• 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.

Under Tank Heaters??

candiedbutter

candiedbutter

New member
I know, I know, enough questions already hey? But I may be an obsessive worrier. Anyways, I use an undertank heater for my cornsnake, but it get's fairly hot. It covers half of the tank bottom, but i worry about her burrying under the substrate (Aspen shavings) and burning herself. I know she can move away but it almost burnt my finger when I rested it on the bottom of the tank glass. Is this okay? Will she be alright if she can move away from that heat to the other side or should I look into getting a rheostat or a basking lamp instead? Thanks for your help.

CB
 
Well, I've heard that corns don't have very sensitive nerves in their bellies so they don't really know that they're getting burnt. (I don't know if this is true though.)
If it really worries you, you can buy a rheostat to control the temperature, or do what I do. I propped up the tank by putting a book at each corner (the books are of similar thicknesses) so that there is a space between the tank bottom and the heat pad. This way, some of the extra heat escapes, and when I measure the substrate over the heat pad, it is a perfect 84ºF. :)
 
Thanks

I'll try that. Also, what temperature should the cool side be? At the moment it's about 72 on the cold side and 85 under the red lamp, which I will use just for tonight till I get get a proper undertank heater.

Are those Temps okay?
 
same problem

I had the same problem with the undertank stick on type pad. Way too hot. So I have carefully peeled it off the bottom of the tank. Since the room the tank is in stays around 80 F I'm not using any heat source until I figure out the best way. I also probably worry too much, but hey us worriers get it done and done right! Good luck :)
 
Yay

Thanks everyone. I bought a heatpad, and so far, except for jumping the temp to 90 overnight (Which I fixed by adding more substrate and propping up the cage a bit) it's not a perfect 85 on one side and 72 on the other. Yay. ^.^

Is it a problem if she mostly stays on the cool side? She doesn't seem to like the warm side much, even though she has a hide on both sides. She hasn't eaten yet so she's not digesting. I guess I should only worry when she eats and stays on the cold side, if she does.

Bah.. i'm an overly worried snake mom. I suppose she can regulate the temp on her own easily I shouldn't worry.
 
If you guys don't attach the undertank heater to the bottom of the tank, what is it resting on? Isn't there a danger of the heater burning the shelf it's sitting on, if it's directly on top of it? Or do you have some way of holding the heater off of the surface below it and off of the tank itself??
 
My heat mat rests directly on my wooden desk and I haven't had any problems. However, if the surface is anything other than wood then it's not a great idea to have the mat directly on it. But don't some heat mats actually stick to the bottom of the tank?
 
heat pad on a ceramic tile

I carefully peeled my stick on type under tank heater off because I was having trouble regulating the heat and wanted to put some distance between the bottom of the tank and the pad. I have the pad on a large ceramic tile, and the aquarium is on wooden blocks. The whole set up sets on a small wooden dresser in my son's room. We don't have to turn up the heat very high cause it is already warm in our house. My handy husband also installed a dimmer switch for the heat pad which is great!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top