• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Infrared basking bulbs for heating?

Leafpot

Leafpot

New member
More newbie questions!

I'm not looking to use a UTH so please don't try to endorse them on me.

For heating on the warm side of my tank for a corn snake I've decided to go with a infrared basking heat lamp and a dimmer/rheostat and really I was wondering what would be an appropriate wattage? I have a 40gal breeder tank and I've read a lot of people with 20-30 tend to use 50-60watts. Though I do already have a ZooMed 75W bulb.

Also another billion dollar question, can it stay on 24/7? My house doesn't get below 72°F so would I even have to leave it on?

Thanks in advance for the help:)
 
Your better off using a high wattage bulb (like your 75) and dimming it down to the temp you need.
As for leaving it on 24/7, it all depends on the ambient room temp and if your achieving the right temp gradient. Only you will know.
Please send the billion dollars to this account 254-256794-003 thank you :dancer:
 
The Cat said:
Just wondering, why did you choose to use a bulb instead of a UTH?
Click to expand...

Because I do have a small UTH but it's not the right size for the tank, nor do I have a thermostat to regulate it -although I'm going to get one anyway for the bulb- and I didn't feel like spending another 30 dollars on a larger UTH when I have several bulbs and heat lamps from my Iguana lying around.

Sure they dry out the air but keeping the humidity up won't be a problem considering regularly it's at 40 WITH the lamp which is ideal, and raising it for sheds won't be a problem. Sure snakes do prefer belly heat but in nature they use stones for that, which is why I am also going to invest in a title or slab of stone to put underneath the lamp( keeping i regulated) to act as a source of belly heat they can take advantage of when need be.

As for the gradient, that's not hard to produce considering the heat source is going to be on one side of the tank, and room temperature for my home is 72F around the clock, maybe reaching 75 at most. With a 100 watt bulb it does get too hot, which is why I'm lowering the wattage to about 75 using a regular incandescent with a rheostat, and I'll still be able to manage a cooler side temperature at around 72,-76, and a hot side for me ideally would max out at about 88. :)
 
Daddio answered it all pretty well. Curious why you decided on an infrared basking bulb instead of a ceramic heat bulb? I guess price maybe? Either way, just like daddio said, get a bulb thats higher watt and dim it down to the temps you need. As for leaving it on 24/7, you *could* as long as the light doesn't disturb you. I personally don't put much stock into the whole "snakes can't see red light" logic though... I've seen my old corn react to turning her red light on and off. So I know they notice it... it's just supposedly not as intrusive (for lack of a better word) as normal light. My remedy was a ceramic heat bulb, radiant penetrating heat with none of the light.
 
Nythain said:
Daddio answered it all pretty well. Curious why you decided on an infrared basking bulb instead of a ceramic heat bulb? I guess price maybe? Either way, just like daddio said, get a bulb thats higher watt and dim it down to the temps you need. As for leaving it on 24/7, you *could* as long as the light doesn't disturb you. I personally don't put much stock into the whole "snakes can't see red light" logic though... I've seen my old corn react to turning her red light on and off. So I know they notice it... it's just supposedly not as intrusive (for lack of a better word) as normal light. My remedy was a ceramic heat bulb, radiant penetrating heat with none of the light.
Click to expand...

I personally would rather just use a regular incandescent bulb with a wattage of about 75 so I could regulate it with a thermostat instead of an infrared, but where the viv is placed in my house the snake doesn't actually get much light at all which is why I'm using a light in general. I've heard the stories and such about infrared, and that sort of think so I might just use it as a night time bulb whenever it gets colder in the winter, and just turn of the incandescent at night for now because it doesn't get lower than 72F--plus with a piece of stone in their at night already heated from the day it'll keep it a little warmer for a little while through the night I hope.
 
Since it doesn't get that cold in your house you could definitely go with no light at night. Night time temp drops are fairly natural and corns are a very hardy species of snake anyways. So you really shouldn't have any concern at all about turning the light off at night if you want.
 
Don't leave it on 24/7. As you've said, 72F at night is fine. They can tolerate slightly below that as well. Especially if you are using incandescent bulbs, only about 12-hour light cycle should be used.
 
Ahhh thank you all so much! I was really stressing out over this heating situation because everyone was screaming at me UTH but now that I know I can successfully do this with just a heat lamp and correct wattage bulb with a thermostat I feel a lot better about all of this! I plan on getting a sub-adult lavender corn and I just wanted to make sure I'm doing everything properly! :)
 
Leafpot said:
Ahhh thank you all so much! I was really stressing out over this heating situation because everyone was screaming at me UTH but now that I know I can successfully do this with just a heat lamp and correct wattage bulb with a thermostat I feel a lot better about all of this! I plan on getting a sub-adult lavender corn and I just wanted to make sure I'm doing everything properly! :)
Click to expand...

I mean, a UTH is definitely the preferred and popular method, but there's more than one way to do something! I think the rock is a good idea (as in, a smooth rock underneath the light) but you *really* have to keep an eye on it so it doesn't get too warm. You'll most likely need to dim the lamp quite a bit, depending on the height of your tank. Keep in mind also that temps with lamps will change throughout the day when the air in your home naturally changes so it will take some adjusting and set-up well in advance to you getting your snake.

All the best!
 
I would be inclined to just get a ceramic heat emitter and run it 24/7 in your lamp if I absolutely couldn't use a UTH for some reason. And I would be hesitant to suggest leaving a snake in 72 degrees with a belly full of food as well. With a ceramic, there is no light, so it can run at night without disturbing you or the animal.
 
Chip said:
I would be inclined to just get a ceramic heat emitter and run it 24/7 in your lamp if I absolutely couldn't use a UTH for some reason. And I would be hesitant to suggest leaving a snake in 72 degrees with a belly full of food as well. With a ceramic, there is no light, so it can run at night without disturbing you or the animal.
Click to expand...

Well it's not necessarily I can't have a UTH, I just don't see a real reason to use one when people can do it successfully without one. It's not going to be in 72 degrees constantly with food in it's stomach either so I'm not worried about it not digesting it's food properly, they have to deal with that in nature all the time. Sure it might take a few more hours but that's not that much of a problem.

Plus I do have a small UTH already for a 20gal, so if I buy a thermostat I can just plug it in at night for the snake and let it run whenever it's digesting it's food. I just don't want to buy a bigger one to heat the tank when I don't need too.
 
Be sure and bookmark Kathy Love's regurge protocol.
 
I've used red basking lights successfully for years with absolutely no regurgitation. I had never even heard of an UTH until I bought a used tank with one attached to the bottom...
Do what you think is sufficient and don't feel pressured either way.
I am starting to see the importance of a thermostat or rheostat but it sounds like you will be purchasing one of those soon enough :)
Good luck with your corn snake! Post pictures!
 
Chip said:
I would be inclined to just get a ceramic heat emitter and run it 24/7 in your lamp if I absolutely couldn't use a UTH for some reason. And I would be hesitant to suggest leaving a snake in 72 degrees with a belly full of food as well. With a ceramic, there is no light, so it can run at night without disturbing you or the animal.
Click to expand...

I think I forgot that snakes eat for a second... OMG. Good point Chip!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top