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Lamps vs Heat Pads

C

CarlosI210

New member
So I'm kinda new to the forum and I'm a little curious as to how people feel about Lamps vs Pads. What are the pros and cons and what do you prefer to use? (I'm aware most people here prefer pads over lamps, but I'm still interested)
 
Lamps:

Pros: if you live in a humid place, it can help keep the humidity down.
They are usually easier to regulate temperature, and are harder to accidentally burn your snake with.
Cons: No heat at night, which shouldn't be a problem unless you live in a very cold place, although you can get a red light bulb, which doesn't effect their sleep cycle. Also, if you live in a dry place it can dry it out even more, so you would have to mist the viv more often.
Mat:

Pros: heat at night , less likely to start a fire, corn snakes naturally warm from the belly up.

Cons: They are easy to over heat, so you must check the temperature often.

I personally use a lamp because I live in a humid place.
 
Lamps are not recommended because they have to be left on all the time if they are the primary heat source. A lamp is ok, but there should be 12 hours light and 12 hours dark to simulate day/night. Otherwise the snake's metabolism and life cycle can be thrown out of whack. Also lights heat from above and can dry out the air.

I have a light on a timer (12 hours on, 12 hours off) but it's not for heating purposes. Rather it's to give the snake a sense of day and night.

Most of us use Under the Tank Heat pads (UTH) for heat control. These are typically used with a thermostat to hold the temperature at a constant. There are a few folks here that use them without thermostats and they will tell you that's ok too. I have 2 of these heat pads which I plugged in and allowed to heat up. I then measured the temps with an infrared heat gun, and one was at 113 degrees and the other was 115 degrees. This is too hot for a corn snake, so I use a thermostat on both. I have one set at 85 degrees and the other set at 71. The one set at 71 rarely even kicks on unless the temp in the room drops below that. (It can get very cold here at night, that's why I have the secondary pad).

Whatever heat source you choose, it's important to provide heat to only half the cage, and let the other half be cooler. (85 and 74 seem to be preferred temps) from various books I have read and even from many folks who post here. Again, there are some individuals that will tell you different. A corn snake needs heat 81 to 88 degrees to digest its food. If you don't provide the heat, the snake can become ill, might regurgitate its food, become slow and sluggish. Most of us like to give our snakes "A Choice" of temps. Hence - half the tank at about 85 and half cooler. That way the snake can warm up or cool down when he wants to.

Some people will even tell you that a corn snake does not need any heat at all. Because it's a temperate snake not a tropical, it can do just fine in room temps. That may be true if you live in a warm area and your house stays above 81 all the time. Most of us don't live like that though, so heat will probably be needed.
 
I ask because I have a adult corn that I've raised since he was a hatchling, and the place where I bought him told me to use lamps. I've recently bought another baby corn which is why I've joined this forum and k felt kinda stupid since everyone seems to be so pro pads, and I'm wondering whether I should make the switch or if I'm fine the way I am
 
so you're saying you have an adult that you've used a lamp with for several years. Then keep doing it, it's obviously working for you.
 
Some folks will insist that heating pads are the only way to go, blah blah blah "belly heat", blah blah "humidity"... Truth is, using the right lamps can be just fine and they can be used by the average without incident, perhaps with just a little extra work to be truly ideal. I use heat pads because I currently use locking plastic tubs...it's just easier for me. When I get a rack system, I'll be using flexwatt. If I had actual tanks, I'd probably have considered using small lamps in addition to heat pads, especially if I kept them downstairs (it gets very cold in the living room in the winter and tends to stay cooler overall year-round).
 
Dragonling said:
Some folks will insist that heating pads are the only way to go, blah blah blah "belly heat", blah blah "humidity"... Truth is, using the right lamps can be just fine and they can be used by the average without incident, perhaps with just a little extra work to be truly ideal. I use heat pads because I currently use locking plastic tubs...it's just easier for me. When I get a rack system, I'll be using flexwatt. If I had actual tanks, I'd probably have considered using small lamps in addition to heat pads, especially if I kept them downstairs (it gets very cold in the living room in the winter and tends to stay cooler overall year-round).
Click to expand...

Thanks! TBH I got a little freaked out when I joined the forum, I thought that maybe my older corn was just specially resilient and tough maybe and he just happened to turn out healthy and that my young corn might be in danger, but I feel A LOT better now XD might still switch to pads but at least now I know that I'm probably not endangering the lives of my little friends 😁
 
I use a combination of lights and pads (under tank heaters). The UTHs are my primary heat source, and keep the 40 gallon vivs at ~78 F. The lights I use for "day light" and heat, as follows: I use a full spectrum 100 watt flouresent to simulate daylight in conjunction with a 30 watt incandescent to create a "hot spot" with both lights on a timer; at night the timer switches over to 30 watt black light bulb to simulate night while still maintaining a (slightly cooler) "hot spot".

There are lots of options, and everyone has their preferred method, but I find this works best for me.

~Beau
 
I would also suggest not changing the set up for your adult snake. It has been acclimated to it for years and changing could actually cause an issue.
For your new hatchling I would go with a UTH.. Based just on the fact that heat rises a UTH will always be a better, safer, cheaper way to provide heat for corn snakes.
 
Do you mean ceramic heat lamp, or one of the lighted heat lamps?
When you say lamp, I think of ceramic heat lamps, because those are the only ones I would use.

I agree with Dragonling. I myself use ambient heat (I heat the whole room, moderated with a dual thermostat set up, and an overhead fan that circulates the heat.
I know others with several snakes that do the same thing, or something similar.

Heat is heat, whether it be ambient, radiant heat panel, overhead (lamp), or UTH, if the proper temps are maintained, the snake(s) can thrive just the same.
With any heat source, it should be regulated with a thermostat.
 
Im currently using both lamp day and pad at night pads stays at about 81. So works for now i read about the night bulb so ill get that and use that....i just checked her temp in the cage and it was 91 is that too hott? Shes a baby also 10 gal tank. Thanks


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