ceramic heaters good or bad?

[mikehorton]

I just took my new ball to the vet and she mentioned raising the temp in my cage. All i have now is two uth's and a uvb bulb for daytime. I have her in a 20 long. do you think a ceramic would put off too much heat? If so is there any other heating options i have? And do i need a termostate for my uth's? Thanks for the input.

[Mendel's Balls]

Ceramic heat rocks are not good for ball pythons...they can cause burns.....

You should get some thermostats for your UTHs....

You should also have a digital thermometer that allows you to monitor your heat gradient at all times.....these are available from walmart for ~$15 (they read an inside and outside temp)....

What size is your enclosure? It's hard to heat something too big....

[ddbjdealer]

uvb bulb for daytime.

Don't need it.

do you think a ceramic would put off too much heat?

Not if monitored by a tstat.

do i need a termostate for my uth's? Thanks for the input.

Absolutely. A tstat or a rheostat (dimmer) is essential for keeping those UTH's from getting too hot and potentially burning/hurting your snake.

As far as the other options you asked about, just getting a thermostat and some flexwatt for the bottom of your tank should do the job okay. You could also think about moving your snake into a plastic enclosure. This site has a GREAT module for DIY plastic enclosures, and from my own personal experience, it's much easier to maintain the proper heat/humidity with plastic rather than glass.

Try using the search function and look around for CHE's (Ceramic Heat Emitters) and plastic enclosures, glass vivariums... most questions you could think of being a new BP owner have already been asked/answered and this forum is an invaluable resource to answering most of those new owner questions.

Good luck, hope this helps...

[mikehorton]

I'm talking about the no light emmiters? My enclosuer is only 20 long. I should get a digital term.?

[Adam_Wysocki]

Ceramic heat rocks are not good for ball pythons...they can cause burns.....

I'm pretty sure he was asking about ceramic heating elements that are used over head outside of the cage? These days, those are way more common than hot rocks.

As for good or bad, it depends. They can be used to elevate cage temps and come in different sizes (wattages). By choosing the right size, you should be able to get your temps where they need to be without a thermostat. The problem is that as your household temps change from season to season, you'll constantly need to change the size of your ceramic heater.

Many many moons ago, when I went through my ceramic heating element phase, I'd just buy the largest one I could get (250 watt I think) and then use either a thermostat or rheostat to adjust it's power output to get the right temps.

My personal preference that they are poo poo (I've learned the error of my ways) ... They dry out the air and I've been physically burned by them moving them for cage cleaning and feeding.

For a fish tank set up to house reptiles, some flexwatt, a thermostat, and some contact paper should be all you need to get a nice even heat at the correct temps without killing yourself trying to keep humidity up.

Just my $.02

-adam

[cassandra]

I think he was asking about a ceramic heating element - goes into a light bulb socket but is ceramic and only emits heat, not light.

We use them, positioned above the water bowl in our vivs, which helps keep the humidity up as well as the ambient air temp. In the future when we have a snake room, I plan on just heating the room to the right ambient temp, but for now, the CHE works well.

We have the CHE plugged in on the same tstat as our warm side UTH; the probe is just under the surface of the substrate for the warm side UTH. When the tstat kicks on the warm side UTH, it also turns on the CHE, which luckily for us is the right amount to keep the ambient air temp at 80F +/- 2.



This is Carmen's cage; the big black light shade holds a Zoomed 150w CHE, positioned above a screen lid above the water bowl. Being over the water bowl helps also increase the humidity, which sits beautifully at 58-60%. We also have custom cut plex fit into the screen lid to help hold in the ambient heat and humidity.



Cleo's cage has a smaller watt CHE (75w? 100w? I can't remember), a smaller shade as well as smaller hole in the cut in the plex, but based on the similar principles.

[Mendel's Balls]

I'm pretty sure he was asking about ceramic heating elements that are used over head outside of the cage? These days, those are way more common than hot rocks.

As for good or bad, it depends. They can be used to elevate cage temps and come in different sizes (wattages). By choosing the right size, you should be able to get your temps where they need to be without a thermostat. The problem is that as your household temps change from season to season, you'll constantly need to change the size of your ceramic heater.

Many many moons ago, when I went through my ceramic heating element phase, I'd just buy the largest one I could get (250 watt I think) and then use either a thermostat or rheostat to adjust it's power output to get the right temps.

My personal preference that they are poo poo (I've learned the error of my ways) ... They dry out the air and I've been physically burned by them moving them for cage cleaning and feeding.

For a fish tank set up to house reptiles, some flexwatt, a thermostat, and some contact paper should be all you need to get a nice even heat at the correct temps without killing yourself trying to keep humidity up.

Just my $.02

-adam

Sorry for the confusion.....