Query about heating hardware

[Malkavian]

Typically when heating my herps (various snakes, lizards and etc) I use a standard dome lamp, either ceramic socket or plastic, whatever brand the petstore I patronize has in stock, maybe zoomed or one of those "big" brands.

Anywho, I tend to notice that they seem to burn out quickly, and usually they "die" when a heat element has burnt out in them. Anyone else seeing this kind of behavior? Shortly before I adopted my bro's leopard gecko, a 25 watt "night" bulb had burnt out in their lamp, and the whole thing was more or less dead when I tried it. On several of the ones that have "died" I know I've seen things looking like scorch marks on the ceramic around where the light screws in

Anyone else seeing these problems? Got a better idea where to get my lamps from?

 

[Ravnos]

I just use normal household bulbs myself. Assuming all you're looking for is heat (and not UV too). a normal 60 watt household bulb will get one end of a 30 gallon tank well into the 90s. You can just up the wattage if you need more heat. I don't see the point of getting the ones labelled specifically for reptiles at 10x the price. Now for UV bulbs... its hard to go cheap on those, unfortunately. :}

Rav

 

[Malkavian]

I tried that for a while but my pythons appear to hate the bright light (my leopard gecko as well), they hide from it. The infared-only ceramic elements cause them to come out to bask, and whats more i'm heating a 55 gallon tank with an open screen top, not sure if household bulbs could do that.

Edit: Also the ceramic ones last alot longer than a household incandesent

 

[Ravnos]

For snakes I use under tank heat pats exclusively. Leopard geckos are nocturnal, they're not scared of the light... its just day time when its on so they are hiding.

Ceramic ones are nice and do last forever... I have a few laying around that I only make use of in the winter when I need extra heat somewhere.

Rav

 

[Critterfarm]

Typically when heating my herps (various snakes, lizards and etc) ... 8< snip

Sounds like you may have enough to justify a roll of flexwatt and a rheostat or two. Unobtrusive, easily customized and economical too boot.

 

[Malkavian]

Thing is my two pythons are arboreal. I've been led to believe that basking solutions are best for them

 

[Dessicata]

What are they, GTP's? Carpet pythons? Either way, ceramic hotplates would be a great option, especially if you keep GTP's as there have been accounts of them striking at ceramic bulbs after mistaking them for a warm mouse I use the hotplates with my arboreals, and they work well.

 

[Malkavian]

They're carpets, bout four-5 feet long. The way my cage is set up there's screen in beteween them and their lights, but I'm curious about what you mean by ceramic hotplates...

 

[Dessicata]

Ceramic hot plates - They're like a ceramic bulb, except flattened. Usually in wattages of 50-100W.

 

[Malkavian]

Like one of these?
http://www.eastbayvivarium.com/supplies/supplypics/zoomedceramic.jpg

 

[Dessicata]

Thats a ceramic bulb, so same method of heating, but flat...

 

[Malkavian]

I know I've never seen something like what you're talking about at a petstore..where ya find them?

 

[Dessicata]

I'm in UK...that might be the problem.

 

[Malkavian]

ah that's true...well are they made for reptile heating or something else?

 

[Dessicata]

Made for herps. Habistat make them, called repti-radiators, but the ones I've got (maybe out of production now) are by Ultratherm and are called Powerplates.

Sorry I can't be of any more use.

Lee

 

[Lasiodora]

I believe the alternative you are talking about is Pro radiant heat panels: http://www.pro-products.com/proheat.html

These don't take up the space that ceramic heaters do. They also do not become hot enough to burn you or your animals. They are completely safe to the touch and still provide the amount of heat needed. Many carpet pythons and GTP keepers use them. I've used them and they provide a good heat source witout the risk of burning. You can install them directly in the cage.
BTW the leopard gecko will come out even with a light source. It all depends on the individuals. I've had leos that slept out in the open even with the lights on. Others have been more shy and prefered to sleep in hide spots.
Mike

 

[Malkavian]

those look interesting...

I'm somewhat curious how they heat to the same level as a ceramic emitter without being dangerously hot to the touch. and do they really last as long as the advert claims?

For something like the carpets will it make a difference if i put one of those on the side of the cage instead of direclty above like the lights are?

 

[Lasiodora]

The heat is not concentrated in one area like ceramic heaters. It is evenly distributed. They can even custom built to whatever size panel you need. The description on the webpage is more detailed. It really works though. I've put my hand up against a heat panel and it was warm but did not burn my hand. I've used tehm and I know plenty of other people who still do. They're much better than ceramic heaters. You don't need a fixture and a bulb. It's just the one panel. I believe it's also water proof.
Mike

 

[Wade]

Those radiant heat panels work quite well. A friend of mine keeps all his animals in an unheated garage. He doesn't heat most of his NA stuff since he wants to cool them for breeding anyway, but for his few tropical animals he has a wooden rack with a large heat panel mounted on the shelf above the animals and it heats numerous small cages.

These were originally made for use in commercial buildings and even houses with large open rooms. The pro-heat is just a scaled down version.

Wade

 

[Malkavian]

They're looking good. My biggest concern with anything that sits on the top of the cage is that the entre lid is walnut, and 've nearly set a fire several times with high wattage ceramic emitters. If these things are significantly below that type of temperature i think i'll look into getting some