Ceramic Heat Lamps or ???

[Chu'Wuti]

Searching didn't bring up much talk about the advantages/disadvantages of ceramic heat lamps, and I have some questions.

I have a 55-gallon enclosure with a BP in it. I have been using a ceramic heat lamp (150 W) for the hot zone of the tank. It is on pretty much continuously; it's double wired into two ZooMed rheostats run by a Zilla power center for day/night variation of 85-90 deg during the day, 80 deg at night.

The past few days I have noticed that it is not heating or barely heating during the day, and the hot end of the tank dropped to 70 deg! Fortunately, I have a UTH warm zone at 80 deg, so the BP isn't freezing to death, but he knows that hot spot is supposed to be there and will go as high as he can up under the heat lamp that isn't working or is barely working.

I unplugged it and plugged it back in, checking the plugs, and it started working again. Then it went through the same barely heating/not heating cycle a couple of days later. This lamp is supposed to produce 10,000 hours of heat, and it is only six months old. Today it is working just fine so far, but I'm worried about it.

I looked at the halogen heat/light comments, but I don't need more light, and I do need something that will work at night.

Questions:

1) Are ceramic heat lamps the best way to go for basking spots? or is there something else I should use?
2) Is my heat lamp dying or is there something else going on? (I think it's dying, but maybe someone has had a similar experience and has a solution)
3) Is this short life typical for ceramic heat lamps? Or did I just get a lemon?

Can't think of any other questions right now. Hope you wonderful guys have some suggestions to solve our problem--it's getting cold again here!

[Smilts]

I have had them last much longer, that doesnt mean its not dying though. I just use a reg ole lamp with 1oowatt reptile bulb in it and it works well.

[citysnakes]

why dont you look into radiant heat panels?

[Kmef07]

I personally use a UTH on the side of my 35 gallon tank. it is a med sized one and i use another UTH on the same side on the bottom that is 8"x8". Then i use a full spectrum uv flourscent that fits into just a metal workshop dome light fixture that was $3 at Home Depot. then next to that i have a 75w basking bulb and next to that i use a blue night bulb for night heat. i will be changing it soon when i put a wooden top over the lamps so i will use a lower watage basking bulb and probably no night light. The problem i have is when my humidity goes down my heat goes up. at night that isn't much of a problem, but during the day it sucks. i need to get a thermostat to control the bulbs and stuff, but that will be in the custom cage im building. so the downfall to lamps is they naturally make your humidity lower and the UTHs and the hear emitters and ceramic bulbs make keeping the humidity up easier. hope this helps somewhat

[Chu'Wuti]

Radiant heat panels . . . hmmm.

Julian, wall, ceiling, or floor mount? Can I use the rheostat to control the amount of radiant heat so I don't cook my snake? MY DH could probably answer that question, but he's not available at the moment.

Kemf07, I already have two red bulbs & one blue bulb that I can turn on at night for extra heat. I don't really like using them, though, because I can't connect them to a rheostat (they're in the light hood & on-off are my only choices for that), so they can make things way too hot and they dry out the enclosure a great deal. As you noted, as "the humidity goes down, the heat goes up," though I rather think it is "as the temp goes up, the humidity goes down." It is working to keep the enclosure warm enough, but it isn't an optimal solution. I am hoping to find a better solution through this discussion with you guys!

I have a problem with the UTH mounting--I have the enclosure on a teak bookshelf. We were able to arrange it so that there is a clear space about 11" wide under the middle of the tank; that's where the UTH is mounted, with insulation under it to direct the heat up. However, to mount additional UTHs under either end of the tank, we'd have to put feet under it. Certainly possible, but it would be nice to avoid that if we can find another/better solution.

So I'll have to discuss the radiant heat panel idea with my DH. I think we do a ceiling mount or wall mount fairly easily, if we can control the temp. Thanks for the idea, Julian!

[Kmef07]

I meant to say that as the heat went up with the bulbs the humidity went down. it was late when i was writing that sorry for the confusion......u can mount the UTH on the side of the tank or on the back wall if you want to. it actually says on the last one that it is safer and better to mount it on the sides of the tank.

[Chu'Wuti]

No apologies necessary; I figured it out.

it actually says on the last one that it is safer and better to mount it on the sides of the tank.

Now I am a little confused--says on the last one what that it's better to side-mount?

