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Best Ultratherm size for 40g breeder?

Phruit Dish

Phruit Dish

Bringer of Meeses
Hi to all! I've been away doing the grad school thing, but have a pressing question. I'm setting up a 40 gallon breeder for Birch, my cubed normal, and I'm scratching my head when it comes to a fairly simple question: what size Ultratherm UTH should I use? I know the standard rules, but the oblong sizes are akin to a brick wall to me at the moment. I think my brain's broken, honestly; this should be an easy decision.

I have an existing 11x11 (which I'm going to keep as an emergency cold-side heater for really cold days as needed), but I'm looking at the 11x17 or 11x23. I measured the tank when I bought it, but have misplaced the dimensions. I can remeasure on Friday after this crazy week is over, if needed, but I hope that in the meantime, labeling it as a 40 breeder will suffice.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance for any help you can lend!
 
I've read it should cover between 1/4, to 1/3 of the enclosure, and no more.

However, a UTH is more for a hot spot, not raising ambients. Since it is generally used under the hide, it makes sense to me, to size it for the snake (and the hide used), not the enclosure.

My UTH's are the smallest size from Reptile Basics (6"X11" - more or less). I use that size in my two 10 gallon tanks, and used it in the 35 gallon tank. Now, it is under the same medium size standard black hide in a 36"X18"X24" Exo Terra.

In that enclosure, I also provided an RHP for ambient temperature, and a ledge underneath for basking.
 
I use 2 heat pads. (It gets really cold here in the winter and my house stays on the cold side). One heat pad (the warm side) is set to about 86 degrees all the time. I have a 2nd heat pad on the cool side that is set to 73 at the moment. (It's best not to let a corn snake go below 70.) On the days where the temp inside my house is 73 or more, the pad on the cool side doesn't even do anything. It's pretty much there for "Just in case." Both of my pads are about 8 x 12. My tank is a 30 gallon front opening Exo Terra. Please remember to use a good thermostat or rheostat along with your heat pad(s) to avoid burning your snake. Some of those pads hit 115 degrees or more which is too hot for a snake by themselves.
 
Agree, even the Ultratherm can get fairly hot, despite what the pamphlet says. Supposedly, a corn should be able to know when the surface is too hot, but I don't want to drive mine out of a hide that is too warm into a space that is too cold. (Our house is very cold in the winter too.)

The t-stat on the UTH is set for mid 80's. My thermometer probe in the hide always reads a bit lower. I don't keep a t-stat on the RHP because it is only 28 watts, and the enclosure is large. The thermometer below it on the floor reads 70F. I don't yet have a means of measuring basking temp. on the ledge under the RHP.
 
Most of us put the probe directly on the heat mat itself. Then we use a hand held infrared thermometer to actually measure the temps. You want the temp of the actual heat pad to be in the mid 80's. I actually have to set my stat at about 93 for the heat to come through the glass bottom and the carpet to where the snake actually lays. I measure that spot with the hand held thermometer and adjust the stat to get the hot spot at 86. It took me a few minutes of adjusting to get it right, but once you get it set it will usually stay there. If your probe is not located on the pad itself, and you are not checking the temps on the pad, then it could still be too hot for the snake.

A lot of people think the entire cage needs to be 85 degrees and they put their probes on the side of the glass and crank up the heat and then wonder why it never gets warm enough in their tank. Meanwhile their poor snake is frying on the bottom. Those heat pads are not designed to heat the whole tank, just a spot where the snake lays. The only way to raise the temp of the whole tank is to raise the temp of the whole room or add an additional heat source like a heat lamp.
 
This is the exact setup I have. 40 breeder with an ultratherm. You're going to want the 11x17. What you do is place it under the tank so that the 17" covers the tanks width, not the length.
The problem you are going to find is that despite the tank being 18" wide, the black plastic "framing" (or whatever it's called) makes it impossible to lay the mat flush against the glass.
What I wound up doing was this: tape the pad to the underside of the tank with heat resistant metal tape (make sure the tape touches only the borders of the pads plastic film, not the heating pad itself). Then get a big piece of Styrofoam about 3/4th of an inch thick, and lay the tank on top of this. Remember, the manufacturer of the UT pads recommend you do this anyway. Although it's probably not necessary, it helps push the pad against the glass in such a way that you can get it basically flush.
Then get yourself a hydrofarm thermostat off Amazon, stick the probe in between the pad and the glass, and you are set.
I've had this setup for a year with zero issues.
 
Thanks all! I did bite the bullet and go with the 11x17. Don't worry -- I've been running a Hydrofarm for the life of my sweet little girl, Birch, and have a JumpStart waiting in the wings. I kept the 11x11 for backup use, and in case the heat in the house flakes out again and I need a second source for the cool range set at the low end of the gradient. I have a battery backup coming for power outages as well. I have actually run a UTH without a thermostat and taken IR readings at 5' intervals in an unoccupied, bare glass tank (with one of those ridiculous analog thermometers on the glass). The results were horrifying! If I hadn't already been utterly convinced of the necessity of a thermostat (and good digital equipment), I would have been then. As others have posted similar data, however, I never did anything more with mine. (There's value in replication studies, but you know the rest of that story.)

Hopefully this allays some of the fears that I was running a partial setup. I do the best I can to provide the best setup possible for my beautiful girl, who'll be 3 this August. :) Thanks again for such helpful, thoughtful replies! I'm always so pleased to be here in such a wonderful community of like-minded ophidiophiles. I miss being here...but grad school and clinical duties wait for no Phruit, so I cherish the rare times I can sneak away from my studies to visit.
 
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