heat light or mat?

[beardie]

right now i have a heat light but i have a matt that i do not use what would be a better sugestion to use?

 

[MegF.]

I'm new at this, but I have both. Under his hider rock, I have a heat strip. This warms about half of his hider area. I didn't have a heat lamp at first, but my house is so cool (around 68-70 degrees) that he never came out. I put a heater lamp in the other corner, directed onto a basking rock, and I keep it on during the day. I turn it off at night so that he gets normal diurnal rhthym, and I noticed that he is now coming out more. I think he prefers the warmer temperature. Having the heat strip under only part of his hider rock, gives him a choice between having it warm or cool, or somewhere in between. So far it seems to be doing the trick.

 

[beardie]

ok thanks
he hasent been coming out as much recently so ill try turning the light on.

will the mat be a fire hazored if its on a wood surface?

 

[MegF.]

The mat I bought came with little plastic feet to stick on the underside corners of the tank so that it is off the ground a little. This keeps the heat from building up underneath and cracking the glass on the aquarium. My tank sits on a wood stand, and it appears to be fine. I haven't moved it much yet, as it's still clean. I haven't emptied it yet for cleaning.

 

[Skye]

I use both

you do need an airgap under or around the heat mat, and so spacers to lift the cage/separate it from what it would be touching otherwise are important.

I also always use a rheostat with heat mats, and don't let them go at full power

Skye

 

[h0mersimps0n]

BOTH, each are very important for:

Essential belly heat and important basking heat for your corn.

Pick an "end" of the tank and make that your "warm end". Place a heat pad under the tank, a hide in the warm end and then the light over the top of the warm end. I cycle my light using a light timer. I find this works out perfectly, a consistant, sufficient belly temp around 70-75 for a safe and digestion friendly hide, and during the day the corn can head to the top of the log or branch for a warm-up. BE SURE TO PLACE TEMP GUAGES ON THE SUBSTRATE, you don't want to stick your temp thingies to the side of the tank because glass temps don't mean anything.

I just recently gave my dad his first two snakes (a normal I hatched this summer and a ghost hatching) and he has been stubborn about keeping temps up (cause he keeps his house so damn cold) and I think he caused one of his snakes to go off eating for the winter.

Good luck, PM or e-mail me if you have more quesitons but definitely start using that pad and good luck.

 

[beardie]

ok so ill get a reostate for the heat pad and ill get everything set up so that he will be a little more active

thanks for the advice

 

[Rachel]

I just have a heat mat for some of my corns. It is more important to have the mat because it is the substrate temp you are trying to control (as this is where your corn spends most of his time)

 

[MegF.]

I had just a mat heat strip, but I found my corn wasn't coming out because the rest of the tank was too cold. My house is around 68 degrees in the winter, and he just stayed in where the heat strip was. I put in a lamp which heats mostly on a basking rock, and gets the rest of the tank temperature up around 75 or so in the area away from it. I noticed that he's now coming out in the evenings, and when I return him to the tank after handling him, he's not so quick to return to his hider rock. He'll climb around a bit, and investigate his climbing branch and such.

 

[Rachel]

Oh yeah, a light is a good idea for additional heat but if you had to chose a mat or light for basic heat, I'd always go for the mat