Reptile & Amphibian Forums

a few weeks back i got rid of all the glass aquariums i was housing snakes in and put them in adequate sized rubbermaids. they all seem very happy are active and all of my snakes get handled often. i keep my house in the mid 70's so i decided to put a small heater in the snake room and bring the entire room up to 80. it is always roughly 78-83 in the room depending on the weather outside. i am housing corn snakes, kings and milks. also one ball python. are these temps ok? i havent had any regurgitation and all the snakes are active.on colder days when i had trouble getting to 80 id put a small undertank pad under the python. i understand a heat gradient from warm to cool but i do know some people heat entire rooms. please tell me your experiences and some hints or tricks.

I have a reptile room. I heat it with a basic oil filled electric heater. I bring room temp to low seventies. Then the herps have under enclosure heat sources. Since I have from ratsnakes to boa constrictors I don't want to bring the entire room up too far or the rats and candoia would be too hot. Besides, running the heater sucks electricity up whereas UTHs are minimal draws.
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Sonya

I'm not mean. You're just a sissy.
Happy Bunny

I am NOT a herp expert, but I'm with Sonya. I'm heating a small room in my house to 70, then using under tank heat for the rest. Aside from the expense of raising room temp that high, different species will have different temp requirements.

I have been thinking about also moving my chick hatching operations into that room, because of the higher temp I'm maintaining there -- but concerns about passing salmonella between the species have stopped me, for now at least.
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa
0.3 Honduran milk snakes
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

i agree with both of you. The issue with me is the convenience of space. I dont mind the electric bill. I dont like undertank heaters because i use large rubbermaid containers and i like to stack them. the colubrids are usually stacked and the reason i keep the temps high 70's but the python has access to a heat pad for extra heat. i also have a leopard gecko in the room that enjoys the high ambient temp and has access to a heat pad.

a small electric space heater set on a separate thermostat. Make sure you use a thermostat that can handle the wattage of the heater or you WILL burn it up!!! I set it to 78-80 degrees. Monitor the temps and make sure the thermostat is working properly. Folks have lost entire collections from temps getting too hot from the heater failing to cut off. I have also used a small fan to circulate the air and keep the temps more stable.

Good Luck!!
KevinM

thanks for the tips. its been working great for me but this morning i walked in my snake room and it was 95 and all the colubrids were in water bowls. freaked me out. what is a thermostat you recommend as i am getting one RIGHT AWAY.

Yup, thats the problem with the rinky dinky thermostats on the heater units. I found it real hard to get them set right. I have used the Ranco thermostat most of the online reptile supply stores sell. I believe Helix is another good model. These are usually sold pre-wired with plug in and temp probe. You can set your desired temp and it keeps the temps within 2 degrees. DO NOT go with a cheapo model as most cannot handle the wattage these little space heaters operate at(usually 1000-1500 watts). I believe the Rancos are rated at about 1500 and there may be Helix units rated even higher. Shop around and read the specs on the units, and check the specs on the heat unit you are using.

Good luck. This method can work well if a proper thermostat unit is used as is the case with most heating systems, even UTHs.

KevinM