Undertank heat pad

[Sam22188]

Does anybody use an undertank heating pad? Because I am about to get the 18x18x24 exo terra and I am gonna have it be a natural tank. But I was just wondering if I would need the heating pad on the bottom. Do you think the UV lights will put out a little heat?

[chrisbarnett]

I have used a UTH(Under tank heater) in the winter successfully, it did a nice job of not heating up the substrate too much, while making the ambient air temp in the cage a few degrees warmer.

I would be cautionary about using it with a natural tank though, I now switched both of mine to vivariums, with thicker substrate etc, and I would be worried about too much heat accumulation under the tank and it cracking the glass. especially in my exo terra where I have a drainage layer and standing water in the very bottom of the tank.

You could avoid all that too and just put the UTH on the back wall of the tank, or side wall, granted there isn't a background on the back, but if there is put it on the side.

Mine is made by flukers, and maintains a constant 100F btw.

Overall though, if you keep your house within crested heat range, you wouldn't need to use one at all.

[MHGeckos]

You probably should be more worried about your gecko getting too hot not too cold. I mean, I live out in New Hampshire, it get's cold here. Even as cold as it gets I never use more than low wattage nighttime blue or red bulbs. Unless his tank is going to be well below 70 constantly you don't really need heating. I usually try to keep mine around 70-74 most of the time.

[Sam22188]

well right now in his cage, the temperature stays around 73-76 during the day. But at night it drops to 67-70. But I live in South Carolina, I'm just scared its gonna drop really low in the winter during the nights.

[IndyCrestie]

well right now in his cage, the temperature stays around 73-76 during the day. But at night it drops to 67-70. But I live in South Carolina, I'm just scared its gonna drop really low in the winter during the nights.

Those are completely fine temps. Over the winter it's normal to be a bit lower as well, so you'll be fine. I'm in Indiana and my guys do just fine over the winter.

[cml3.0]

I agree I would forgo the UTH all together.
Your temperatures are just fine for a crested, as Indy stated.

[shag]

I live in Southern Ontario Canada and I was also worried about the low temps up here. I had a UTH and 75w infrared but both were totally not required for most of the year. The only time I've used the heat lamp ( I removed the UTH ) was in the spring and fall when I was trying to cut back on heating costs by putting on a extra shirt and turning off the heat when it got consistently above 50 at night.

[Juliev]

I was also thinking about winter temps yesterday. Whats the lowest you should let the winter temp inside your home get before you use a heater of some kind?

[MHGeckos]

Usually I turn on the nighttime bulbs if it gets below 65 for any length of time. I'm sure they can do lower than that, for short periods of time, though.

[Juliev]

Usually I turn on the nighttime bulbs if it gets below 65 for any length of time. I'm sure they can do lower than that, for short periods of time, though.

Thanks, I'll probably let get to 55-60 at least during the winter so its great to know when to crank up the heat in the tank!