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Heating Other than Heat Lamps

T

tbtusk

hot jupiter herps
I was just reading a few replys to another question.
It made me think.

I'm 14 and starting a small breeding colony. I'm wondering what people use instead of heat lamps.
Am I getting the wrong idea, or is it true that there's another option? My parents hate having heatlamps hanging all over the place, and heat tape won't do it when my house gets down to 60 degrees.
How do I keep my corns warm enough?

Thanks
Turner
 
Do you mean human heating pads? Yes they're different. They're designed for reptiles. Any decent pet shop should have them, to get them cheaper you can order them online. Reptilesupply.com has some on sale currently. With a UTH you will also need a thermostat or rheostat to regulate the temperature, as they get too hot otherwise. A thermostat is the better option, and the ZooMed 500R is only 19.99 plus shipping at the above mentioned site.
 
No, I ment reptile heating pads. I use ones made by Zoo Meds for my 2 corns. They don't keep the cage warm enough, but I may just not be using the right kind. I can give the name ina few days, but I'm on vacation now.

I will definitely look into heat rope.
Thanks
 
I find that when the house gets that cold it is hard to keep a terrarium warm. I use a combination of under tank heat mats and lights overhead. My garters are the only ones kept in tanks and I find they tolerate the cold fairly well. To try and keep the heat in the cage use something to cover the screen top so there is less ventilation. If you have been housing your corns like this for several years and not brumating them and they have done fine through several winters you must be doing something right!

Joanna
 
Have you tried human heating pads? Try a kind that doesn't have an automatic switch off mode. Get a thermometer and rehostat so you can regulate the heat. Try the pad at medium, that mode has worked well for my corns. If the medium isn't hot enough though, high will be.
 
I find that in most cases an unregulated UTH will get too hot rather than not hot enough. What are you using to measure your temps?
 
A human heating pad was not designed to be left on 24/7 like a UTH. I would be very cautious about using one, myself. Watched one day time show and the woman was actually burnt over most of her body when she felt asleep on the couch with one turned on and her couch caught fire from it.

I'm with BeckyG, I've never heard of one getting not getting too hot. I know the thermostat I've got for mine two are constantly cutting off or only at 20% energy in its efforts to keep the tanks at 84.
 
The floor of the cage may get hot enough, I agree. The problem is that when the ambient temperature in the house is as low as 60 the rest of the cage will be very cold. With a lamp heating from above and an UTH on a thermostat or rheostat heating from below the ambient temperatures are better.


Joanna
 
That's exactly what I find hapens in my cages.

I just got back to check the heating I am using at the moment. To regulate I have a heatlamp and a UTH plugged into a Zoo Med Repti Temp 500R thermostat.

The heating pad clearly warms the bottom of the tank enough, but without the heat lamp the rest of the cage would never get above 75 at most.

At the moment I am actually using 2 heat lamps, but will soon switch to one with higher output.
 
I wouldn't worry so much about the ambient temps. My air temps in the house are in the 60's but as long as they have a warm spot to hang out on, they are fine. UTH's aren't for heating the air, only the floor of the tank.
 
I live in massachusetts as well, and the temperature in our house is around 67 to 68, low 50's at night, and my snakes are just fine with zoomed 20 gal heating pads. I actually stuck the UTH on a piece of plexiglass because the tank would get too hot. Even though the temps on the low side might dip a little below their range during the night, the warm side is always in the right range.

One of my snakes even hangs out occasionally on his vines which hangs on the wall above the cold side, as far away from the pads as he could get. I'm sure the air temps there are in the low 60's at best. I figure if he really hates cold temps that much he wouldn't volunteeringly climb up those vines to sit there.

I guess all i'm saying is, as long as you provide a warm spot for your corn where he can safely digest his meal, you really don't have to worry too much about the rest of the tank, as long as it's not frigid.
 
It doesn't really matter what the air temps are as long as your snake has a way to warm its body temperature up; a UTH/heatpad/heat cable/heat tape etc etc can all do that just fine.
 
The snake wiill probably do just fine with the belly heat at about 85 but I think digestion is faster when the ambient temps are a little warmer than 60 degrees. Just my experience.

Jo
 
YOu could also add some insulation around the cage. It would help hold in the heat from the UTH & may be raise the ambient temps a couple degrees?
 
I'll probably end up hanging blankets in front of the door way to my soon-to-be snake room (a large closet), and that should help. Hopefully everything will work out well. It has so far.
 
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