etc) absorb the heat. This is the way the sun's heat warms the planet. A UTH works by conducting heat - physical contact is made and the heat from the UTH is transferred to the animal.

And just for completeness, the third type of heat transfer is convection. This is seen a lot in incubators. Heat tape is used as a heat source. Air is blown across the surface of the heat tape with a fan and the heat is transferred to the air thereby raising the air temperature of the incubator.


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