UTHs and Sculpy clay????

[cwazy]

howdy all... couple questions as we are tryin to fix up our geckos how they should be.... but i need to know this real quick before i place my order...

UTHs... maybe im a bad gecko owner though i dont think so, but we really cant afford a thermostat right now... so... what size UTH should i be getting to assure they will be warm enough but not cooked... i have 2 20longs im buying for and 2 10gallons im buying for... i assume i can get a 10-20 uth for the 20longs and be fine with that.... but what about the 10 gallons? do i do 10-20 as well or do i do a 1-5 for them??? also placement... should i stick them to the inside floor of the tank or outside on the bottom of the tank? any speedy help with this would be highly aprechiated as i plan on ordering some online tomorrow *as soon as i can get to the bank to put money in*


i think thats it for the uth? so now sculpy clay...

sculpy clay... aka polymere (sp?) clay.... Safe??? is it safe when cooked to use for geckos food and calcium dishes??? how about water??? i tried to google this with lil to no luck... anyone have any idea???

thanks in advance for any and all help :main_thumbsup:

 

[Tommy13b]

a uth should be half the size of the tank and should stay 88-94 degrees

 

[cwazy]

half the size of the tank??? that seems kind of big... i mean ive seen 10-20 gal. uth's... and they are not half the size of a 20 gal. tank... does that mean i need 2??? anyone else have some imput please? ill be placeing our order in the morning... thanks!

 

[acpart]

I have been experimenting with UTH's and tank sizes. I sell my complete setups with a tile substrate, a 1-5 gallon UTH for the 10 gallon set-ups and a 10-20 gallon UTH with a 20 gallon set-up. I have set up trial tanks and found that with ceramic tile, the temp doesn't get much above 93. That said, I do put a note in with the set-ups that if, for example, it gets really hot, the UTH isn't going to shut off as it would with a thermostat, so people have to check on unusually hot or cold days to make sure the temps are OK.

My advice is to make sure you have a thermometer with a probe so you can check the temps on the ground. If you don't find that the UTH is the correct temp, you can invest about $11 at home depot to get a lamp dimmer which means you can adjust the temp by controlling how much power the UTH is putting out. It won't change the setting; you'll have to do that by checking the temp and re-setting the dimmer if necessary.

Aliza

 

[cwazy]

i guess ill just order all 10-20s? i have 2 20longs to heat up and 2 10 gallons to heat up... both of the 10s will have repti carpet...

so im hoping for the best untill our infered thermomiter comes in... i cant afford to buy a 1-5 and then figure out its not enough... so heres hoping!!

anyone got anything on the sculpy?

 

[nats]

Your UTH should not exceed 2/3 the area of your tank, regardless of size.

I make bowls from sculpy too. It is non toxic and works fine.
I have not used it for a water dish though.

 

[Rejoice in the Lord]

If you haven't ordered yet, I would suggest that you look into getting flexwat heat tape, hooking it up to a thermostat, and heating your tanks that way. I don't know if you can safely use one of those on a dimmer or not. My personal opinion was that the heat mat that says it's for a 10/20 gal. tank was too small for my ten gallon. It worked . . . it had to; I didn't have anything else at the time. I much prefer my heat tape which covers half the floor of my tanks. (My tanks are one long tank divided in the middle, with one large piece of heat tape on one thermostat heating both tanks)

For me, the heat tape was much less expensive than the appropriately sized heat mat, and with the difference in cost, you may be able to afford a thermostat after all.

 

[hondawingsfly]

maybe you should order some heat tape instead, maybe you could save some money cause those uth's are like $20 and up heat tape is like $2 per foot and the plug is like $5 or you can make one for cheaper

 

[Riyo]

I sculpt with Super Sculpy and the only warning I have about it is that it can release fumes when it's heated up (especially if it isn't cooked). These fumes are harmful - even to us - so be careful.

 

[TaylorKun]

Sculpy is non toxic, and therefore safe for use with animals. I don't recommend feeding it small balls of it- but it should be fine as a water/food bowl. But make sure the bowls are cooked all the way through before using them.
And yes- the fumes are dangerous when heated up. But we're talking about a lot more then jsut heat lamps
Citation~ http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art33912.asp
I do so much sculpy work it's ridiculous x3 hope it helped!