Tubular heaters are popular when creating hot areas or "hot spots" within a tank as they do not distribute heat evenly like a heat mat. We have a range of tubular heaters below.
Heating your reptile’s terrarium is an essential part of taking care of your pet. The proper temperature inside the terrarium must be maintained to help your pet digest their food, stay healthy, and produce healthy skin. Nutrients are also a big part of keeping your pet reptile living, but without a heat source your reptile can become cold quickly and die of hypothermia.
Reptiles are cold blooded creatures, meaning they can heat up or cool down rather quickly. Unlike humans who stay at a certain body temperature, reptiles can fluctuate. Now that you understand the importance of heating the terrarium we can look at your heating options. You have several styles of heaters from ceramic, heat mats, heat rocks to heat cables.
The option we will discuss here is the Tubular Reptile Heater. Alto is one manufacturer of reptile heaters. The Alto tubular heater is a slim design with a cylindrical case. It is longer than it is wide. Basically this heater can be attached to the side glass panel to heat the bottom and top of the terrarium. Most Alto tubular heaters are 12 inches to 48 inches in height. They vary from 40 watts to 240 watts. A larger terrarium will need the longer heater and higher wattage.
Tubular heaters are unlike heat mats that offer even distribution. Instead a tubular heater will be hotter closer to the heater and cooler away from it. You may think this is not a great thing, but actually it can be. Most reptiles are used to having warm hot rocks when the sun is up, but being able to hide in a cave or under rocks when they get too warm. These cooler areas are natural. So if you have a terrarium with a hot side and a cool side this is going to be more natural. It means your reptile can leave the warmer area for the cooler side when they want to. Sometimes an even distribution of heat is unwelcome.
The other nice thing about tubular reptile heaters is the heat at the top and bottom of the terrarium. Any reptile who likes to climb or sit up higher will still be able to take advantage of the heat supplied by the heater. It also means they can climb high on the other side of the terrarium where it can be cooler if they so choose.
Tubular reptile heaters will require a thermostat to help regulate the temperature. You do not want to go away for the day and leave a heater running. It would become too hot. A thermostat will turn the heater off once the terrarium has reached a certain temperature. It can also turn it back on again when the temperature dips below what you have the thermostat set at.
Alto tubular heaters work with Habistat and Lucky Reptile thermostat controls, among other manufactured thermostats. When making the choice in thermostats and the Alto tubular heater read over the instructions and test it before leaving for the whole day to ensure it is at the proper setting.
