Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been using a space heater to keep my ambient room temps at around 75-77 degrees. This seems about right for my setup because I use under tank pads. Space heaters use a lot of electricity so I just purchased an econo-heat panel. Not cheap either, but I think it should more than pay for itself down the road. Just hooked it up an hour ago and the room is at 74 so far. Anyone else ever try these? They are supposed to cost around 2 cents an hour to run.

Going to have to get a thermostat hooked up if I still want to use the under tank heat and have hot and cool zones. The room is now right at 80.1 degrees and holding steady. Too hot to have additional heat in the tanks I believe. Does anyone here just keep the room at 80 with no hot and cool zones? Not sure the snakes would like it.

I actually use ambient heat by using a convection heater, and have been forever. Surprisingly, there is a whole range of temps in the room, and I position snakes accordingly to the temps, and the amount of heat I use, is what I work with how warm the outside is. In other words, in the summer, I use the heater a lot less, sometimes if any, and in winter, of course, every day.
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Genesis 1:1

WELL, certainly beats how I started out. Yep. Used to keep several hundred hot water bottles scattered about the room....but the water bill.....oy vey!!!

Just kiddin' man -- never used anything like that. But I'd recommend (of course depending on where your room is situated in the home) the use of good insulation, use of that sticky-sided foam that you can put in the space between doors, and any other insulation medium. And don't worry 'bout those '09 babies -- will keep 'em far away from any getulas. Even better, I don't even have any getula in the collection come to think of it....
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Jerry Kruse

"Yesterday is history.....tomorrow is a mystery.........but today is a gift -- that is why it is called the present". - Master Oogway

Yeah Jerry, the room is TOO insulated I believe. I finished the basement myself and I overkill everything. Insulation on top of block and all walls. I just do not know if it is O.K. to keep the snakes at 80-81 and not provide zones.

I personally feel that keeping an ambient temp at 80 is a bit much. But that's just my opinion. I prefer to keep things a bit cooler with some opportunity for thermoregulation via Flexwatt (80F /- a degree or so). I guess it also depends what you're keeping -- if i had Brazilian rainbow boas then I'd go with 80, but if I were keeping Northern pines then I'd go with room temp up to 75F. With my collection I keep everything around 68 - room temp. But that's just me and my critters seem to be content until the fall when they sense a change and their instinct kicks in to retreat thus constant cruising.

Now that we have this settled, let's discuss the acorn shortage...

LOL.........
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Jerry Kruse

"Yesterday is history.....tomorrow is a mystery.........but today is a gift -- that is why it is called the present". - Master Oogway

I feel kind of the same way Jerry. I just ordered a thermostat for the heat panel. I prefer to keep the room at around 75 degrees and let the snakes choose. Having a couple of pyros now and the cali mountains coming I will probably lower the room to around 70 and raise the temps on the other end. Thanks for the input.

Be sure to have the room heater on a thermostat. I made the mistake of relying on the heateres thermostat several years ago and it got stuck. I woke up one morning, went out to the snake room and the temp was 140 degrees. Needless to say, I lost a lot of snakes. Don't make my mistake. Never trust the thermostat o the heater alone.

Thanks for that info. I just ordered one for the heat panel as mentioned above. That probably is not such a concern for me because the panel running constantly without a thermostat gets the room to 80-81. Even is the thermostat breaks that I ordered it will not fry my snakes.

I'm using radiant cove heaters in my snake room and they are remarkably efficient. But I have the walls and floor insulated with a foil-faced radiant barrier and the heaters are wired at 220V.

But I'm thinking about replacing at least one of them with a heat panel.

What size is your room? What length x width is the panel? What wattage is it? And what brand is it?

Sorry for all the questions.
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

0.0.4 Rhynchophis boulengeri

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

0.0.1 Rhamphiophis rubropunctatus

0.0.1 Morelia viridis "Aru"

0.0.1 Morelia viridis "Merauke"

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

My snake room is only 6x11 and is well insulated as well. Its in my basement underground and I insulated the walls. I bought a large 24x24 panel and it is too much for this room. I ordered a thermostat so I can reduce the heat. It got to 82 degrees in a few hours. I like to keep the ambient temps at 74-75. Econo-heat is the brand. It really puts off a lot of heat. If your room is maybe twice the size of mine you would be fine with this one. They sell a smaller one that I just learned about.(too late) I could have use that one at full blast with no thermostat. They are supposed to cost 2-3 cents and hour to run.

Assuming you have 8' ceilings I'd say you have the right panel as
you're at about 0.75 watts per cubic foot.

I have just over a watt per cubic foot in my room and it's way too much. My snake room is in the back of my garage and even today when it's zero degrees outside my heaters don't run anywhere near full. I can even leave the door cracked while I'm working in there and can hear the thermostat cycle on and off.

Hey, if you don't mind and assuming you have a temperature gun could you check the surfact temperature of your panel for me? Check it in several spots and post the high/low numbers.

Here is a picture of my snake room. The cove heater is the tan strip up near the ceiling:

The problem I'm having is that they need a certain amount of clearance meaning I can't build or stack cages up as high as I'd like. This is why I'm considering replacing one of them with a panel. I can mount it on the ceiling and have it radiate down onto the work area and not at a cage stack. This will give me a lot of options for using the wall space, at least at that end. Below the other heater will be reserved for hatchling racks and a work area.

Mine running on 220 volts they are remarkably efficient. Way under 3 cents per hours. I could heat that room to 100* when it's below freezing in the garage for less than that.

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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

0.0.4 Rhynchophis boulengeri

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

0.0.1 Rhamphiophis rubropunctatus

0.0.2 Morelia viridis (Aru & Merauke locale types)

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

Hey Chris, sounds like your system if very efficient. Not sure these panels are as efficient as that. Anyway, I had to unplug the thing until I get the thermostat due to the heat of the room. I did hit it with a gun and if I remember it was HOT. 140 or something. You certainly cannot hold your hand to the middle for more than an instant. The wall behind it gets hot too but not enough for great concern. I will be firing it back up as soon as I get the thermostat and I will email the results to you. Oh, my ceilings in the basement are only seven feet. Block/brick constuction with 1/2 drywall and r-19 in between. (all surrounding walls insulated)

My system is more efficient only because I'm running them on 220V. If I add a panel it will also be run on 220V. When my system runs at full strength it pulls about the same amps as seven 100 watt light bulbs. And it does not have to run at full strength very often.

At first glance the company you use does not offer a 220V system. Sometimes they can be re-wired so I'll give them a call after the holiday.

If you get that heat data try to respond to me through this thread. I don't come to this forum very often and in fact only navigate through on my occasional visit to the Mexicana Forum.
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

0.0.4 Rhynchophis boulengeri

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

0.0.1 Rhamphiophis rubropunctatus

0.0.2 Morelia viridis (Aru & Merauke locale types)

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

I will do that.