Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Any of you guys use thermo electric (cooling) chips in addition to heat tape on your cages or racks? (I'm in Texas, it's HOT here during breeding season).

I'm just thinking out loud right now, I have not checked into initial cost, which may prove to be prohibitive - other than that, has anyone any experience with these chips?
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http://www.hcu-tx.org

I've constructed styro foam boxes and used ice packs, I am in TX too. The snakes did use them. Tom
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TomsSnakes.com

>>I've constructed styro foam boxes and used ice packs, I am in TX too. The snakes did use them. Tom
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>>TomsSnakes.com

I'm going to look into cost and application. Rather than keeping the whole room cool for the cold side of the gradient, this might be more cost effective (long term) and allow more control over a wide range of applications (Desert and Montane species).
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http://www.hcu-tx.org

I think it is superior as opposed to cooling the entire room. Many times during all seasons I see my snakes using temps most would guess they'd be uncomfortable at. Especially things like staying away from the heat after meals. Tom Stevens
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TomsSnakes.com

Hi Joe, I think your overthinking. I also live in a hot area. I use no cooling, never have. And they all breed(I am having a nightmare) they never stop. Snakes, turtles, torts, monitors, someone stop them, awwwwwwwwwwwwww Actually when I lived in apartments on the higher floors, I had to cool them to get down to 65F

Consider, the snakes outside your door are in texas and they do not need cooling chips or ice packs. Then consider, milksnakes in central america breed in the same conditions as milksnakes from Kansas.

In an earlier post, someone mentioned Ron Savage. I loved how he bred snakes. He caught them, put them in cages in his house and garage, then went to mexico in the summer and the snakes bred all by themselves, no heating or extra cooling. KISS, I think he fed them in the fall, but am not sure.hahahahahaha And those that did not die or get away, bred and produced just fine. I lived across the street, so I know some got away, hehehehehehehehe.

Hmmmmmm I practice that approach these days.

Put them in a room open a window, close the heater duct, and your done. What they do in nature is seek out a large mass so the temps do not wildly jump up and down. Some pick areas they can warm up if they want to. You know, warm up to 60's or 70's.

Not to burst your montane bubble, but snakes in our montane field study has shown they do not need to hibernate and are often out and feeding/breeding all or nearly all winter, our site is 6000ft, plus and minus. Put it this way, we have seen gravid snakes every month of the year.

What seems to be important is, reproductive snakes require a range of temps. In order to reproduce, they also need to have the ability to conserve energy as well as expend it.

My personal opinion is, snakes seek out temps about 65F year around. That is, if they do not have food in their stomachs or are in shed or sick or wounded. that is, if there is no need to up the metobolism, they seek 65F or so. And that includes pythons. Of course 55F does not harm them. Temps lower then that are not needed. You can think of it like this. You know, there is no need for temps above 100F in their cages. But you could include temps above 100F they just will not use them. Same goes for temps below 55-65F. If you give them a choice, they will pick that range. Then move up if needed. Cheers

Frank,
Thanks for all of your insight.

Every time you chime in here, you have my undivided attention!

Best,
//Todd

it's the room they are in...

It's over the Garage, no A/C duct work, stays OVER 82 all the time in the summer. Very bad for fertility. Must think of something that doesn't cost 300/month. I went through the same thing when I bred alterna.
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http://www.hcu-tx.org

talk to me some about this because I'm interested in your thoughts.

The kings I have now come from about 4000' elevation. They don't even come of the ground unless it's 70F or below, usually between 65 and 70.

The room I was talking about, when I said over 82 all the time, most times it's WAY over 82, like 90 or more for extended periods of time. My past experience tells me I will have a bunch of infertile males if I allow that to happen.

I'm thinking running these chips will be cheaper than running a window unit A/C all the time.

Thoughts or ideas?
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http://www.hcu-tx.org

Yes that is a problem and your right.

I used a few years a area in the garage and placed them there. In special cages just for that. It worked but not the best. More later. Cheers

Hey Joe,
Where are you going with that gun in your hand..

Yes, I've looked into those years ago. I though that they would by the perfect solution for providing a cool area without needing expensive and power-hungry A/C. The chips use very little power and cool a small area that could be used by a colubrid.

Alas, the chips turned out to be quite pricey. However, at least 5 years has gone by, and so things may have changed.

I will look into them myself. Keep me posted on what you find, and I will do the same. Imagine being able to keep a 5" x 5" area in a cage down into the 70's using hardly any power when the ambient air temp is 85 deg. This is what the hobby is missing.
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Mark

When these chips first hit the market Joe Laszlo was still alive, and they were indeed quite pricey. If we can applicate them at reasonable prices, this will be the bomb.

I'll let you know what I find out.
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http://www.hcu-tx.org

I'll be watching this closely, too...

//Todd

I thought about them briefly when I was having trouble keeping my snakes cool enough during our warm winter last year.

If I was starting from scratch (not retrofitting a wide variety of existing racks and cages, some that already have heat strips) I might try to get clever and find the right units and assembly method that would allow them to be used for cooling when needed, then flipped over for heating as necessary.

And a different imaginary rack design would utilize each chip to create a cool end for one cage and a warm end for the cage above it or next door. Each cage would have a chip at each end (one warming, one cooling) but the hot-warm direction would alternate. Lots of details to work out obviously.

bunches of thermoelectric links at:
http://www.peltier-info.com
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Lindsay Pike
Urotopia Uromastyx