• 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.

which uth heater?

E

ernie55

New member
Zoo med repti-therm available locally says to use only on glass. I was going to use sterlite or such. Should I look for another uth?
 
If you have a thermostat hooked-up to it and its set at the right temp(84-88 degrees) that it shouldn't get hot enough to melt it.
 
I agree with hackler.. if it's at the highest 88 degrees you should be fine. I have two tanks that are glass and plastic and my UTH hasn't managed to melt either one of them.
 
I like either the ZooMed or the ExoTerra Desert. The ExoTerra has nicer "feet" but is extremely difficult to remove. The ZooMed is a stiffer plastic and can be removed if you need to.
 
I don't know how many snakes you intend to keep or how the tub(s) will be placed, but let's say if you have a 3' shelf or similar space, you can buy one 3' strip of 4" flexwatt from Reptile Basics with insulator cap and wiring pre-installed for around $20 including shipping. The 3' strip of flexwatt will be long enough to heat 3 15qt. tubs side-by-side or 2 32qt. tubs side-by-side. Unlike the standard stick-on UTH, you don't risk the chance of breaking the flexwatt by moving it around because all you need is aluminum tape to hold it down. You can just peel off the aluminum tape (available at home depot and other hardware stores) and put a new one on. Flexwatt is cheaper by the square inch, easily and safely portable, and i also find that it produces more evenly distributed heat than the zoo med and exo-terra UTHs. Again, this recommendation is largely dependent on how many snakes you want to keep and how your tub(s) are placed. Even if you only plan to keep one snake, it may be worthwhile for you to look into it.
 
Oops almost forgot... another important reason why i like flexwatt is that since it is not stuck on to the tub, you can pick up and move the tub around without the wire dangling around. It makes cleaning the tubs easier. It also means that now you have a choice between placing your thermostat probe inside our outside the tub (directly on the flexwatt). I prefer placing the probe on the excess part of the strip outside the tub. This also makes it easier to clean the tub because you don't have the actual probe inside the tub getting dirty, unsticking, etc.

Also if you still prefer the stick on UTH, then i have had better experience with the Zoo Med brand. I find that it's physically designed better and produces heat more evenly than the Exo Terra. I've only bought 6 Zoo Med UTH and 2 Exo Terra UTH, so it's a small sample size. Maybe i was just unlucky with the Exo Terras.
 
Thanks. I was gonna get 2 snakes, but probably going to start with one. Can you wrap the uth in aluminum foil & tape it with duct tape? I thought I read a post on that set up.
Again, thanks!
 
ernie55 said:
Thanks. I was gonna get 2 snakes, but probably going to start with one. Can you wrap the uth in aluminum foil & tape it with duct tape? I thought I read a post on that set up.
Again, thanks!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I just taped mine on rather than using the built in tape
 
They make a type you can just tape on with aluminum tape- I think Big Apple stocks them. I have that type on my two big kingsnake cages- they work great.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top