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Belly Heat VS Back Heat

S

SilverBlaze

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I know on some sites that's this topic has already been addressed but each post always has a different outcome or the asker has different climate situations.

I live Central Pa so we get really cold winters and hot summers. I rent a finished basement in a house so its always cool unless the heat is on and in the spring and summer it never is cause its oil heat and I hate paying the price of oil. It stays around 70 degrees maybe a little colder. Which suits me fine because I like the cold but for snakes its not the best. On my tanks I have a heat lamp and a heat mat but once I switch to racks I think I will just need the heat tape because since I won't be dealing with a high tank I wont have to worry about keeping the all the extra air space warm. So what would work better for me belly or back heat?
 
Belly heat. Back heat will have a lower temp on the bottom rack and a high temp on the top and it's all ran off of one strip (most of the time). Belly heat is individual so you can adjust each shelf and potentially use more thermostats. All the back heat setups I have used, have maxed out at one point or the other in the winter. From the info you gave, I would definitely go belly heat as my personal preference.

From what I observed on other peoples DIY racks with back heat, the snakes just don't seem to like the back heat when they get cold. You can find them all bunched up on the side trying to get to the heat... and heat rises so it's harder to get that ambient air temp throughout the tub.

I can run on and on about how belly heat is better, but I have heard some good points on back heat, I just can't remember them.
 
Back heat works if you keep your room temperature higher. I have a friend (local) who keeps his snake room at 82 and he has great success with back heat. Me on the other hand, my snake room is joined with my office and I would die if I kept the room that warm, so I opt for belly heat.
 
It depends on the situations. If you are making your own rack, you can set it up the way YOU want it...if you are buying, your options are more limited.
For example - if you're buying a rack and ask for belly heat, you aren't getting separate heat/separate plug for each shelf (unless you go right to FB/ARS); but, with a DIY, it isn't that much more time, money, or labor to do that.
I'm not a big fan of back heat; though I do have one rack with it, and it works great because of how it is set up. Even in a 65-70 degree room, I get appropriate temps throughout the tubs. Other people I know have not been so lucky with different set ups.
Dual side radiant heat is also a good option in a cool area.
 
I don't heat the room they are in because its in my bedroom and I can't stand heat. I was thinking about belly heat daisy chained to one plug or have like 3 different sections with separate plugs since I don't have enough animals to fill up one rack yet.
 
SilverBlaze said:
I don't heat the room they are in because its in my bedroom and I can't stand heat. I was thinking about belly heat daisy chained to one plug or have like 3 different sections with separate plugs since I don't have enough animals to fill up one rack yet.
Click to expand...

Good idea! That's what I did on my first DIY rack. 7 bin's on four different plugs and I just plugged them in as I got more snakes.
 
Another question I had was the bedding. Is there a bedding that holds heat better then others? I would normally use paper towels or newspaper. Like I said before the room that they will be going in isn't heated. The room is about 65 degrees.
 
What size tubs are you using?
In a cool room like that, tub size and rack configuration are important pieces of the puzzle. Many people use 3" heat tape on 28-34qt tubs; but you may find that you have to run it too hot to maintain adequate temps throughout the tub. If you are going to go with belly heat, you might want to think about 11" tape.

Heavier substrate, like mulch, will hold heat better; but it also tends to lower the surface/basking temp unless the snakes push it out of the way (which many will).
 
My snake room also doubles as our laundry room. I had the room temp at 70-72 during the winter, and I custom built my snake enclosures and rack. I used 11'' flexwatt for my rack, and found it kept them nice and toastey at around 88 on the hot side for my baby & younger boas. Also, for my custom wooden enclosure for my larger boas, I used 2 strips of 11'' flexwatt and added in a 12''x12'' ceramic tile underneath the flex. I have a temp of 92 degress on the hot side for my larger boas. I always used ASPEN mulch, and I loved how it looked, held heat and humidity, but I got tired of feeding snakes out of the cage. I started using a commercial cardboard type roll, which looks ok, and allows me to feed in the cage, however, it doesn't hold heat well, in fact, I found that unless the snake was laying on the heat source the heat was divided underneath the paper rolling. I have since switch back to ASPEN. So, to sum it up, yes, I prefer belly heat. Belly heat works best overall, and I also don't have to worry about my albinos. Albinos tend to absorb heat better from underneath, rather than from above.
 
