What's the best heat light.

[Shay-Nik]

To those who have kept Albino Darwin Carpet Pythons and Jungle Pythons. I have been looking online for the best options for future preparations and not getting very far. I was just wondering if people could push me in the right direction on heat light's for albino darwin's & jungle pythons just so I am aware of what I'll need when I go looking for heat lights. What's the best brands and wattage I should be looking for? I'm not bothered by prices I just want what's best for my snakes.

 

[Kelton22]

Ive got a reptile one ceramic bulb and it works great. A little pricey up front but i reckon cheaper in the long run. They get the job done and there's no annoying red lights, plus ive had it on constantly for 4 months or so without it blowing or anything. Its just been connected to a digital thermostat with no issues.
The wattage will depend on the size of your enclosure but i personally think its better to go bigger and have a thermostat to keep it down than buy a low wattage and find out one cold night its not strong enough.
My jungle is in a 45x60x45 glass enclosure, during summer I just use one 60watt with a dish-reflector but i have a second one hooked up for the cold winter nights. In a thick wooden or smaller enclosure you could most likely get away with one bulb but to be honest its better to just set it up a few weeks prior to buying a snake to experiment and see what you need.
On top of that youll need to decide if a click clack with heat mat will suit your snake better depending on age/size/temperament.
Feel free to pm me if i can help with anything else. When i was a newbie i found a lot of help from people on here so ill give back what i can.

 

[davobmx]

Ceramics are good, but are a dry blanket of heat rather than just a basking spot, this can cause problems with heat gradients and shedding.
any basking spot globes do fine for morelias, I used phillips spot lights from bunnings for $3 but don't last very long if on a thermostat. I always buy 75w and judge globe watt from their.

 

[Shay-Nik]

I will write down this info so I dont forget about it. At the moment my snakes are on heat cord with a happystat thirmistat, they're ment to be a good thermistat but for some reason when it's sitting on 25ºc the temperiture gun reads it at 33-38 it really freaks me out because the cheap thermistat we used to use always read with a perfect temperiture, but the probe thermitor hydromitor reads it at 31ºc either one of those are wacked out, but we have 2 temperiture guns that read the same thing. It's silly cause I have to watch it and check it all the time so it doesn't get to serious. The snakes are only hatchlings at the moment, they're 5 months old. They all have good temperaments

 

[Shay-Nik]

Ceramics are good, but are a dry blanket of heat rather than just a basking spot, this can cause problems with heat gradients and shedding.
any basking spot globes do fine for morelias, I used phillips spot lights from bunnings for $3 but don't last very long if on a thermostat. I always buy 75w and judge globe watt from their.

A dry blanket of heat? One of the two jungles we own haven't shedded yet, the breeder we got him off said he was due to shed, it's been 2 months since they have been in my/my families care. They were pretty snappy when we first got them, which would of stressed them out a bit to handle. But they have come good with regular handling, of course not after feeding time.

Sorry if im not making sense

 

[davobmx]

Ceramics emit heat slowly in a wave form, after a while the whole enclosure reaches a similar temp with no heat gradient, unless its huge enclosure you can have trouble keeping a hot/cold spot, basking globes are better looking and easier to manage just obviously don't last as long, exo terra are my favourite but most expensive so I always have a few phillips spot lights handy.

 

[Shay-Nik]

I am planning to build my own enclosure, so the size of the enclosure will have to meet NSW care sheet, but im more then happy to make a large enclosure, no matter what the prices are. I jus the want whats best for the snakes

 

[davobmx]

Just go with a basking spot, and if u love in a cooler climate, heat mats or heat cords are always good night/24hr heating for that bit extra, but no mater what people say, if a carpet has the choice to climb 95% will take that offer, and a basking spot encourages it aswell.

 

[davobmx]

Live*

 

[Shay-Nik]

My albino darwin rarely sleeps in his hides, he sleeps on top of them, inside the hide is always a nice temp. I am moving to Sydney soon so will probably be looking in to a lot of ways to keep it at one temp but hopfully it all works out in the end

 

[andynic07]

The one downside of a CHE is that there is no easily visible sign that it is broken.

 

[Paintbrushturkey]

The one downside of a CHE is that there is no easily visible sign that it is broken.

other than the lack of heat you mean , personally i'm a fan of MVBs, but i don't think you really need that for a carpet

@ shay: why can't you /don't you want to use a heat cord and tile to heat your basking spot?

 

[andynic07]

other than the lack of heat you mean , personally i'm a fan of MVBs, but i don't think you really need that for a carpet

@ shay: why can't you /don't you want to use a heat cord and tile to heat your basking spot?

Visible sign when you walk in the room. My snakes may have heat pits but I do not. Lol. I usually have small thermometers that you need to go up to to read so a light is a good visual que for me.

 

[Shay-Nik]

I will consider all options, and see what works out best

 

[Skeptic]

Halogen's all the way! You get good heat from them, they're cheap to buy and cheap to run as well.

 

[Shay-Nik]

Will also look into them, another question. Personally what do you guys think is the best wood to build enclosures out of, and would you use glass or perspecs?

 

[Skeptic]

Most people go with Melamine and Glass.

http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/diy-zone-5392/glass-perspex-204647/

 

[Rogue5861]

Most people go with Melamine and Glass.

http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/diy-zone-5392/glass-perspex-204647/

Melamine is pretty cos effective and reflects light alot better then mdf or ply with stain/seal on it. Dont need to seal it just silicone corners.


Rick

 

[Bart70]

Never had a problem with heat gradient and CHE's.

Can maintain low 30's at warm end and mid to low 20's at the cool end. Unsure where the talk of 'dry' heat comes from with CHE's. From the technical data I have seen there is nothing to suggest that they produce any 'drier' heat than any other form of heating. There is nothing specific to their operation that removes humidity any more than a globe that I can find.

Happy to stand corrected if there is evidence to the contrary - just have never seen it in any of the technical data I have read (and I read quite bit before using CHE's).

 

[andynic07]

Never had a problem with heat gradient and CHE's.

Can maintain low 30's at warm end and mid to low 20's at the cool end. Unsure where the talk of 'dry' heat comes from with CHE's. From the technical data I have seen there is nothing to suggest that they produce any 'drier' heat than any other form of heating. There is nothing specific to their operation that removes humidity any more than a globe that I can find.

Happy to stand corrected if there is evidence to the contrary - just have never seen it in any of the technical data I have read (and I read quite bit before using CHE's).

Not saying this is the case but more something worth considering. A CHE could possibly heat a greater area of air than a spot light used for heat and the more hot air may tend to dry the enclosure out more. I would be interested to hear from some people that have used a CHE and measured the humidity.