uth

im currently running 2 lamps (one for day one for night) and theyre running a little hot for the snakes taste (i think) and making my room unbearably hot. i want to know what kind of uth's everyone is using because i might switch over to one to reduce the overall heat of the tank for nighttime. i know some dont have the ability to to regulate the temp and some do, what power is your non regulated uth and what power setting is your regulated one? thank you

Whats a little hot temp wise? UTH's provide belly heat which is beneficial to digestion so i would pick one up anyway and without a rheostat they all get in the 100's regardless of what the box says which is waaaaay too hot.

A UTH, and a thermostat can maintain temp where you want it. Place UTH one one side, so your corn and adjust his temp by moving.

PM me and I will send links to the stuff I bought.

A uth is all you need in your viv, you wont need the heat lamps. Make sure you have it on a thermastat as my uth got up to 110 degrees without one. The power of the uth depends on the size off your viv. The uth needs to cover approx 1/3 of the floor space, so the wattage depends what size uth you put in.

I don't know what brands you have available but I like the ExoTerra rainforest type heat mats. They hit about 86F with bare glass - much safer then the desert types. If you think overheating will be a concern get a thermostat. I like to put a ceramic or slate tile over the glass where the mat is. The tile disperses the heat very evenly for safer lounging.

I dont know if you can get these in the u.s but i have got a habistat and a komodo uth and they are both very good.

i did a little more research on the matter and still cant decide which one to get, i have a 20gal long tank. i move the lamps higher up and the tank cooled down, but id still like an under tank heater. how do the thermos control the temp? do you have to buy a uth that comes with a thermo or get one separately?

The thermostat works just like the one for your house. Set it at the desired temp and it keeps the UTH right there. This is a decent thermostat that is fairly inexpensive too...
http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=75

PS. Are there any reptile shops in Salisbury? I drive through there every summer on my way to Ocean City...sorry :-offtopic

rheostats and thermostats

I think you are doing the right thing by wanting a UTH even though you may have figured out your problem for now. There are several reasons...

As someone said earlier, having the heat source below the snake (belly heat) help the snake in digestion, which if you've ever had one regurge you will never want to happen again.

Also, they say humidity is not a major concern in cornsnakes, unless they have shedding problems. Now I dont know what the humidity is normally like where you are at, but heat lamps will suck all the moisture out of your viv.

The difference with rheostats and thermostats:
A rheostat is pretty much a dimmer switch that you can plug a UTH (or whatever else) into. Like a dimmer for your lights, you turn the knob and it varies the amount of power supplied to whatever is plugged into it. The bad thing about that is that to keep the same temperature you will have to turn it up some when it is cold and turn it down some when it is hot. A rheostat is a simple device; there are no sensors or anything to tell it how hot your viv is.
Thermostats are pretty efficient working devices that you set at the temperature you want and it does what it has to do to maintain that temperature. The type I have is digital, just like an air condition thermostat. It has a temperature probe I secure on the floor of the viv above the heat source and then set the thermostat at whatever temperature I want it to be. The one I have will vary the amount of power it puts out to make sure it stays where it should. Normally it runs at about 10% power. Some thermostats regulate the temperature by turning on and off. Say you set the temp at 85. It will turn on the power until the temp is around 85, maybe a degree or 2 higher, then it will turn off until then temperature drops to about 83 (just a guess). It turns on and off keeping the temperature "about" where you set it.

As for the UTH, I think I heard of one that comes with some sort of rheostat connected to it, but most of them come seperate. I prefer that because I'd rather have a thermostat over a rheostat. I personally believe a decent thermostat is well work the money. Yes, some them are kinda pricey. I know (have read) numerous others on here agree that a good thermostat is one of the most important pieces you can invest in.

Sorry I got very long winded, but did ask how it works...
Hope this helps and feel free to ask any other questions.
Jimmy

A uth is all you need in your viv, you wont need the heat lamps.

ok ive done some searching so im slowly narrowing the results down. thanks for all the help.
im not in salisbury anymore, need to change that lol, but there were no reptile shops but a petsmart and superpets, both decent.
and my room is not very sunny so im worried about screwing up the snakes daytime/nighttime awareness.

I have a 20L tank as well, it measures 12"x30", I picked up a Exo-Terra Medium sized UTH, it measures 10"x11" which is about 1/3 the size of the floorspace which is perfect. I keep mine on a rheostat, the temp "floats" between 85-90ish depending if I have the A/C running in the room or not.