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When you are deciding on how best to heat your vivarium you should always consider the safety of the animal or animals inside.
Using unguarded bulbs or ceramics is simply asking for trouble. If you or I touched a very hot surface the nerve endings in your skin would send messages to your brain telling you that the surface was
hot and you would pull your hand away. Reptiles have very few nerve endings on their bellies and will sit on hot surfaces for long periods of time without realising that they are burning.
I have seen the results of various thermal burns to snakes and lizards. These burns tend to go very deep into the flesh of the animal and cause irrepirable scarring. The
burns on one lizard were so bad that his internal organs had virtually melted together. One snake had wrapped itself around a heat bulb and had stuck to the hot glass.
These injuries are horrific and completely avoidable.
I decided to do a little experiment to see just how hot various heat sources can get.
To measure the temperatures I used a Raytek MiniTemp MT4 which is a handheld
infrared thermometer. It has a digital display and is accurate to within two degrees Centigrade. This model is also fitted with a laser pointer so that you know exactly
where it is reading the temperature, making it ideal for finding hotspots on surfaces..
The normal recommended top temperature for snakes is in the region of 30C - 35C depending on species. (Please check with care sheets or books to find the
recommended temperature gradient for your animal)
Bulbs
I used various wattages of bulb and measured the temperature of the glass at the shoulder, the area a snake would sit on if it had access to the bulb.
The results were as follows................
10 Watt - 35.1C (95.18F)
40 Watt - 144.0C (291.2F)
60 Watt - 183.5C (362.3F)
60 Watt - 241.0C (465.8F) *Spotlight*
100 Watt - 205.0C (401F)
These readings were taken after only a few minutes.
If you are going to use bulbs in the vivarium with snakes or in a position where lizards could come in contact with them, please use a guard.
Ceramic Heaters
Ceramic heaters are often used to heat larger vivs. They produce a lot of heat and give off no light which makes them an ideal heat source
for the larger snakes. They should always be guarded.
These pictures show the result of keeping a Royal Python in a vivarium with an unguarded 150W ceramic heater.
In the first picture you can see the surface damage to the skin where the snake has come in direct contact with the hot ceramic.
In the the second picture you can see how much damage was done to the underside. If you look closely (Click on the picture for a larger version) you can see that one of the spurs has been completely destroyed.
Thermal burns don’t just burn the surface of the skin. The intense heat works it’s way into the muscle and internal organs, causing terrible damage to the tissue.
If used sensibly ceramic heaters are ideal for heating larger vivariums and can be used quite safely.
Just remember to guard them and use a thermostat to control the temperature.
UVB Tube Lights
It’s a common belief that UVB tube lights don’t get hot.
I checked the surface temperature along the top of the tube that I use for my Bearded Dragons.............
2ft UVB tube - 64.5C (148.1F)
Tubes should also be guarded if you have an animal that is likely to sit on them or wrap itself around them.
Artificially Heated Rocks
These are artifical moulded ‘rocks’ with a heat source sealed inside. A cable comes out from the back and is plugged into the mains.
The rock I tested had been in use and was rated at 12 Watts.
When I collected the rock I noticed that the central area was a much lighter colour, suggesting that it got hotter than the rest of the surface.
I plugged the rock in and left it switched on for a hour before taking any readings.
I found that the surface temperature varied greatly.
The widest temperature range was as follows.........
Central Area - 65C (149F)
Outer Area - Room Temperature
If you do decide to use this kind of heating, please monitor the temperature very closely by placing a thermometer or probe directly onto the surface of the rock.
Afterall, this is where your animal’s belly will be if it is sitting on the rock.
Coming soon.................... Heat mats.
*All of the readings on this page are true results, specific to the actual heat sources being tested. Readings may vary depending on manufacturer and other individual discrepancies.*
Jim Lind
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