Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone,
Here is a dumb question but i need to ask because my electrical bills are killing me, and I am wondering if there is something I can do to reduce my bill.
"How do you all keep up with the electric/power bills?"
I am in California and 3 years back (with out the ball python hobby), I was paying around 75 to 90 dollars per month on electric and gas payment, the last few bills I had are from $400 to $500 per month. (my neighbors are paying around $100)
This a list of what I have on Heat tape. for proper belly heat.
50' of 11' flex (50 41qt containers)
18' of 4" flex (12 27qt containers)
30' of 3" flex (Baby racks 60 6qt containers)
All of this is in a single room with 1 fan and proper ambient temp and for the last few months I had the home made (wine cellar) incubator going at 89F.
is there a trick out there or am i paying just about the same as everybody else.
Again it might sound dumb but the way things are every cent counts.
Thank you in advance for your comments and sorry for the long post.
Alfonso

This month: 643.36
Last month: 588.97
Month before: 629.03

... I have no idea but I certainly would LOVE some suggestions...

~Beth
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Until there are none, Rescue One! Get ready to welcome the new and improved Oklahoma Animal Rescue Group -- Just a few weeks away from getting our 501c3 status!!!!!

That sounds about rite. You need to get some clown-pie-superpastels in the collection to compensate.
Your power usage is Tier5?

I am not there yet, I have pieds but not clowns or super pastels yet
I am not sure what Tier5 means.

I dont think the belly heat is helping.
Whats your room temp?

The room temperature is around 82-83F and the heat tape (belly heat) inside the container is 90F.
Why do you think the belly heat is not working?
Will you recommend to raise the whole room temperature?

There may not be much you can do about the cost of heating your snakes. However, you could attempt to cut costs else where in the house.

There are numerous ways to shave a little here and there that will add up in the end. Your power company most likely has a website you can visit that will detail some of the ways you can save on your energy bill (you can even check out OTHER power company websites for ideas). Do a Google search for more ideas.

Some of the quickest and easiest ways to reduce you bill include:
-Turn your water heater thermostat down (Do you really need SUPER hot water all of the time?)
-Replace your light bulbs (the florescent bulbs are more expensive initially but they use less energy)
-fix leaks and drafts (why heat or cool the outdoors?)
-shut off anything you are not using (it is a myth that keeping a light on uses less energy than turning it on)
-have someone come out and check your insulation - if you need it replaced you will see an almost immediate difference in your power bill
-many power companies will also send a technician out to check you house for "power leaks" these can be seemingly minor or unnoticeable problems with the wiring in your home that can contribute to wasted energy consumption (even new homes can have these problems)

Many appliances continue to suck power even when they are shut off. Stereos, TVs, and computers are some of the biggest energy wasters in a house. Hook them all up to surge protectors and shut off the surge protectors before you go to bed at night. It's really not a big deal to flip one more switch before you turn on your PC.

...one of the best ways to save on your power bill (you'll see a difference by your next bill):
Install a programmable thermostat for your house.

There is little need to heat/cool your house while you are away. If you are at work for 8 hours a day and have a 1/2 hour commute you are essentially heating/cooling your house for 9 hours a day that no one is home. Even if you don't buy a programmable thermostat simply adjusting the thermostat before you leave the house will make a huge difference.

9 hours a day x 25 days a month x 12 months a year = 2700 hours a year that your furnace/AC is running when no one is home. You don't have to (or really want to) shut it off... just turn it down (or up).

Wow, I'm glad I don't have any of these electrical issues. As my collection and housing grows, I do notice an increase in my electric bill, but nothing substantial like that at all.

There are 5 people in my house (all of which are adults) and just shy of 40 snakes all on flexwatt. I never see numbers anywhere close to what these people are listing. Less than half actually!!

But another tip (true story, one of the best things I could have ever done to reduce energy costs) was to BUY A NEWER FRIDGE. Typically, the older your fridge, the more energy it consumes. My newer fridge eats up ten times less than my older one. Yes, it cost a lot initially, but I noticed a significant difference in my bill from that.
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Cheers!
• Chelsea Lynn Gardiner
(and Frank M. Wood)

If your snake room is already 82-83 degrees just shut off all your heat tape. You can plug the heat tape back in for a day or two after feeding to help digestion but your snakes will be fine with the 82-83 degrees by itself!

no....

my room is 82 /85....but box temps are from 75 at floor to 88 or more at top....with a small fan....

......yes I have balls at all levels...some adults average 76 degrees all year long I bet...and breed pretty well...there are a few issues that may be related...I am studying it sorta....but some girls do real well and babies do well and eat while others don't...but heated balls do the same here...

