Ceramic Heat Emitter?

[Brylee1233]

So I was looking into buying one for my BRB. I know they are not recommended for this particular animal, but I am having a hard time getting my heat pad hot enough (it's a Exo Terra Rainforest). The temp gauge in the cage says it regularly sits around 68-70 degrees but my temp gun says its about 71-73. Either way, I would like to get the hot end a few degrees hotter. I have no experience with heat bulbs or ceramic heaters, and I was wondering which brand is the best (long lasting, and more reliable) and if there was anything else I should know. Thanks! :)

[Manietsky]

The temp gun measures the surface temp, which will always be higher than the air temp, but is still relieble, since the snake sits on the surface. As for the the CHE, I don't think any famous reptile brand makes better, longer lasting bulbs, than any other brand or nameless brand. I ordered two 150W CHE's from ebay costing 10$ each. I'm not saying it would be worth waiting the 3 week shipping from china in your case, but the more popular brands will most probably be identical to the cheaper ones. I haven't had mine for too long, but I know many people who say likewise. As long as you got thermostat, you could always use both for more reliability. :)

[Minkness]

I use mine for one female hoggie who seems to do better with warmer temps than usual. I will say that it does make it VERY warm. I would be very careful using one for a BRB.

[Nightflight99]

A radiant heat panel would be a much better choice for a rain bow boa setup. RBI (http://www.reptilebasics.com/rbi-radiant-heat-panels) and Pro Products (http://pro-products.com/pro-heat/) make the most popular radiant heat panels in the US.

[trailblazer295]

I agree with Nightflight a CHE would be killer on your humidity. I personally use Pro products RHPs in my snake cages.

[Sasha2]

Is the heat mat on a thermostat or running full power. Sounds like a defective one to me.
My smallest Zoomed heat pads run around 130 without a thermostat.
But if its under the tank/cage and substrate it might not be enough to heat through both.That being said a UTH doesnt heat the air temps at all.

[trailblazer295]

Is the heat mat on a thermostat or running full power. Sounds like a defective one to me.
My smallest Zoomed heat pads run around 130 without a thermostat.
But if its under the tank/cage and substrate it might not be enough to heat through both.That being said a UTH doesnt heat the air temps at all.

It also depends what cage he is using, glass tanks might be different. With pvc cages the poor thermoconduncitivity of plastice the heat doesn't transfer outside the heated area at all. With a temp run the plastic is room temp right outside the mat area. An RHP won't heat air either but they will heat objects which in turn heat the air.

[bigsnakegirl785]

I agree. An RHP would be a much better choice here. CHE's just burn too hot, and you could easily overheat your boa even if temps are correct. CHE's push extreme amounts of heat down, so if a BRB sits under one it could quickly become too warm even if the air temp is within parameters.

[Brylee1233]

Thank you for your replies! My heat mat is under glass and is controlled by a thermostat. I will look into RBI's and Pro Heat. I came across something called a Heat Cable. Does anyone have any experience with this and would like to share?

[PsychoSnake]

Definitely not a CHE for a BRB! I have used many of these and they can make it too dry for even arid species to shed properly and their water bowls evaporate quickly. Too risky in my opinion.

[bigsnakegirl785]

Thank you for your replies! My heat mat is under glass and is controlled by a thermostat. I will look into RBI's and Pro Heat. I came across something called a Heat Cable. Does anyone have any experience with this and would like to share?

I don't personally see the use in using them when you access to RHPs/CHEs/heat tape, which are discussed/used a lot more and as such a little easier to use. They also should not be used inside the enclosure like I've seen some people do, giving a snake direct contact with a heating element sounds like an incredibly terrible idea (I've seen people simply wrap them around perches so when the snake wraps around the branch it's also wrapping around the heat cable). If it ever malfunctioned, it would be just that much easier to get burned.

From what I hear, they take more attention to detail to get right as well.

Definitely not a CHE for a BRB! I have used many of these and they can make it too dry for even arid species to shed properly and their water bowls evaporate quickly. Too risky in my opinion.

I use CHEs without any of the problems you describe. My main thing is using bedding to provide humidity, which means it's 100x easier to maintain humidity, and as long as the humidity is high enough, not even CHEs will evaporate a water dish all that fast. When my humidity is low, yeah, CHEs evaporate all the water in my water dish within 2-3 days, but when I'm keeping up with it it could probably sit in there for several weeks without losing a noticeable amount. It's just amount of heat they put off that I mentioned above that makes me not want to use them with BRBs, with how sensitive they are to overheating.