[mykee]

Ok, ball python do not benefit from any specific type of overhead lighting. You may say that they actively seek out the heat, but if you provide a CONSTANT hot spot of 90-95 degrees where the snake needs it (belly) you are meeting the snakes husbandry requirements.
They may actually be doing far more harm than good in that they dry the air out, which is the exact opposite of what you are trying to do with maintaining humidity levels of 50%-60%.
UVA/UVB lighting only benefits speciest ath have difficulty absorbing Vitamin D. Ball pythons are not one of those species.
I summation, leave the heat lamps and UVA/UVB lamps for the arid, desert species of reptiles.

[Kmef07]

oh sorry that is a little confusing......My second UTH i got said in the instructions that it is better to stick the UTH on the side of the aquarium instead of under it. it probably doesnt heat up the tank as well but it really did well in my tank.

[citysnakes]

Chu, i would suggest investing in a quality thermostat to control the radiant heat panel. it will allow you to more precisely control your temperatures and also can be used to control multiple radiant heat panels in other enclosures if you ever add to you collection. i only use proportional herpstat thermostats by spyderrobotics and they are great. there are many types out there so do your research before you buy. i would also suggest mounting the RHP on the ceiling of the enclosure for best results.

[Chu'Wuti]

ball python do not benefit from any specific type of overhead lighting.

Yes, that I know; the lights are for us to be able to see the python when he comes out at night. They aren't UVA/UVB lights, just night lights. Most of the time, except on really cold nights, we turn them off when we go to bed so they won't dry out the tank. I always watch the humidity really carefully and even more so when I have to use them.

It sounds like I need to turn up the UTH setting. It's currently on 80 but maybe it should be 90.

i would suggest investing in a quality thermostat to control the radiant heat panel.

I've been wondering about doing that, Julian, because I'm not happy with being unable to tell what the setting is on with the ZooMed 'stats. So I think you're right. Guess I'll see what I can find out about prices & discuss with my DH. Spyderrobotics. Got it. Thanks!

[mykee]

Ball pythons require a hot spot of 90-95. That cannot be achieved by an UTH set at 80.

[Chu'Wuti]

No, of course not. I was relying on the ceramic heat lamp to provide the hot zone, not the UTH. The UTH is the warm zone. And my DH thinks he's figured out the problem with the ceramic lamp--the wiring, not the lamp itself. So I think we're going to be OK! But I still want to look into the radiant heat panels, as I'd like a better set-up! So thanks for all the info, guys!

[mykee]

You can solve all of your problems with increasing the temperature of your UTH and eliminating the lamp completely.

[Chu'Wuti]

Ahhh. Then what do I do for a warm zone? Do I not need three temperature zones? I thought I was supposed to have cool, warm, & hot.

[citysnakes]

hey Chu, forget about this three zone business and create a warm and cool end. warm end being approx. 88-92 and cool end being approx. 80-82. two temperature zones and a smaller enclosure will work wonders for you.

[Chu'Wuti]

Gotcha. We can handle that. Thanks!

[Kmef07]

Hey while on this topic my BRB i keep the hot side at 90 during the day and the cool side hovers around 80 or so is this good? most care sheets say yes but a couple random ones say the hottest it should be is 85. also i keep the infrared light on at night and it keeps a basking spot so to say of 91 on the rock it shines on and around the rock it is 85 i read that babie BRB's need heat 24hrs a day. Sounded weird but read that on a lot of sites including a zoo site. I figured it couldn't hurt. but at night the cool side of the tank gets to around 77.

[herpocrite27]

I have had this question myself in the past. You dont have to get a basking bulb, BP dont benifit from UV. I have a UTH along with a 100 W ceramic bulb and a basking bulb. But the basking bulb I only turn on for three hours a day, during the hotterst part of the day.
As for the ceramic heater, Take it back to where you got it and if they wont take it back call the company. If you get ahold of the company, butter them up about how much you love there product and then tell them your problem. This is also a good way to get free stuff.
Good luck with your BP

[Aaron_S]

I'm unsure of the exact temperatures for a BRB. When you do research though part of it is taking all the information and 'weeding' out the bad information. If most of the reliable sources say to do what you're doing then that's ok!

Also I keep heat on my snakes all day and night. For tropical snakes it does need to be on all night as well as during the day so the snakes don't freeze. Rememeber we're trying to mimic their natural temperatures. At night it doesn't drop down to 60F.

[Kmef07]

ok good i have a probe and also two digital thermomethers in my aquarium and the probe has been awesome i have my hot spot in the middle of the cage and both sides of the cage stay at 81.9 right now. with 98% humidity and 83% humidity right now it's been awesome i made an ad on to the cage i will try to post pics but i finally have it set up to where it is damn near perfect i have been working on it for months and i cannot express how damn happy i am that the silly thing is doing what i want and acting near perfect.