You need to provide a thermal gradient in your enclosure - so a warm side and a cool side, with an identical hide on each side.
Warm Side:
A UTH provides belly heat only, it will do nothing to warm the air in the enclosure. Your snake needs that belly heat to digest, so the UTH is important. The surface temp of your enclosure, inside the tank - just above the UTH (which is under the tank), should read no higher than 90º. Provide a hide on top of your UTH for your snake to curl up in while it digests it's meals for a day or two. This is your warm side.
Cool Side:
Your cool side hide will be opposite the tank from the warm hide, and in the upper 70s to 80 degrees. If you are able to keep the room of your house that your snake is in 77º to 80º year round, then you don't need to worry about a secondary heating source maintaining the ambient temps in his tank. But like I said, that's generally not feasible. So a Ceramic Heat Emitter is typically used to maintain the cool side temps. And you must plug the CHE into a thermostat to make sure it doesn't heat over 80º. This takes care of the cool side and maintains the ambient air.
Reply With Quote