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Switching from ceramic heating to UTH, will I have problems?

Susielea

Susielea

Lily
Hi everyone, I'm hoping you might be able to help me with the above question.
I've been keeping corns successfully for 5 years now and have bred successfully for the last 2 years.
When my corns were very young and in small plastic vivariums I heated the vivs with UTHs under a third of the tank.
When they were old/big enough, approx 18 months, I moved them all into roomier melamine, glass fronted, 3ft and 4ft vivs, heated by ceramic heaters on habistat thermostats. The temp on the warm side runs at 84f and the cool side at 75f during the day, I then reduce the warm side temp at night to 75f and the cool side drops to about my room temp, which rarely goes below 65f in the middle of winter (I live in south east England in the UK). I've measured this with a digital probe thermometer.

I moved house in July last year and have now got a room adjoining the lounge to house all our reptiles in. So now it's all decorated I've decided to splash out on a stacked viv unit, which will house my females.
The unit will measure 4ft wide x 6ft tall x 18 inches deep and will have 4, 18 inch high vivs one on top of the other ( you get the picture?).
After serious thought I've decided the best way to provide heat in this type of stack will be to use UTHs and I'm going to put the mats inside the vivs regulated by temp stats. (Using ceramic heating in this stack would cause each of the higher tanks to become hotter than the one below, I think).

So my questions are 1) Should I use something to cover the mats i.e. a sheet of perspex, tile etc before putting their aspen bedding in?
2) Should I bury the probe from the stat in the bedding, laying it flat over the UTH?
3) Should I have the heat mat covering 1/3 or 1/2 of the floor area?
And 4) will my girls have any major problems that you can think of changing over from "ambient" heating to UTH heating?

Any insight from those more experienced with UTHs heating would be greatly appreciated. And any hints or tips to make the transition go more smoothly will be welcomed!

Many thanks in advance, :cheers:
 
Susielea said:
So my questions are 1) Should I use something to cover the mats i.e. a sheet of perspex, tile etc before putting their aspen bedding in?
2) Should I bury the probe from the stat in the bedding, laying it flat over the UTH?
3) Should I have the heat mat covering 1/3 or 1/2 of the floor area?
And 4) will my girls have any major problems that you can think of changing over from "ambient" heating to UTH heating?
Click to expand...

1) I would. First off, I would try to find an arrangement that would allow me to avoid putting the heating element right inside the viv with the snake in the first place. It might work with absolutely no problems (and I'm sure some people have done it)...I just feel like it's increasing the odds of something going wrong.
Beyond trying to avoid putting the UTH inside the viv, I can't think of any measures that will make it safer off the top of my head, but some other folks might have some input on that.

2) I always bury the probe. It doesn't do you any good to know the temp on top of the substrate is 85 (for example), if your snake can burrow and potentially come into contact with a much warmer spot. IMO, it's better to know the temp of the warmest spot, under the substrate, isn't hot enough to cause harm.

3) 1/3 is the figure that I've always heard tossed around, but I'm sure it's not a hard and fast rule.

4) I doubt it.

Good luck!
 
I agree with putting the heater outside the tanks thats what they are designed for hence the name ;-). I mean I am not expert yet but it just seems to be best to keep it under the tank.
 
Thanks for the prompt replies guys!

I said I was going to put the mats inside the vivs, because I don't think there will be enough heat transfered through 3/4 inch melamine, if I were to put the heat mats on the roof of the tank below.
Therefore i was going to make like a false bottom over the heat mat with perspex or tile? What would be the best thing to use? Has anyone got a better suggestion?

Sorry for going on I'm just a worried "Mummy" and want to get it right, so my girls will be happy in their new homes.

Many thanks,
 
Well, since I don't have your set-up right in front of me to visualize it, I can't be sure that I'm suggesting something that if feasible. Also, it depends on how elaborate you want to get and how much can reasonably be taken apart...:)

If you just lay something across the UTH you are going to be putting pressure on it and are running the risk of that pressure and constant contact causing problems.

One option, is to make a groove in the bottom piece of melamine that is wide enough for the UTH to lay down in. Then you can just lay a piece of plexi-glass over the whole bottom, which might be easier to clean than the wood anyways.

Another option, if you don't want to have to mess with the woodworking, is to get two pieces of plexiglass. Make one long enough to cover most of the bottom, but leave enough room to lay the UTH beside it. Make the second piece the size of the entire bottom. That way the first piece should elevate the second piece enough that it isn't putting pressure on the UTH.

Just tossing some random ideas out there...don't know how do-able they are ;)
 

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Hi Zach,
Thanks for the reply. I understand what you're saying about making a groove to lay the heat mat in, but the mat will be about 12x18 inches so that would be a huge chunk to cut out!
My thoughts were to get a piece of tile or perspex just a bit larger than the heat mat, then under all four sides of the piece stick a strip of 1/4 inch beading, so that it's elevated from the heat mat. Then i was thinking of sealing the whole thing down with Aquarium sealant, as I've been told this is safe for reptiles.
Doing it this way seems easy enough and it would be reasonably easy to remove it if neccessary. Please let me know if this seems logical to you and if you can see any pitfalls?

Many thanks,
 
So, if I understand correctly, you are going to build a small "platform" with 4 legs, stick the UTH underneath and then close up all the sides creating a sort of "heat island" on the warm side?

That sounds like a pretty good idea. Seems like it should work and be safe. :)
 
Im wondering the same thing...Im about to make those kind of cages but instead mine will be of wood....would there be a chance that to wood could get to hot and burn? Or dont UTH's get that hot? Also with using plexi would that melt if it got to hot?
Thanks
 
Also susielea are you going to be buying Regular/premade UTH's or are you using the Flexwatt? Anyone have any opinions on either?
Thanks again
 
Thanks Zach, that's exactly what I mean! I'm so glad you understood what I was on about, as I couldn't think of a better way to describe it. I'll let you know if I run into major problems.

Hi Denim, I'm going to be using premade heat mats, made by Ultratherm, which is a popular brand over here in the UK. Also they will be controled by Habistat temperature thermostats so they shouldn't overheat.
I think whatever heating you use should be controled by a reliable thermostat to avoid all possibility of overheating.
Another thing you should be aware of if you are going to build a vivarium out of wood, is to not use pine type woods as they give off a certain chemical that is harmful to reptiles.

Once again thanks for the help and good luck Denim with your tank building. Don't forget to post pics when you,ve finished it.
 
zwyatt said:
1) I would. First off, I would try to find an arrangement that would allow me to avoid putting the heating element right inside the viv with the snake in the first place. It might work with absolutely no problems (and I'm sure some people have done it)...I just feel like it's increasing the odds of something going wrong.
Beyond trying to avoid putting the UTH inside the viv, I can't think of any measures that will make it safer off the top of my head, but some other folks might have some input on that.
Click to expand...

To add to that, or provide some added persuasion, I heard a disgusting story this week. I was talking to a guy that's kept snakes for about 10 years or so, and he was telling me about his first snake, a ball python. He had it for a couple of years on a UTH that was mounted to the bottom of the aquarium. It worked fine in that setup for a few years, but it ended up dying because the UTH caused severe burns on its underside. He found it dead when he came back from work, and had to PEEL it off of the glass. The majority of the skin/scales that were touching the glass above the UTH were actually scorched right onto it, and they actually stayed in place when he peeled the rest of the snake off.

It was a very vivid lesson.
 
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