under tank heaters

billherricks · 02-23-03, 08:07 AM

I keep my burm in a 29 gallon aquarium with a screen top.I bought an under tank heater,the kind that sticks to the bottom .I use a astroturf looking pad at the bottom the guy at the pet store said it was made for snakes.On the box the heater came in,it says not to use the heater without substrate,would the astroturf stuff count as substrate? im afraid of burning her,I have another pad also maybe if I double them up? together they would be about 3/8" thick would that be safe? Thanks for any help/advice.

dlucka · 02-23-03, 08:36 AM

I use that kind of pad (from zoomed), it come hot but will not burn, if it's not broken or some thing. Put your hand on went it's hot if you can stay on with no burn, you have it. As put 2 together i never try this but i don't think it's a good idea.

ballpython5000 · 02-23-03, 08:50 AM

yeah i found it works best with that reptile carpet stuff.

bbkaren · 02-23-03, 09:49 AM

I think you're referring to doubling up the substrate mat, not the heating pads, right? we used astroturf at one point, and tons of people use newspaper so I can't see your mats being anything but perfectly fine depending on how hot the heaters get through your mat.

We do, however, have our heating pads on a rheostat (like a dimmer) which decreases the power supplied to the heaters and, in turn, decreases the temp of the heaters--which we did indeed feel was necessary since ours put out a lot of heat.

And if you're new at this like we were, don't make the mistake we did by struggling with a hundred different little thermometers and humidity gauges. None of them were accurate at all--we finally broke down and bought at home depot a 3-way digital thermometer/hygrometer (indoor/outdoor temps, and humidity). this way we can tell the temperature on each end as well as the humidity, and it cost less than a set of the little gauges--it was only $14! It has a little probe you can put at the opposite end and works great for our purposes.

bbkaren · 02-23-03, 09:53 AM

Another thing we struggled with eternally was the humidity. The screen top's gonna kill you there like it did us.

We bought a sheet of acrylic plexiglass also at home depot $12 and cut spots out for the lights. (Don't need to leave much open for ventilation--the area around the lights are plenty.)

since we're humidity-challenged (middle of winter, forced-air heat) we also bought an ultra-sonic fogger ($25 at reptiledirect.com) and used an extra-large water bowl (small sterilite bin, $3) to put it in. It's on a timer ($5) to run a half-hour a couple times a day. Easier than misting like a lot of people suggest--plus the effect is neat.

Lisa · 02-23-03, 12:49 PM

The astroturf is fine, however to help with humidity you might wanna try cypress mulch. it is damp so the heat is a little lower (used up trying to dry out the damp)

billherricks · 02-26-03, 04:27 PM

Hey,thanks everyone,I installed the heater and she loves it!I think im going to try the plexi/fogger,bkaren are you the one who posted those really great time lapse pics of the fogger?The whole effect was primevil awesome!!

bbkaren · 02-27-03, 09:40 PM

Hmm, I don't remember posting pics of the fogger in use, where did you see those pics, I'd be interested in seeing.

Anyway...here's the ones in our tanks--and yes they really look neat! The ball python loves the dumb thing, and keeps moving closer to the fogger--to the point where he climbs half into the bucket with it and knocks it over (and then it stops working and he loses interest).

Only thing is, the fogger will "zap" you if you hold your finger over it (not really a burn, but it hurts--I can't describe it) so we put the foggers in metal gutter leaf guards that cost, I think, 89 cents each at home depot (that's the cage-looking thing in the water bucket).

This one I added just because he's so adorable:

I can't get over the growth of this snake...he's grown 20 inches since we got him 3 months ago. It's just amazing--and you've got a girl, I can only imagine how fast she'll get big!

stormyva · 02-28-03, 10:10 AM

They have all given you great information... but I have to throw in my .02...... dont waste any more time/money trying to set up that 29 gallon tank. Go ahead and get something bigger at least a 40 gal breeder or larger, something that will hold the snake over for more than just a couple of months.