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I live in FLorida. Is it possible to keep snakes outside year around? Ny hubby brought up the subject of keeping them in the garage with the door slightly open and locks on the enclosures, and a high power fan when its way hot in the summer. Our garage isnt insulated well, so its not usually hot even with the door closed all day. Any ideas for making this work?

even in Florida it started to snow up northern parts and it gets really hot all the way from Fl to upper Canada...

....even in garage...I'd have an AC and a heater ready....

....insulate better works wonders....
....trees for shade......
....and it really depends on what species you want....some are touchy...(balls are actually pretty tough)
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Listen, I'm sure you are a very capable person, but leaving the garage door cracked is just asking for trouble. FLORIDA HAS ENOUGH PROBLEMS AT THE MOMENT.......if any of your snakes were to escape, this is just one more case to tie us into the burmese python problem. This would be bad for everybody! And yes, I understand you would put locks on the cages, but we're human......we all make mistakes. But there is one difference......if one of your little escape artists (because we all know they try!) get out, it's gone.......guaranteed!

Brandon

Ambient temperature tends to be cheaper to maintain than heating for individual cages or tubs. But it depends.

How are you heating the room? If a space heater, what kind? And describe the construction of the room. Size, number of exterior/interior walls, etc.

My snake room is 17' x 9' and is in the back of my third garage stall. When it is below freezing outside I can heat the room to over 90* with less power than it takes to run seven 100 watt light bulbs. But I designed it from scratch for this, including 220 volt heaters and radiant blocking insulation.

Still, there may be some things you can do.
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

n/P

MD

....you have all balls?...

could raise room to 85 and use a good /fairly nice size fan to circulate air well...

....I havw balls and corns and Mt kings and milks and other stuff....room 82 -ish and tapes at 93....only 16 have tape of 250 ? cages....LOL
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Electricity in California is the most expensive I know of. SCE is the worst, they charge you on a Tier system. The more KWH you use the higher up the tier you go. Each time you go up a level your rates get higher. There's not really much you can do besides trying to cut back other places like lights, tv, a/c, etc.

Eric

Eric is RIGHT!! California is rough. Dec.-Feb. is worst of course. Space heaters plus racks equal $600-$700 per for those months. OUCH!!!
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Bill Buchman

Check your appliances first. Something like a refridgerator with a old compressor, or something similiar may cause a 50% increase in energy usage. You can also calculate just what your heat tape is using, during peak and non-peak usage
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South Central Herpetological

Wow - ours is no where near that and if it were hubby would throw the snakes out the window faster than you can say So Cal Ed.

I did notice a drop in the electric bill after we switched from flexwatt to heat cable I think I figured I'm using about 150 watts less to heat the same amount of tubs. But my snake room gets the afternoon sun and is pretty hot most of the time without the extra heat.
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Tosha
JET Pythons

Im not positive but I think that back heat is cheaper to run than belly heat, at least when using flexwat.1 strip down the back vs separte strips under every tub. Depending on were you live in california you dont need to heat the room. The odds of the temps droppinf far enough to effect the animals especialy when they have the 90F flexwat underneath is are very high. Keep your heat off in the winter and your air off in the summer. check your fridge to make shure its energy star. Other than that you might just have to give me a couple pieds to cut down on cost.

Spelling mistakes throughout. Im sleep.

It looks like it is not only me paying a lot of money for power, and I will try some of the things in the house.
Yes, California is one of the more espensive places for electrity, I can't even use another electric company because in this area only PG&E is the only one supplying the service.
Thank you for the comments and suggestions.
Alfonso

Whenever I decide to build my new snake house ot is gonna run off solar power. They can isolate certain areas to your house to run off the solar panels. I'm in Cali also and I to went from $90 to $500 . I shut all my ac vents to only get 3 rooms in the house and it seems to work a little better, wish it was back to $90 though. Only have one pied but hopefully some killer clowns will be hatching next season!!!

Scott Austin

In the coldest months of the year I use propane heat to heat the snake room. It costs less then electricity and you can set your room up around the heater instead of trying to heat hundreds of holes you heat one big hole and jut try to heat the hot spot with the heat tape. If I didn't do this my electric bill would be worse then it is now. I also don't heat all of my snakes on hot days in the summer I just let the outside temps do the work for me. My snake room is in a detached building from the house and has more insultation then a regular house would ever need so it holds heat very well.

what temps are tapes set at???

set lower..?

use a room heater to help out the tapes?

use a room heater that doesn't make your bill worse...

...insulate walls better.....2 inch foam sheets on all walls?...even over all windows and doors....(yes allow door to open )...

.......aaaaand......if you have that many snakes......you should be making tens of thousands....at least soon???.......LOL.....

....really.......

upgrade the stock if needed....

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