Newbie questions! Please help

[redshepherd]

Myself, i've never used radiant heat panels, so I don't know much about them. What I do know is, they are expensive and they use a lot of electricity. They just don't seem to be very practical. Heat tape has always been more than sufficient for me. It's cheap, easy to setup, you can wire it together to heat multiple enclosures with the same thermostat and it doesn't hardly use any electricity...

Ok cool bc I was getting a little worried about the cost of all of this! Is there a specific heat tape you use? I’m literally so green when it comes to snakes so I’m sorry if I seem naive!
Would I need heat tape AND an uth? I saw animal plastics offers heat tape (flex tape?) with their enclosures and that seems like the way to go ?


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Heat tape needs to be replaced eventually, sometimes in just a couple years. It also doesn't provide ambient heat, if your room is too cold. It works pretty much the same as a UTH. It's cheaper, but an RHP provides ambient heat and a warm side so you don't need to hassle over ambient room temps in the winter. Many people who only provide belly heat/heat tape/UTH end up needing to heat their whole room with a room heater if they get colder months, and that in itself uses up way more electricity.

You don't need heat tape and a UTH, they are the same function- providing belly heat for the hot spot. "Belly heat" in itself is not necessary, the ball pythons just need a warm side and cool side and a correct temperature gradient, whether it comes from the air or the ground.