Ceramic or IR as a heat source pros/cons...

Okay. I've searched the site typing in "ceramic versus IR heating", and "ceramic heaters" and "ceramic" then "IR heating" and found a little coverage but not much.

I live in the Finger Lakes region of Central New York, where can it get below zero cold in the winter, when some source of heating is needed. During the summer it might get to 90's but right now it's the mid 70's. At any rate, I'd like to get a conversation going pertaining to heating sources. I used to use, up until last week, an IR 75 watt heat bulb for a 36 inch long 16 inch high aquarium housing three H. spinifers and the 60 W ceramic heater for my Haddy who lives in a 29 inch long desert set up, having  "learned" from conversations with other hobbyists that ceramic heat is best for desert set ups because it tends to penetrate deeper into the substrate and keeps it closer to a desert environment than an IR.

However, I was recently told by a trusted breeder that the IR dries out the air and is harmful to the exoskeletons of scorps. and that unless the air temp in the house goes below 70 degrees, no alternate source of heating is needed at all, especially for the Haddy.

I'd like to add that both desert and forest set ups have 3/4's of the mesh screen tops covered in aluminum foil so as to help keep in humidity/heat.

In yho's, what heating sources, if any, should I put with which set up?

What I have in my collection are these:

1 75 W IR bulb

1 50 W Blue Moon light bulb by exoterra

1 100 W Ceramic bulb

1 60 W Ceramic bulb

1 Mist King electric misting system

tanks are glass with mesh tops:

1 29L (36 inch long) H. spinifer set up
1 ?Gal (29 inch long) H. arizonensis set up
1 20Gal tank for an up coming community of C. sculpts

Any advice on which heating source to use for which tank would be greatly, greatly appreciated and I think good discussion about the differences between ceramic and IR and UTH (mat) heating sources is a good idea. Couldn't hurt anything anyway Smile. Let's talk!

Thanks in advance,

Kelly

kellysaxez wrote:

Okay. I've searched the site typing in "ceramic versus IR heating", and "ceramic heaters" and "ceramic" then "IR heating" and found a little coverage but not much.

Basically, ceramic heaters ARE infrared heaters, except that they produce only infrared and thus produce no visible light.

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I live in the Finger Lakes region of Central New York, where can it get below zero cold in the winter, when some source of heating is needed. During the summer it might get to 90's but right now it's the mid 70's. At any rate, I'd like to get a conversation going pertaining to heating sources. I used to use, up until last week, an IR 75 watt heat bulb for a 36 inch long 16 inch high aquarium housing three H. spinifers and the 60 W ceramic heater for my Haddy who lives in a 29 inch long desert set up, having  "learned" from conversations with other hobbyists that ceramic heat is best for desert set ups because it tends to penetrate deeper into the substrate and keeps it closer to a desert environment than an IR.

How did I not know you lived in the Finger Lakes too? Anyway, I use heat mats on the sides of my enclosures, simply because they take up the least amount of room.

You can use either IR or ceramic, it's personal preference. IR lets you observe your scorp without disturbing it, but on the other hand having a red light on all the time is annoying. Neither works better than the other because as I've said, they're basically the same thing.

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However, I was recently told by a trusted breeder that the IR dries out the air and is harmful to the exoskeletons of scorps. and that unless the air temp in the house goes below 70 degrees, no alternate source of heating is needed at all, especially for the Haddy.

Any heat source will dry out the enclosure. IR and ceramic heaters do it at about the same rate. This shouldn't matter for a desert species, and with a tropical species it just means you'll have to water more often. IR is NOT harmful to scorpions, UV is.

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What I have in my collection are these:

1 75 W IR bulb

That's fine.

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1 50 W Blue Moon light bulb by exoterra

Don't use unless you're using it for reptiles or something. Scorps can see the light and are bothered by it.

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1 100 W Ceramic bulb

Pretty high wattage unless you're using it to heat multiple tanks.

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1 60 W Ceramic bulb

That's fine.

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1 Mist King electric misting system

Sounds expensive.

thank you so much for taking the time to go over this with me. do you know at which temp i should consider turning the heater on? i've been turning it on now that the room is about 65 but no colder than that.