Heating

[Styx]

What does everyone use to heat their indoor tegu enclosures?

I was looking at maybe radiant heat panels, but then I read some threads on here that said they weren't all that great for tegu enclosures. So what does everyone use that they like? Currently I am using a CHE, but I don't know how well they work for larger enclosures, so, figure I'd ask.

 

[james.w]

A Mercury Vapor bulb or halogen flood lights. Depends on how you plan to provide UVB.

 

[Murkve]

A Mercury Vapor bulb or halogen flood lights. Depends on how you plan to provide UVB.

I second this. Tegus are basking creatures anyway.

 

[Styx]

I've got two reptisun tubes for the UVB. I just have always used reptisuns and I like them.

 

[james.w]

Those are fine, just get some halogen flood lights for basking.

 

[Dubya]

I have a large piece of slate for the basking spot. Over it, I have two deep dome basking lamps side by side. One has a 160w Powersun UVB and the other has a 50w halogen flood. The side under the 50w halogen is about 106 - 110deg, the side under the 160w UVB is like around 96. On the cool side, I have two Zoo Med 50w nocturnal heat lamps spread out. The nocturnal heat lamps keep the cool side about 75deg or so during the day and around 70 at night. At night, the side with the UVB has no heat, so it becomes the cool side which is about 65-68deg. My tegu sleeps on either side depending on his mood. Mostly on the side that is cooler at night. During the day, he is almost always on the warmer side, but not always on the basking spot.

 

[apocalypse910]

I have a basking bulb and a radiant heat panel. The temp swings in my house can be pretty extreme so I am doing my best to keep heat/uv/basking separate - otherwise he'd be freezing in the winter and have no uv/basking spot in the summer.

I like the heat panel and I trust it a lot more than the CHE's (safety wise). The panel is 150W and the basking bulb is 160W. The combo is sufficient to keep the cage temps up generally but just barely. I have the system on a thermostat and the panel is pretty much on constantly. Basically it does the trick but doesn't have any margin for error.

The panels are safe, and they seem to distribute heat well. They won't replace a basking bulb, and functionally I don't think they give you any more bang for your wattage than a more conventional heat source.

 

[kim86]

I have it so my 125w MVB bulb and 75w CHE are on the same side, and the CHE stays on at night. Once summer rolls around, it'll turn off too.

 

[Styx]

Thanks a lot for the ideas.