A ceramic heat emitter sends infared heat without light.
Most reptiles that are kept as pets are not native to Maryland. Ball pythons, chameleons, green iguanas and other species come from warm, tropical areas and do not hibernate. Some snakes, especially Burmese pythons are susceptible to upper respiratory infections, that can be life threatening if not treated.
Reptiles are cold-blooded animals. That means they cannot produce their own heat, but are the temperature of their surroundings. If you keep your home at 68 degrees in the winter, without a heat source, 68 degrees will be the temperature of your pet. And that is way too cold for most reptiles.
Always do your homework on any species you own to find out what temperature they need. Once you know that, you can make sure your pet’s enclosure is the proper temperature. There should be a cooler side and a warmer side to the cage to give the animal a choice of where it wants to be.
There are many devices such as temperature guns that can give you the exact temperature on any point in your enclosure. Inexpensive stick-on thermometers can also be helpful, but are much less accurate. If you use those, get a few of them and place them in different locations in the cage.
There are spotlights (for days), under tank heaters (any time), black or red lights (night time), ceramic heat emitters (night time). Whenever you put a heat source in your pet’s enclosure it is extremely important to make sure that the animal can also get away from the heat. If not, they can get burned. Burns are extremely painful to the animal and take months and many sheds to heal.
For more info: Reptile tools of the trade.
Comments