UTH for 75 gallon tank?

[tress29]

The biggest heat pad I can seem to find is 8" x 18". It's a 24 watt, rated for 50-60 gallons. Will that be sufficient for the garters in the 75 gallon tank, or am I gonna need something to supplement? Petco has the 24 watt on sale for $34, plus I have a 10% coupon!

I found a WTB ad on CL, so I'm talking to this guy about selling the 20L/stand/screen lid/uth. What he's offering will pay for the UTH and some chinese carry out! I'll have to swap everything over after work. Wonder if he'll help me move the tank to the other side of my LR??

[EasternGirl]

I don't know...I know I use the really small pad for my 20 and 30 gallon tanks though. I'm pretty sure it measures 6"x8"...it's just enough to warm the very end of the warm side...not even a quarter of the tank. That way, the snakes can lay right over that spot if they want to get warm and it doesn't heat the middle. I'm pretty sure it is for use for a 10-20 gallon. I wouldn't want to use bigger because I want to make sure they have that gradient. So I'm thinking that the pad you described sounds good to me. Now I also use a heat lamp above though. And I have a thermostat to make sure temps don't go above 90. With the pad and a 40 or 60 watt bulb, they generally stay around 82-84 degrees and the nice thing is because I have both the mat and the bulb, I can turn one or the other off to decrease heat if I want to.

[tress29]

Well, I have a light fixture I could steal from the gecko! He has two night bulbs in it, because he doesn't like the bright light! He'd probably rather have a UTH anyway!

[aquamentus_11]

what type of gecko is it? if it's arboreal, i wouldn't use an UTH: they tend to stay up high and like things warmer. a heat source coming from the bottom isn't going to do an arboreal animal much good.

[tress29]

Are leopard geckos arboreal?

[aquamentus_11]

nope, i would think uth would be fine for them. arboreal animals live in trees.

[tress29]

I know, I was being a little sarcastic. I never specified what kind of gecko...

[aquamentus_11]

i gotcha, you were a little offended that i assumed that you didn't know what you were doing. sorry, didn't mean anything by it: you never know what people don't know though....

[tress29]

I took some pictures after I got everyone switched around. The tank looks absolutely bare! I want to get some of the plastic plants that hang on the side of the tank in clusters. The reptile show is next weekend though, so I'm gonna price them now, but shop at the show!


This first picture is my erythristic eastern, Zach. He's about 12" long, but a skinny little thing. His head is the same size as the coast, but Wendell's got more girth.


The next two pics are all three of the Squints! Vinnie is front right, Zach along the side, and Wendell creeping up the back. I couldn't get all three in focus at the same time!

[EasternGirl]

Cute snakies! Nice big tank for them...looks good. It will look awesome with some big hanging plants...maybe a couple of log hides would be nice too!