Bioactive vivarium heat

[cbgarner2002]

Hello all! I've been reading a lot about bioactive setups and I'm really getting interested in attempting one at some point. I'll probably go with a modest one at first to try my hand at it before I take the plunge into something bigger. For those of you who have had success, how do you work out the heating piece, normally?

I know I could potentially use a screen lid on a 20 gallon long with lamps, or something of the sort, I just shy away from using aquariums for snakes for a multitude of reasons so I'm just curious how others have had success with custom cages, etc. I prefer belly heat but with the multiple layers of substrate I'm guessing that would be relatively ineffective. I'm probably going to go with a mexican black king snake or a corn snake.

[dannybgoode]

Don't forget if you use a heat lamp or other radiant heat source to heat a stone or log then you are providing belly heat. This after all is what happens in nature. The sun heats the ground which radiates back up. Specific belly heat is not required as such.

I just use an off the shelf wooden viv for my lizards bioactive set up. Works a treat-no need for custom.

[sirtalis]

In my 20 gallon "tropical" I simply put a heat lamp on top of the screen and I cover the other half with foil or towels to keep heat/humidity in. In my 20 gallon "desert" enclosure I simply use a higher wattage bulb and do not cover any of the screen to allow the humidity to escape. For an effective bio active enclosure the substrate is usually to deep for a heat pad to be effective so I stick with over head heat which is more natural anyway.

[sirtalis]

In my monitor lizards cage I have a few rocks under 2 75 watt halogens (flood not spot)

[akane]

I sandwiched the UTH between 2 natural slate flooring tiles in my desert tank so they sit on top of most of the substrate and then I filled it so there is an extra inch or so over the top tile to settle down in. Then I put the stone house on top of half of that and a basking rock with a small 50w bulb heat lamp in a typical clamp on lamp pointed at the rock just outside the shelter because my UTH is too weak for the 20 long. With a stronger and bigger one it might work by itself. It does result in a cord going out the corner of the enclosure but it's not a problem.

[cbgarner2002]

I sandwiched the UTH between 2 natural slate flooring tiles in my desert tank so they sit on top of most of the substrate and then I filled it so there is an extra inch or so over the top tile to settle down in. Then I put the stone house on top of half of that and a basking rock with a small 50w bulb heat lamp in a typical clamp on lamp pointed at the rock just outside the shelter because my UTH is too weak for the 20 long. With a stronger and bigger one it might work by itself. It does result in a cord going out the corner of the enclosure but it's not a problem.
Do you have any pics by chance? I'm trying to picture the UTH you're describing and it's not coming to me very well, but it sounds interesting.

[sirtalis]

I sandwiched the UTH between 2 natural slate flooring tiles in my desert tank so they sit on top of most of the substrate and then I filled it so there is an extra inch or so over the top tile to settle down in. Then I put the stone house on top of half of that and a basking rock with a small 50w bulb heat lamp in a typical clamp on lamp pointed at the rock just outside the shelter because my UTH is too weak for the 20 long. With a stronger and bigger one it might work by itself. It does result in a cord going out the corner of the enclosure but it's not a problem.


Never thought about doing that, if you have pictures I wuldnt mind seeing them too lol

[RAD House]

Has anyone ever run heat chord just under the soil for heat? I too have also had issues heating my bioactive Vivariums. Luckily it is not a huge deal as the only species I keep in them are garter snakes and a crested gecko.

[dannybgoode]

Has anyone ever run heat chord just under the soil for heat? I too have also had issues heating my bioactive Vivariums. Luckily it is not a huge deal as the only species I keep in them are garter snakes and a crested gecko.

I would be nervous of them being dug up, animal getting tangled up, burns etc. Possibly being over cautious but don't fancy the idea of them not being fixed and inaccessibility.

[RAD House]

I would be nervous of them being dug up, animal getting tangled up, burns etc. Possibly being over cautious but don't fancy the idea of them not being fixed and inaccessibility.

Those are definitely valid concerns. Not really a worry with my garter snakes obviously. Also it would definitely be under control of a thermostat. Do you not have any chords running in your enclosures?

[dannybgoode]

Those are definitely valid concerns. Not really a worry with my garter snakes obviously. Also it would definitely be under control of a thermostat. Do you not have any chords running in your enclosures?

Not at the bottom and the ones coming in at the top are secured. Both my boa and carpet can use them as 'branches' but they cannot move them or release them in any wl way

[akane]

I regretted not taking pics when I set it up but I might be redoing it soon to make a layer that can hold more moisture on the bottom and a pot for a plant. It's the same as setting it under your tank when your tank is on something solid except it's between the 2 thin, mostly smoothed out pieces of floor tile slate and those are sitting on top of nearly all the substrate on one end of the tank. I left the top piece of slate 1" below the surface so my snake could dig around where she was resting on the heat. The UTH heats the slate but doesn't touch the substrate and nothing but maybe really small bugs that fit along the natural chips in slate can get in there. I filed the edge of the top slate down a little so it's not all flush to the glass and ran the cord behind the cave I made on the warm side, up the glass, and out the corner where the screen lid edges divide. It has a temp dial on the outside but like I said my UTH is too weak, it wasn't even really enough when I had it under the tank before I added substrate, so I have it always on high with the heat lamp on a basking rock next to it as a supplement. If I can afford a new UTH that will probably be included in redoing the tank.

[dannybgoode]

Don't forget also that a lot of reptiles burrow to get away from the heat and into cooler ground. Have a heat source under the substrate is entirely unnatural in this respect.

[akane]

They still use more bottom heat in many ecosystems though. It's just radiated off of objects on the surface. Which is why the lamp I use for heat is pointed at a specific rock and the edge of the stone cave on the UTH section. It's sitting on a sunny ledge or just under a sunny ledge versus going to the deep sandy soil only side which is cooler and damper.

[sirtalis]

I would also be hesitant to bury the chord, both my monitors and geckos have dug extensive burrows and I feel that the moisture in the soil may lead to a possible electical problem?

[akane]

My cord is behind the cave straight to the tile and not buried in substrate. The pic doesn't show much and it's too big of file to attach so I didn't post it but under the cave and thin layer of substrate is the tile, under that is the UTH with the cord out the back against the glass in a gap filed in the tile, and under that is another tile. The rock is on the slate off the edge of the hidden UTH and the slate ends by the time you get to the water.

http://i1321.photobucket.com/albums/u548/takakageri/snake/Barairo/DSCN3866_zpsqxveigph.jpg (http://s1321.photobucket.com/user/takakageri/media/snake/Barairo/DSCN3866_zpsqxveigph.jpg.html)