Pet shop told me..... Is this right????

[SnakeAround]

I happen to be able to keep my snakes happy with simple light bulbs in their vivs.... I just use he wattage that keeps the warm side on the right level and the cooler side cool enoug. Sometimes I need a reflector bulb for that purpose but usually a regular bulb does well. My corn vivs all contain 1 bulb, ranging from 7 to 40 watt depending on size, material of the viv, season an placement in the room. I do have to change bulbs now and then when temps change because of the season but I have never to be scared about cooking a snake if a thermostat fails...

 

[dwyn127]

You've got a couple of options. Here's a picture of my 40 gallon with a plexiglass divider. It's housing 2 snakes with the UTH in the middle which is why both sides mirror each other with the warm hides in the middle. You could partition your tank this way and only use the one side until he gets bigger or you could do like the next pictures. This is a 55 gallon also divided with the UTH in the center of the viv. These snakes are pretty little so I have them in 5 quart Sterilites until they get bigger. This way, I'm only using a single paper towel and not having to spread substrate across the whole bottom of the 55 gallon. When they get bigger, I'll open the tank up to them. Plus being on paper towel, I can monitor closely for poop or regurge problems.

 

[sazzy925]

I've heard bad things about hot rocks, apparently they only heat themselves up and so the reptiles sit on them for hours on end trying to get the heat, and only feel the burning once it's too late.