Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've been thinking for quite some time that I needed to upgrade the heating systems in my oak BRB breeding cages.

My original cage was heated by light bulbs on dimmers and a Helix thermostat. Night drop was a timer switch shutting off all power.

BRB breeder #2 was improved and had flexwatt underneath but I believe much of the energy was wasted and lost into the room. It was also controlled by a helix DBS1000. I still like the helix units but for a stack, the upper cages are warmer than the lower ones.

So, I bit the bullet and ordered in 16 RHU's from Pro-products. I also bought two of the herpstat pro t-stats, four channels each and lots of built in features. I installed one RHP in each section of both BRB breeder stacks. I used one t-stat channel for each right/left pair of cages, When I first powered them on and set all the temps and night drop I could see about a 5 degree difference top to bottom. Now that they've been running for a day, all the temps have settled down and are almost identical. The upper cages can still be a bit warmer due to room ambient but within a couple of degrees of set point.

To help control temps I have cooled my room a bit by shutting off unoccupied cages (several BCI males off to see their girlfriends). I also sealed off my heater vent. I had it closed but still would et some warm air when the furnace was blowing. Those fixes along with the RHU's vs light bulbs and flexwatt and my room temps have dropped several degrees.

OLD cage pics (will have to take some new ones later)

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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB, selectively bred from good stock)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
12.24 BRB
11.13 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Dave,
I have been thinking about heating options for when I build my adult cages and stumbled upon the RHP's. Since I plan to build them using 3/4 sandply covering the bottom with formica for ease of cleaning. Since I don't want to use bottom heat on the wood even though it can be attached and sandwiched with a sheet of aluminum, I thought it might be best to use a RHP in a slot off to one side in the cage and figured since it blew heat and was kept inside of the cage (with adequate ventilation) that it would save on electric costs but was wondering if people used them with their rainbows. I know heat is heat, but would it matter if the bottom was heated or the side. It just seems that with the heavier the snake, then the hotter it would feel to the snake if it was heated from the bottom because of body pressure. I know they are only up 10 lbs. and substrate is present but still theoretically has to be hotter because they are heavier than the air we breath. If not, it just seems more heat is wasted using UTH's as opposed to RHP's. Nice posts on your weights the other day, the only thing it was lacking was maybe their lengths but incredible posts none the less. Phoenix is to die for and I heard about Will Byrd from your post saying Xmas came early and went and saw his beauties. Tell Lefty to get his game face on because it is going to be a long season for him. Best of luck in breeding and any thoughts on which you think would be better side heat or bottom heat?
Bob

Hey Bob, Radient Heat Panels (RHP's) have no working parts, they don't blow heat, they simply are heat devices that radiate heat in one direction. I placed mine in the corner of the ceiling "aimed" down. This will direct the heat toward the floor (basking spot) like natural heat and all the heat is contained in the enclosure.

Thanks on the weight post, just trying to show what my normals are like, just something for anyone to compare to. Yeah I also want to get new pics for length measurements. I use snakemeasurer software to get the actual length. Works great since you're not actually measuring the snake, you measure the image.
-----
Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB, selectively bred from good stock)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
12.24 BRB
11.13 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Dave you are crazy to call them normal. I know you meant you meant the measurements but your collection is fascinating anyway. My favorites have to be Phoenix, Hook, the ones from Byrd and Amber. I was looking at Amber and was thinking she could be called Dottie. I am definitely getting one of those babies in a year or two. Thanks for the correction on RHP's and what about that software! You take a picture, it calculates and tells you how long he or she is, if that isn't as cool as the delivery man bringing wings or pizza- then I just simply don't know what is.
Bob

Normals as in not morphs, but yeah, very special, hand selected DDG BRB's.

Believe it or not but Hook was in the for sale pile for quite some time. He was not the best looker at birth. After seversal sheds and a few times of me cleaning and saying to myself whoa, what's happening here, I moved him to holdback astatus and have never been sorry I did. He just continued to color up and now is one of my favorites as well.

The software is not quite automatic, unless there's a newer version I don't have. With mine, you take a pic with the snake and a known length object (ruler). Best results are when the pic is direectly overhead. You define the known length object then draw a line point by point down the spine and the software tells you how long that line is. Still way cool and MUCH easier than trying to measure a moving animal
-----
Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB, selectively bred from good stock)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
12.24 BRB
11.13 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Dave,

My friend has one of those herpstat pros. They are saweet! Have you thought about buying the software interface and having your temps graphed? I've used things like MRTG and CACTI before for monitoring switches and routers at my job but it would work great for temps I think. It'll also txt message you if your temps are too high or too low. Right now it looks like you'd have to buy the data kit that was released by Spyder Robotics

http://spyderrobotics.com/products/herpstatuploader.html

but, I'm sure there is a way around that I'm going to pick one up in the next couple of months and will let you guys know if I'm able to hack it.

Jamie