heat Lamp question..

So I rehomed zipper to a new 20 gallon long. His 10 gallon had an under aquarium heater. The lady at Petsmart suggested I get a heat lamp, which I did. She said it was perfectly fine to simple sit it on top of the metal screen. There is a clip but no real place to attach it. Is this dangerous? She also said that I can use my under aquarium heater at night and the light during the day only.

I am also really annoyed because I bought a thermometer too and OOPS not in my bag...back to PS tomorrow. :devil01:

If you can't ensure it is positioned away from the metal top I don't think it is the best idea just because that metal is going to heat up and could cause burns. Is Zipper a snake? If so your UTH is all you need, but if this another reptile who needs the overhead lamp get one with clamps for sure!!

i dont know about others, but i have been using a heat lamp resting on the screen of my snakes tank for over a year with no problems. (my father is dead against UTH's) the only thing i've noticed was that its a little harder to keep humidity up.

If you aren't using a UTH then yeah a light is fine they need some sort of heat, but both may make it too warm.

yea, i must have missed the part about the UTH and the heat lamp being used. i would just pick one or the other. both have pros and cons, i know for lamps, the bulbs can add up once you have to start replacing them. they are about $10 a piece. (just a thought).

Ok so for night when the light is off, he won't need anything? The UTH is for a smaller tank so what I was thinking was I would just turn it on at night so he would have a warm spot. Thanks for the help in advance. And yes Zipper is a 3ft + corn.

You should always have a warm end in the low to mid 80's and a cool end in the 70's. As long as the UTH can cover a third of the cage you shouldn't need the light at all and keep the UTH on day and night.

danielle said:

You should always have a warm end in the low to mid 80's and a cool end in the 70's. As long as the UTH can cover a third of the cage you shouldn't need the light at all and keep the UTH on day and night.

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Gotcha! I think I will return the lamp when I go back to get my thermometer.

I only use a lamp as a light source. but it is also on a stand instead of on the screen. My wife decorated the viv with some of that viv paper and it seemed dark in there. The main source of heat is the UTH.

Everytime I have had an aquarium set up I have used both, a lamp and uth. The uth on 24/7 and the lamp on 12/12 with a timer so i don't have to touch it after I find the correct watt bulb for the desired temp (lamp resting on the screen top). I have used this setup for close to 15 years without a single injured snake or burned screen. I find it makes a nice temp drop at night and the snakes can often be found basking under the lamp during the day and in a hide over the uth at night.

danny819 said:

Everytime I have had an aquarium set up I have used both, a lamp and uth. The uth on 24/7 and the lamp on 12/12 with a timer so i don't have to touch it after I find the correct watt bulb for the desired temp (lamp resting on the screen top). I have used this setup for close to 15 years without a single injured snake or burned screen. I find it makes a nice temp drop at night and the snakes can often be found basking under the lamp during the day and in a hide over the uth at night.

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See thatis what I was thinking, my only fear is that with no home for the better part of the day and the lamp on there could be a fire. And I can just hear my husband now... YOU JUST HAD TO HAVE A SNAKE DIDN'T YOU? AND NOW LOOK OUR HOUSE BURNED DOWN!

that would be no one home* eek it is early!

Most of my snakes are in racks but I still have a dozen or so aquariums set up and all run uth/lamps. If you have one tank setup I don't see a problem overloading the electrical system but the lamp should be ceramic where you screw the bulb in instead of plastic.

I will have to look, but I do think it is ceramic.

Admittedly, I haven't been doing this long, but from what I've read on this forum the important thing is that the warm side is 80 to 85 degrees. Right now I am running a few 10 gal tanks and to meet the 80 to 85 I have a ZooMed UTH on one side, which works fine during the day when it's warmer. At night the temp drops in the house, so I use a heat lamp on a timer for that.

My best advice is to get your thermometer (like you said you were going to do) and just check it and make adjustments to your setup until you get the temps you need. I have two thermometers (cool side and warm side) because even if my warm side is good, that doesn't mean my cool side isn't too cool.

Adjustments you can make: You can try different wattages on the bulbs for hotter or less hot, you can play with the timer for longer shorter on/off periods. Obviously if your UTH keeps it 80 to 85 all day and all night, keep it ditch the heat lamp and call it good! One last consideration about adjustments, during summer our house stays warmer = may not need heat llamp at all, during winter = need heat lamp more.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

I would actually say the UTH is a little better than a light. But yeah, both would work, just not at the same time. If you can't return the light I would say get one of those red lights they have for nite time. You can turn it on then. Again, don't use both at the same time. Do you have a rhynostat or thermostat on your UTH? And you might want to get a thermometer if you don't have one.