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Heating Mat Choice?

H

hyunae_le

New member
So I don't own a snake yet, I have taken care of a family friend's corn snake before though when he was on vacation or busy with work, and its just now I'm sort of planning to get one (if not soon than in the future) and was just wondering how people choose the right heating mat for the snake?

And also i know that sometimes all people use is the heating mat and not the lamp, so I was wondering how much the electricity bill rises if you only use the mat? Thanks :)​
 
Choosing the mat is pretty simple. Almost all brands are pretty much the same. Just avoid the Exo-Terra Rain Forest. It's not designed to put out the heat required. Beyond that, any brand will do, the more important part is size and regulation. You'll want a mat about 1/4-1/3 the floor space of your enclosure. And of course you'll want a thermostat or rheostat (endless debate, but in the end either will work if handled properly).

As for the electric bill, it will actually be less to run just the UTH. The average heat bulb is 75-100w and on almost 24/7. The average UTH is 11-25w and if you have a thermostat, will switch between on and off as needed.

As for recommendations on heat mats, I have personally used Exo-Terra, ZooMed, and currently Flukers. I really love the Flukers. If I had to rate them personally i would say Fluker's > ZooMed > Exo-Terra
 
Honestly, I haven't noticed much/any difference in mine either. Just a singular snake atm, with a 150w ceramic heat bulb and an 11.5x23.5 heat mat. I just figured I'd address the fact that heat mats (especially when hooked up to thermostats) are theoretically more energy efficient than bulbs or bulb and mat.
 
cornsnakegirl said:
I never saw my electricity bill budge when I got my snake, and I use an UTH and a bulb. :)
Click to expand...

You don't need both the lamp and the UTH, the UTH is fine by itself as long as the thermostat is set to about 87° on the hot side. Lamps tend to dry out the viv and are more likely to cause damage in the way of fire and possibly harming the snake's eyes, even to blindness, if the wrong bulbs are used.
 
smigon said:
You don't need both the lamp and the UTH, the UTH is fine by itself as long as the thermostat is set to about 87° on the hot side. Lamps tend to dry out the viv and are more likely to cause damage in the way of fire and possibly harming the snake's eyes, even to blindness, if the wrong bulbs are used.
Click to expand...

Uh...
Thanks, but I use a low wattage red bulb with a dimmer on low, I found that she comes out more with it than without it. Different strokes for different blokes!
 
Nythain said:
Choosing the mat is pretty simple. Almost all brands are pretty much the same. Just avoid the Exo-Terra Rain Forest. It's not designed to put out the heat required. Beyond that, any brand will do, the more important part is size and regulation. You'll want a mat about 1/4-1/3 the floor space of your enclosure. And of course you'll want a thermostat or rheostat (endless debate, but in the end either will work if handled properly).

As for the electric bill, it will actually be less to run just the UTH. The average heat bulb is 75-100w and on almost 24/7. The average UTH is 11-25w and if you have a thermostat, will switch between on and off as needed.

As for recommendations on heat mats, I have personally used Exo-Terra, ZooMed, and currently Flukers. I really love the Flukers. If I had to rate them personally i would say Fluker's > ZooMed > Exo-Terra
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions! So about Exo-Terra, are their other products not too good as well? Just curious :)
 
hyunae_le said:
Thanks for the suggestions! So about Exo-Terra, are their other products not too good as well? Just curious :)
Click to expand...

They're not bad. I just haven't had the best personal luck with them. Others have had good luck with them. And there are some (myself included) who swear all heat mats are probably manufactured from the same Chinese company. There's really little to know difference in the actual heating element of it. ZooMeds have a "padding" of sorts, but on the inside even they're pretty much the exact same stuff. That's why I opened with the brand choice is little to no difference. I'm sure for every pro-ZooMed story someone else can tell a personal ZooMed nightmare and vice-versa with the other brands.

And just to confirm others answers, yes you can just use the UTH (with a thermostat of course) as the only heating for the warm side of a corn's cage. In fact, that's the only source of heat most keepers have.
 
Nythain said:
They're not bad. I just haven't had the best personal luck with them. Others have had good luck with them. And there are some (myself included) who swear all heat mats are probably manufactured from the same Chinese company. There's really little to know difference in the actual heating element of it. ZooMeds have a "padding" of sorts, but on the inside even they're pretty much the exact same stuff. That's why I opened with the brand choice is little to no difference. I'm sure for every pro-ZooMed story someone else can tell a personal ZooMed nightmare and vice-versa with the other brands.

And just to confirm others answers, yes you can just use the UTH (with a thermostat of course) as the only heating for the warm side of a corn's cage. In fact, that's the only source of heat most keepers have.
Click to expand...

Just to double check (sorry I do this a lot ^^") how would I use the thermostat for the UTH?
 
I haven't had any problems with Exo Terra stuff. I prefer their hides and water dishes to other options.

The thermostat will have a temperature probe/wire that you will run inside you viv and firmly anchor on the glass over the center of your heat mat. I have used a hot glue gun to stick all mine down, at the suggestions of several members here.
 
hyunae_le said:
Just to double check (sorry I do this a lot ^^") how would I use the thermostat for the UTH?
Click to expand...

You plug your heat mat into your thermostat, and make sure the therm.'s probe is right in the center of the heat mat. The cord should fit fine under your lid without making an escape route for a snake :)
 
cornsnakegirl said:
You plug your heat mat into your thermostat, and make sure the therm.'s probe is right in the center of the heat mat. The cord should fit fine under your lid without making an escape route for a snake :)
Click to expand...

Just to be clear, the UTH goes UNDER the tank, and the probe goes IN the tank and is suction cupped directly over the middle of the UTH.

I personally take a new UTH, tear off a sheet of aluminum foil twice the size of the mat, peel the backing off the mat and stick the mat to the foil. Fold the sides and ends over the mat, then you can use tape to stick it under the tank.

This will make it much easier to do a full cleaning of the tank since you can untape the UTH and get the whole viv wet and soapy without damaging the wires on the UTH. And the foil doesn't change anything the UTH does, it is just an easy way to take it off. I have also used this to move a smaller guy up to a larger tank, the sticky stuff on the UTHs is SO sticky sometimes it won't come off without damaging the wires or connectors.
 
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