mxracer4life said:
My snake room also doubles as our laundry room. I had the room temp at 70-72 during the winter, and I custom built my snake enclosures and rack. I used 11'' flexwatt for my rack, and found it kept them nice and toastey at around 88 on the hot side for my baby & younger boas. Also, for my custom wooden enclosure for my larger boas, I used 2 strips of 11'' flexwatt and added in a 12''x12'' ceramic tile underneath the flex. I have a temp of 92 degress on the hot side for my larger boas. I always used ASPEN mulch, and I loved how it looked, held heat and humidity, but I got tired of feeding snakes out of the cage. I started using a commercial cardboard type roll, which looks ok, and allows me to feed in the cage, however, it doesn't hold heat well, in fact, I found that unless the snake was laying on the heat source the heat was divided underneath the paper rolling. I have since switch back to ASPEN. So, to sum it up, yes, I prefer belly heat. Belly heat works best overall, and I also don't have to worry about my albinos. Albinos tend to absorb heat better from underneath, rather than from above.
Click to expand...


My whole thing with mulch is that it holds humidty to well and it allows the melamine to warp faster. I was thinking about putting some kind of shrink wrap around the top of each shelf to prevent this from happening.

Where do you get your mulch? Do you buy the reptile kind or just the stuff from a garden center?
 
Well, I have gotten little bugs in the stuff from my local garden center, so I stopped using them. Petco has ran off all the little mom n pop pet stores so they are my only option. I get a huge bag of there "all natural" aspen bedding. They make it for small pets, reptiles etc. Its about $11 and last me about 3-4 months. I haven't had any issues with warpage, but I didn't use melamine. I used standard craft boards, sealed em and I have linoleum covering the bottom of the cage. A lot of work if you ask me, won't do it again.
 
mxracer4life said:
Well, I have gotten little bugs in the stuff from my local garden center, so I stopped using them. Petco has ran off all the little mom n pop pet stores so they are my only option. I get a huge bag of there "all natural" aspen bedding. They make it for small pets, reptiles etc. Its about $11 and last me about 3-4 months. I haven't had any issues with warpage, but I didn't use melamine. I used standard craft boards, sealed em and I have linoleum covering the bottom of the cage. A lot of work if you ask me, won't do it again.
Click to expand...

Ya, that seems like alot of work. I am deff using melamine but I want to put something inbetween the tub and shelf that will help keep it from warping. Any ideas?
 
SilverBlaze said:
Ya, that seems like alot of work. I am deff using melamine but I want to put something inbetween the tub and shelf that will help keep it from warping. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

I've never had 3/4" melamine warp when properly installed. I had BRB's @ 80-90% humidity all year round and never had it warp. Water would build up on the upper slab of melamine, but I would just wipe it down a couple times a week. This style ladder rack is what I use and it's very stable and won't allow for warping unless you submerge it in water.

Also, you are going to want a 1/8" gap between the tub and the sheet of melamine that it mates to. This will keep the humidity from building up to high, unless you have a high humidity creature living inside (like a BRB)
 
In an area that is consistently 65-70 degrees, my preference would be full sides & back...at least for boas and pythons (I do keep my bullsnakes in the basement, in racks similar to that)
 
^ Good idea! Or back and belly heat on seperate power. That way you can turn belly or back off when you want a nice little night time drop or if you move and the summer heat gets too hot.
 
It really depends on your rack system. I have a back heated rack that is fully enclosed on the sides and it works great and holds heat really well. I have roommates to I can crank the temps in my apartment otherwise we'd be paying ridiculous energy bills. My room stays at around 65 degrees in the winter. My herpstat shows me what % power is being delivered to the tape and at most in the winter it got to around 60%. Check out my link below. It shows my rack and how I cheaply and easily modified it to hold heat even better.

Mike
 
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