Position of UTH

[appps]

When I say day and night li am only talking about temperature not light as the CHE give off no light. I let my temp fall to about 26 overnight. In winter about 24.

As far as light goes no you don't need a night light. I got that impression when I first started for some reason too, I also got the impression they were mostly nocturnal (which they aren't) I have a two light setup, one comes on at dawn, then a second about an hour and a half later. Both are uv2.0 bulbs. The second goes off about an hour and a half before dusk, the first at dusk. It just gives me a more natural dawn and dusk but one light is fine. I think uv rays are something most living things benefit from, including us :-) it supplies vitamin D

Because ours is off our kitchen I actually have cardboard that slides into the slot in the base and hood to cover the glass so they don't end up with light in there till 11pm as I'm a bit of a night owl.

[Ginger]

I cannot answer your question with specifics, however I had a simmilar question under the weather section named "Night lighting - constant?", it may or may not help, but I hope it does

[Andy]

I've done some more reading on heat lamps and now I'm not so sure on the ceramic heat emitter. From the sounds of it they get extremely hot and can be dangerous if not setup correctly. I can see that both Exo Terra and Zoo Med have 'wire cage' products for ceramic heat emitters so that they can be used safely.

My other option is an infrared heat lamp. Safer to use than a ceramic heat emitter, but won't last as long and won't have the same heat output.

A little confused here..... I'd just like to keep my hermit crabs warm without burning the house down!

[appps]

The risk with them is if you don't have them in a ceramic fitting. Plastic ones will melt.

The cages are for in reptile cages when there is a chance they might come in contact with the bulb. Or when used with chicks. If it's hanging from the roof of your tank that isn't really likely to happen as they can't climb across the ceiling or jump and accidentally hit the bulb.

I think if you look you will find negatives about any method you research.
CHE are used by millions of people every year to brood chickens. If they were that bad we would hear about thousands of fires caused by them every year. But we don't. Every year chicken coops burn down though because of regular household light bulbs being used to warm them in winter or add extra light. Doesn't mean house light bulbs are dangerous, it just means they weren't used safely :-). Same goes with any heating method you choose. There is a right and wrong way to use it.

The issue I had with the other bulbs is the constant light. I don't see how that can be good for them. There is a black version, so I would be looking into that one. They also don't give off anywhere near the same warmth so you may need to look into having a two light set up if the first struggles.

[appps]

Here is the black version. This is probably what I will do in the smaller tank I plan to convert.
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vi ... 1014640429

[Wai]

If you have a thermostat to stop the CHE from overheating, you shouldn't have any issues with it. Just make sure that the hermit crabs can't climb and touch it. I have been using a CHE for at least five years.

[Andy]

This is all great advice everyone, and reassuring.

I've been going around in circles on the web looking at various lighting options. With my 40 gallon tank I think I would need a 150w heat lamp to heat the air sufficiently. None of the Exo-Terra lamps are suitable (from what I can tell), as of the ones that don't produce daylight (as well as heat), are designed as 'basking' spot lamps i.e. the heat is directed to a spot, which is not what I am wanting. Of the Zoo Med lamps, the only suitable one that I can see is the Nocturnal Infrared Heat Lamp, which produces very little visible light, but does bathe the tank in a reddish glow at night. I read somewhere that this does not seem to bother hermit crabs. Mercury vapour bulbs are not suitable for use with my thermostat as they require a constant voltage, and my thermostat automatically regulates the current to the heater rather than simply turning it off and on constantly i.e. it acts a bit like a dimmer/rheostat.

However, you've both swayed me back towards a ceramic heat emitter. I would be looking at getting one with a flat round end, rather than the cone shaped ones. With these, how much of the heat radiates upwards? I'm asking as I have a timber hood with a lid on top of the tank. My thoughts are that most if not all of the emitter would be inside the tank, but extreme heat above the emitter is a concern.

[appps]

I've got a timber hood setup on mine to cover the heat lamps etc and it hasn't been an issue. I would like hubby to drill two holes in the back of the hood to allow a little of the warm air to escape. That said it doesn't really get warm inside our hood so he reakons he doesn't need to. Mine do have the metal fittings directing the heat down though.

[appps]

Oh and ps. I've not heard of that sort of thermostat. You might need to check a CHE can be dimmed. I know some sorts of regular globes can't be.

[Andy]

This is what I ended up buying for the thermostat. Seems to work quite well with the heat pad. From what I've read it's suitable for ceramic heat emitters too.

http://ozreptiles.com/shop/digital-rept ... el-ac-213/

From what I've seen of advertising photos of ceramic emitters, they seem to hang suspended above terrariums. I assume this is only to prevent animals from coming into contact with them.

If there is no way a hermit crab could climb up to the emitter, is there any harm in suspending most of it inside the tank?