Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am wondering what the best heat source would be for a 4'tall x3'wide x2'deep snake cage in which I am planning to house a carpet python (Irian Jaya is what advice points to). It is a cage that sits flat on the ground (I realize that this isn't the most heat-efficient design, but it's too late to change now) and it has a hide space underneath, which is about six inches tall. I'm thinking about one of those Exo-Terra "Heat Wave" doohickeys for the bottom section (The one I have on my lizard terrarium is working fine), but what about the top? Should I use another? Or one of those radiant ceramic light-bulby things? (I need to get up on my jargon too.)
Thanks for the help,
Chuck

Carpets require an air temp in the 75-80 range, and then a basking area of a few degrees higher. As long as the carpet doesn't have food in its belly, it can withstand cooler ambient temps than 75, but for sure, a heat pad in an otherwise cold cage is not good for a tropical or subtropical snake. My point is, you can have a heat pad on the floor, but you should really have heat lamps or a radient heat panel up above. Besides, if the carpet wants to bask on a branch, a heat pad does nothing.

Big Apple Herp (www.bigappleherp.com) sells bulbs and bulb guards. Then you need a thermostat to prevent overheating. Red heat bulbs work well as do ceramic bulbs. Use a thermostat to make sure you don't overheat. Big Apple has a really inexpensive one that is good for high temp cutoff. If using ceramic bulbs, you can use Big Apple's proportional controller to achieve more precise control, but for background temp in a cage, a simple inexpensive thermostat is usually all that is needed, as the temp doesn't have to hold exactly at say 78 - it can vary from 75-80 for example.

The Bean Farm (www.beanfarm.com) sells radiant heat panels that are effective sources of heat, but cost quite a bit up front. They last a long time, say 10 years if used with a dimmer.