heating

[JG89]

What is the best way to heat the viv, a heat pad or lamp or what? I know not to ever use a heat rock cuase every site i go to stresses that.

 

[MegF.]

I use an under the tank heater stuck to the bottom of my viv. I put paper towel taped over it on the inside so that the snake can't lay directly on the heater if they burrow. Then the substrate goes over that. In the winter my house gets very cool, so I will use a heat lamp on the warm side to keep the air temp on the cool side in the 70's. Otherwise, the temps drop down into the low 60's. Some people live where it's so warm that the air temp keeps the viv pretty warm and you won't need anything.

 

[Sabbas]

Depending on how large your viv is and how cool your snake room is you might need both a under the tank heater (UTH) as well as a ceramic heat emitter (CHE) on the warm side of the viv. I would recommend starting out with the UTH and watching the thermometers at both ends of the viv to see what kind of ranges you are getting, and then adjusting accordingly.

Remember to place something directly above the UTH to prevent the snake from possibly burrowing down to the glass and burning itself directly on the heat pad. Astroturf seems to be enough of a barrier as do papertowels if you want to go that route. Just make sure the snake cannot burrow any further under that protective layer. You can put other substrate layers over the top of this as well if you like. (some snakes are more fond of burrowing through woodchips than others)

 

[newt]

I live in Canada and I use a under heat pad, and a heat lamp juring the day. I leave the heat pad on 24/7, and the lamp I turn off juring the night.

 

[surfrkidTS]

i use the zoomed UTH with a rheostat since they had a tendancy to get so hot!