Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is continuing my post on cage construction below (http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1408728,1408728). I have the tank and 12 cu ft of decomposed granite. Due to its weight, I plan on mixing it with top soil and sand to get to 48 sq ft and fill the 8x3x2 tank. I need to start thinking about lighting and heat. Looking at the Pro Exotics pictures, for the big tanks it looks like they have banks of 3 halogens on both sides of the tank. My house gets pretty cold at night so what should I use for heating? I think I saw a pic of a steel tank with a heat pad on it. Is that a good idea or will CHE's or heat bulbs in the bank of lights be better that are left on a night routine.

Im not 100% on this mind you, but...

With the lighting, you want to provide a high temp basking spot but also keep a relatively lower temp 'end' of the cage for thermoreg.

In that cage, it lookes like 3 banks of halogens on each end might be abit much (depending how you set it up)- im sure someone will correct me.

As for the night deal; as long as you are providing areas of complete darkness for the animal to hide in, lights can be left on 24 hrs a day.... again, Im sure someone will correct me on this.

2 other issues:
-It looks like you have that sitting on a tile floor... I hope you realize how much weight you are talking about; depending on how deep you are planning to fill that cage.

Weight can be a real issue if you dont plan for it ahead of time.

-To limit the weight, try using leaf litter for at least part of your substrate. It should be pretty easy to get your hands on, depending on location; and is lightweight, easily replaceable (Fall is a good time to fill up a few bags) and the animal can burrow through it and create lil micro-climates within the leaves.

They also hold humidity quite well if they arent extremely dry before placing in the cage.

I'll see how the ambient temps get as winter rolls around. We don't have our heat on yet, so that might help and burrows could hold some heat as well (maybe). I will start off with two halogens (received yesterday alone with a temp gun from Pro Exotics, NICE!!!), and then temp the hell out of every part of that cage at every time of day or night.

As far as weight, I am not going to do 100% decomp. granite. That would put a hole in my floor (40 lbs x 96 bags=3840 lbs)! I will use at most 24 bags of decomp. granite (24 bags x40 lbs=960 lbs). Top soil is not that heavy and sand will be less weight than the granite. I think it might be 2000 lbs at most. I am going to frame the tank and then either use casters or some weight bearing wood planks to sit it on. If it is still too heavy, I will move it to the garage or use a cypress mulch.