Spotlight vs UTH

[Tango-n-Toads]

I'll be getting my leo soon and i'm wondering which is better for a leo setup. I'm not going to have a lot of money for the initial setup and also want something that's going to be easy and won't worry me too much.

I use spotlights to heat my house gecko tank and also my crab tank. If I use some sort of tile flooring rather than substrate will a spotlight provide enough heat for its belly?

I want to do this right but I really don't want to have to dish out $40 for an UTH if I can get effective heating from something that costs less.

[mikeyweir]

In my setup, I have a uth, 25 watt red lights, and a heat rock. I suppose, is you didnt want to buy a UTH, you might want to go with the red lights, and get bark for a substrate, and burry a heat rock like 1cm under the bark,(so there is a fine layer of bark on top of the heat rock. Sometimes the rock can heat up so i like to let it heat up the bark on top of it so my leos wont get burned. The best thing to do is get the lights, which will give the temperature heat, and the rock to warm up the leos belly. But a Uth and heat lights is the best in my opinion.
Mikeyweir

[TLH_Wär§cöötmän]

Yea a UTH is a must IMO, lights are also a good idea. I have a 27 gal long, so I need 60W day and 50W blue night bulbs, and I still use a 11"x17" UTH. I do not recommend using a heat rock. Even if you cover it, your leos may dig/uncover it.

[Tim and Julie B]

Go with a UTH, since leos need belly heat rather than basking heat:)

Julie

[mikeyweir]

Yea, a uth, and put your tank in a warm location, that's my final answer, lol
mikeyweir

[Tango-n-Toads]

OK. I will most likely end up with an UTH then. I want to do what's best.

My next question is if i'm using slate or ceramic tile on the bottom of the tank does the UTH go under the outside of the tank or inside, but underneath the tiles?

I've never used an UTH before and they make me nervous. I don't want to burn his widdle footies.

Also, if the temperature is a little too high for him how do I lower it?

Thanks.

[TLH_Wär§cöötmän]

You can do either. I put my UTH on the glass underneath (standard) but if you like, you can sandwich the UTH between 2 pieces of tile, and silicone it up, then have it on "legs" that are about 2" or so off the ground. You can use Rheostats (i think thats what they're called) that can alter the amount of electricity the UTH is getting, and in turn, how much heat it provides.

[Tango-n-Toads]

Wow, if I have to get and UTH AND Rheostats it's going to cost me close to $100 just for that. This is what I do NOT want to pay.

There's got to be another way to get the proper temperature with the UTH.

What about a regular household heating pad with 3 temperature settings?

[mikeyweir]

I don't know what you use for substrate, but I am going to tell you what I do. I use repti-bark, some people may disagree with me on using it due to impaction, but I have been using it for almost 4 years now and never had a problem. I have a UTH, on the bottom of the glass(underneath) and I then put my repti bark down for substrate, if too much heat is comming through, simply increase the amount of bark over the heated area. This works for me, and like I said, some people dissagree about the bark, but I haven't had a problem, and It makes the tank look great.
hope this helps.
Mikeyweir

[tequila]

Well, I ended up using both of our substrate ideas combined. I put a mixture of peat moss and repti-bark down as an insultator and then I put my tiles down on TOP of that. There is not way that the leo will be able to get at the bark.

The mixture brought the temperature down slightly but it was still much to hot so I ended up having to buy a lamp dimmer. I hadn't wanted to spend that much but it was well worth it in the end and I still have more money left over than I thought I would:)

So, I'm happy now.

[Tango-n-Toads]

Sorry guys. That last post was me. My boyfriend didn't sign out of his account AGAIN like I had asked him too...