My husband has asked me to check into the possibility of ceramic heat emitters as a heat source for our corns. We had a bulb for one of our lamps blow out tonight, and he's afraid if they blow this quickly that it might be expensive to use them. Since ceramic heat emitters are supposed to last a long time, he thinks they might be cheaper in the long run. I don't know anything about their use really, and I was hoping someone could tell me if they're recommended for corn snakes at all....or not? I'm afraid that they might be too hot, but I really don't know. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

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~Juliane~

They are available in different wattages just like bulbs. And if you use a timer so It's only on for part of the day it should work just fine.

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I have thought about changing to the ceremic heat emitters for my snakes, its just getting round to ordering some, and for my cham too, as his red bulb keeps me awake at night, I got him a really expensive infrared reptile bulb, and it only lasted a few months, I was really disappointed when it blew, that one wasnt to bad, I could sleep with that one, and now he is stuck with a normal red bulb which seems really bright, I dont like the normal red bulbs you can buy, not for my reptiles anyway.

IMO a Ceramic Heat Emitter is a bit of overkill for corns unless the room is unusually cold. My corns are in my bedroom which averages 70-75F. A human type heating pad under one end of the tank supplies all the heat they need. Corns don't need a lot of heat like the tropicals do.
For day time heating a regular household bulb does everything the fancy reptile bulbs do at a much cheaper cost.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I wouldn't worry about it, except that my husband likes the thermostat on 65 in the wintertime...so we only need a little boost for the snakes, really. Would the CHEs work ok to leave them on all the time but controlled by a thermostat so that they were only on at a very low setting? And I could lower it at night to go down to 70 to mimic a natural nocturnal cooling off period.

My husband and I don't want to use a human type heating pad because we're more comfortable with some kind of lamp than a pad underneath a tank. We have the concern that since human pads are not really designed to be on all the time, it might pose a fire risk, and with the children in the house we're unwilling to take a chance.

I don't want to use a reptile undertank heater because I use paper towels as substrate, and all the reptile heating mats say that there's a burn risk for the animal if the substrate isn't deep enough. Spectre likes to lay right on the glass! He did that by burrowing even when we had bark chips. I'd feel awful if he got burned.

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~Juliane~

I don't have corns of course but I do use Ceramic Heat Emitter's on my snakes and I love them. I agree that they are more tropical though. I've also started using radiant heat panels, which I adore, and they are low wattage and made to me stuck to the back of the tank or the top. Maybe look at them? I also use human heating pads on my small cages and I am actually more comfortable with them than adhesive Under Tank Heater's although I have those too. Have you insulated the cages with aluminum foil and polystyrene boards?

Since you brought up the fire hazard issue: I have installed CO detectors in all the reptile areas and I suggest that everybody else do the same if they haven't already as well as making sure the regular smoke detectors are working properly.

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From whom did you buy your radiant heat panels?

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~Juliane~

Oh, and can radiant heat panels be used with a thermostat?

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~Juliane~

Yes CHEs can be used with a thermostat and it works very well. I as well as a lot of others, have used the human type heating pads for years without problem, however being a parent and a grandparent I understand your concern.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I beleive the radiant heat panels are fine to use with a thermostat and I got them from Big Apple Herpetological Supply. Before you go buy anything new try insulating the tank since you mentioned you just need a little boost temp-wise. It really does make a difference in my experience.

__________________
Official hostage of the GFWD
"The truely dangerous people are the ignorant ones."
Founding Member of Logical People Against Arcane Boa Subspecies Classification (LPAABSC):
B c.c 1758, B. c. i. 1803 B. c. o. 1873!
"A BOA CONSTRICTOR IS A Boa constrictor!"