Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just looking for advice on heating a single cage...room temps can vary a lot, I'm dealing with it right now by closely monitoring things, but I want to eliminate all variables that could be stressful.
Enclosure will be wood, sealed well, small vent holes, glass front.
Any advice is appreciated.

Wood is not good to heat through so a radiant heat panel would be best - but they are not cheap. May be able to use acrylic for the floor the floor and use flexwatt. Best would be to router the wood floor, so the flexwatt has a recessed place to lay and then put acrylic over the top. Also, a must is a good thermostat right on the flexwatt, so heat is controlled.
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Mike

7.13 BRB
1.2 Spotted Python
1.0 Cal. King

I use the radiant heat panels, and yea, they are expensive, but they do work great! And you can use them with wood. They also tend to dry out the cages, so you have to be careful with the humidity there, just an FYI.
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9.25 BRB
10.23 BCI
0.1 Kenyan Sand Boa
0.7 Corn Snakes
2.8 Leopard Geckos

Like has already been said, best setup for a wood cage is a RHP with a decent proportional thermostat. Yeah, I know, not exactly "Budget heating" but IS best and safest option. You're looking at a couple hundred to get both.

You can go less but each step away does add additional risk.

Other more risky options for the actual heat element are....

Ceramic Heat Emitter inside cage pointed down. HAVE to put a gaurd around it!!!!

Light bulb? Way back when that's how my original cage was heated but it was in a well insulated room with little temp variation.

Flexwatt recessed into floor.

Other options for Thermostat are:

Ranco on/off

Cheapo on/off

Dimmer switch (lousy choice in an area with larger temp fluctuations)

This is one point many simply do not get, a properly set up decent size enclosure can easily cost more than the occupant!!!
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

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

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Thanks for all the advice as always!
Since I'm taking my time on the enclosure and trying my best to keep it "furniture grade" for lack of a better term, I like the recessed flexwatt idea, thanks!
I want to go with wood because it's a poor conductor of heat...to contain heat/moisture etc. in her own environment in a wood setup will be easier than trying to control the room.

I will DEFINATELY have a rheostat type controller regardless so the temp doesn't fluctuate too much.

.....Edit.....

I thought rheostat was a generic term for "heat controller" doing research, now realizing differences in controllers/thermostats etc.
...Just a BIT confusing! lol

yeah it does get a bit confusing, it took me a while to figure it out.

the way i understand it is there are many types of heat control the three most common (i say most common only because i dont even know if there are more than that) are proportional thermostat, on/off thermostat, and of corse a rheostat....

no right off the bat everyone in the world will tell you the proportional thermostats are the best. now i am not sure exactly how these work but i think these control the heat the same way a dimmer switch and a rheostat does, and thats is by turning on and off hundreds of time a second. and the adjustment comes from how long it remains in the off position before turning back on. add i have i admit i wasnt 100% sure so i looked it up www.howstuffworks.com/dimmer-switch.htm/printable

now a rheostat is a dimmer switch just all wired up for you, plug your heat source into it and it into an outlet... however the biggest difference between the to is that a proportional thermostat is all automatically controlled and holds tighter tolerances and a rheostat has to be constantly monitored and adjusted. with a good thermometer or an infrared heat gun, checking temps isnt all that bad...

last off is your on/off thermostat, like the name suggests these are either all on or all off. they are adjustable to an approximate temp, once up to temp it will shut off and the cage will gradually cool, once it cools to a certain point it will kick back on. this can cause a pretty good fluctuation in tepms, that can sometimes be an issue for anyone trying to maintain specific temps throughout...

and that my little blurb on heating lol sorry for going off but hope it help some how
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-Stephen-
-Step-
-Steve Lightning-

0.1 soon to be wifey (hopefully)
1.0 rotwiler/chow (Boomer-wifey's pooch)
1.0 norm corn (Jake aka grumpy old terdhead)
1.0 col redtail boa (Switch, formally known as Dixie)
0.1 ball python (Bella- wifey's baby girl)
0.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boa (Saphira)

hopeful for not to distant future:
--Brazilian rainbow boas
2 or 3 more? maybe a breeding trio or two pair
-- something for the wifey... my list got to big...

If you're not planning to breed, I don't think you need the proportional thermostat. I have a few Ranco on/off and the temp does fluctuate a bit, but you can set it so it only ever fluctuates by 1 degree, I don't see that being all that much. My ranco is really the cheapest "reliable" thermostat I've found. I've used the zoomed ones and such before, but they break and fluctuate a lot more. My 2 cents... Good Luck!
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9.25 BRB
10.23 BCI
0.1 Kenyan Sand Boa
0.7 Corn Snakes
2.8 Leopard Geckos