Thoughts on heat lamps?

[Chip]

A few reasons. First, unregulated flexwatt is a much higher risk to fail. It isn't designed for the reptile industry, and gets hotter than ideal in most herp applications. Another reason is, the hot temps will make the plastic tubs brittle sooner, so the life of the tubs are compromised. Finally, in most applications, the tubs simply aren't ventilated enough to allow enough heat to leave, so the entire enclosure would overheat. But in something like a Freedom Breeder, they let enough heat out to have a safe gradient.

 

[knox]

Gotcha. I have never seen a freedom breeder. Nor have I heard of anyone using Flexwatt without a thermostat. Thanks for the quick reply.

 

[Chip]

Just for the sake of clarification, I don't run Flexwatt unregulated nor do I recommend it.

 

[vetusvates]

I thought that you might find this interesting............

The UTH just could not radiate enough heat outward thru the glass to make any significant difference. There is the possibility that covering the top to trap in the heat could work but I didn't test it.
Just for reference, the same UTH attached under the glass tank with a thermometer laying on the bare glass inside read 113 degrees and with bedding 138 degrees.

It was an interesting outcome

Yes, very interesting, daddio. I like your hands-on-experimental style.
And by "variously" I meant I have UTH's placed a number of ways, in addition to "under", believing that under is much more important to monitor and control. Obviously heat rises, so even a wall of heat would be, by itself alone, little more than a plane of heat/warmth between a snake and the outside world. Which I have never believed could harm a snake, and here you have provided the scientific evidence.

 

[daddio207]

so even a wall of heat would be, by itself alone, little more than a plane of heat/warmth between a snake and the outside world.

I didn't think of it from that perspective.
Hmmmm???? Now I have to break out my junior mad scientist kit and experiment on a few new ideas!

Thanks !

 

[Doggey75]

I really think it all depends on what you want to use. I keep my corn snake on heat lamps and one of my 8 ball pythons on heat lamps. I have not had any problems with the heat lamps beside the occasional bulb break.

 

[smigon]

Corn snakes are crepuscular. They creep during puscular times of the day.

Damn, I thought that meant "crepe", I have been waiting for my corns to make me delicious crepes for over a year, and just thought they were lazy or stupid.

And I think I dated a few crepuscular men, some were creepy during ALL times of day, not just the puscular times!

 

[Nythain]

Use of heat lamps is frowned on due to possible overheating and drying out the air in the tank. The most important thing is to have the proper heat gradient and if you can only achieve it with a heat lamp then use one. I would use a night bulb or a Ceramic Heat Emitter. Get a higher wattage and use a plug in light dimmer to adjust it. You will have to play with position to keep the right gradient. Do NOT put it inside the tank. Use a thermometer at each end to make sure you still have a cool end. Also you will have to compensate for the dryness it will create in the tank. If you are using a thermostat or dimmer with your UTH (you should be) then you might have to re-adjust it.
I base what I say on the info posted. Good luck

This pretty much took any words I had right out of my mouth.