Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi

I just got a pair of new cages 6ftL x 30w x 18 High with full lenght shelves across the back 8 inches wide. I purchased with them some radiant heat panels. The cages also have provisions for 11 inch heat tape on the same end of the cage as the panels are installed. I have been experimenting with the heat panels to see what they do and do not do before I use the cages. First I found somthing interesting. I dangled the Johnson probe about 6 inches below the panels " 2 inches above the shelf" and set it to 90 degrees on the stat. The thermostat would read about 12-14 degrees cooler than the actual temp on the shelf and I found that the metal sheath around the probe was reflecting the heat rather than absorbing it and thus reading way off. So I took a piece of athletic tape and wrapped it around the probe so it would absorb the heat and this immediately corrected the temp difference. I found this to be kind of odd, and am wondering if anyone has noticed this as well? I am also wondering if these panels are going to work for me or not. With the shelf I can attain 90 degress at that height no problem, but if I try to acheive that temp at the bottom of the cage at the substrate the shelf will be way too hot. My soloution is to use the 11 inch heat tape on a seperate themostat to maintain the substrate temp at 90. This is the only soloution I could come up with, and am wondering if anyone has any suggestions or advice?

Thanks
chris wolf

An interesting post. I have some heat panels, and do like them, but have never been convinced that they alone will do the job for a heavy bodied snake such as an adult boa, a blood python, etc. I have always used them on a rheostat, not a thermostat. The part about the hanging probe always throws me off and I've stuck with a rheostat. I've used heat tape in conjunction with it to ensure sufficient heat.
I do wonder if using both isn't overkill and doesn't stem from not really understanding how the heat panel works. I'm really saying that I don't understand, not you! The radiant heat isn't supposed to heat the air, just the animal, right? And I have seen animals do very well with just the heat panels. Still, heat tape isn't that expensive, I know I'll keep using both "just in case".

Andy

Yes the heat panels only heat surfaces, not the air. From the top of the cage to the bottom the temp difference is quite a-lot. The panel hits 150F, 8 inches down it will be 90 on the shelf, and at the bottom of the cage 82-83 top to bottom height 18 inches. These readings all taken with a temp gun. The reason for dangling the probe is... If I lay it on a surface and the snake lays on it, it will throw the stat off. If I put it right against the panel, it will get to the upper limit of temp for setting say a helix t stat. If I put it on a wall, straight down from the panel, its not even close to accurate, because the panel directs the heat straight down and the probe reads way cooler than it really is under the panel. At this point im not impressed with the panels, and think I wasted my money. But im still experimenting. These panels are 20 x 24 and 100 watts.

Thx
Chris

It depends what the cages are made of i guess and weather or not you stack them. I have used them in vision cages and even though a heat panel is supposed to be efficient at directing heat, it still seems that the majority of the heat directly on the hot side is residual heat from the heat panel from the cage below it. It did work perfectly for me, i just had to put a heat pad under the bottom cage. How much hotter is the perch than the floor if you heat the cage below it with the same power?

I posted a question like this in the burm forum a while back because I thought the heat panel was to heat the air, and well I had one set at 90 degrees, but when I used a temp gun the floor temp underneath was 105, and in my tree boa cage I had it set for 82 degrees and it got up to 90. You have to use a temp gun for these to measure the floor temp. I know have the helix thermastat in my cages set at 86 and the floor temp gets up to 94. If your snake is bigger then you need to measure the heat to where his body is, so not the floor but a few inches up. I tried to find my post in that forum and have not, if I find it I will post what was said about the heat panel.

But like you I wish I would have understood better because I would have gone with Kane Heat Pads at the bottom of the cage and no heat panels.
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