Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My ever growing collection and limited space is forcing me to move my snakes to the basement. It is a finished basement that is around 66-68 degrees year round. My cage temps on average are 90 on the hot side and must be 80 on the cooler side. While I can manage that easily upstairs (temps 70-72), I am worried that won't be the case downstairs since they will HAVE to be placed along an insulated and finished outside wall.

This may be more of a question for Chris H:

If I lined the backs and tops of each acge with Reflectix, would that keep the cages warmer on the cooler side? I used RHP from ProProducts for all the cages and have stats connected to each cage on the hot side. The underside of the cages that will be ontop of a wooden stand I will also put reflectix.

reflectix
---------cage-------
reflectix
---------cage-------
reflectix
---------stand------

There will be 3 stacks of cages like that and eventually a 10'x4'x2 Burmese Python cage off by itself beside the stacks. No cages will be directly on the carpeted floor.

Good plan? Bad Plan?

If I lined the backs and tops of each acge with Reflectix, would that keep the cages warmer on the cooler side?

Reflectix is a good choice here. My main concern with your approach would be if the cages will be resting right on top of the Reflectix. If so, it will compress and won't function as a radiant barrier. If you can put small strips of wood inbetween each cage and allow the Reflectix to float loose it will work much better.

Another choice is foil faced insulation board, but I do have to warn you that this is not a fire-rated product and there are likely code violations if it's sitting out in the open and not permanently covered with a fire-rated product. Reflectix can be out in the open, as can any of the radiant barriers that look like bubble wrap covered in aluminum foil.

Speaking of that, any of these products work fine. Reflectix is just the most common. Some of the other brands can be bought by the foot meaning you don't need to pay for an entire roll.

Lastly, I will suggest trying to increase thermal mass inside of each cage, especially if you have problems at the cool end of the cage.
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Current snakes:

0.0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Java locale (green)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Jave local (green)

2.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Seleyar locale (all black)

1.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Celebes locale (Black & Tan)