Heat pads wrong???

[DylanG]

Ok guys I found this link and as I read the heating source section it said heat pads (is that flexwatt) and other under cage heating systems are not as good as overhead infrared heat source. Are they just talking about boas? The section is directed to all snakes??? Some help here. The points they make are good ones in my opinion.

http://www.boa-constrictors.com/com/com.html

[Adam_Wysocki]

It's just an opinion ... there are lots of them out there .... some people like UTH's, some people like over head heat ... some people feed live, others feed frozen thawed ... some people put on their pants first other people start with their socks ... and of course, everyone thinks that the way they do it is the right way.

The trick is to safely experiment and find out what works best for YOU and your snake.

-adam

[Pokey]

Adam is right on (as he should be with his particular level of experience). The main idea is that the ambient themperature is where it needs to be with basking area, and less of where the heat source is. Temp is temp, sure the physics of the different types of heat radiation will dictate how a particular temperature is reached but in the end 92F is still 92F when dealing with reptile heat sources. Of course someone could argue that sticking a microwave emitter on top of the cage will reach 92F but will in turn kill any living thing, but lets be realistic when it comes to overhead, under the tank, space heaters, back heat, or whatever the important thing is that a snake can regulate its body temperature by moving arround within its habitat.