Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was given a very big reptile cage.Its one of the plastic ones with sliding glass doors.The dimensions are 6ft x 30deep x 18 tall.I am unsure of heating.
It will be in a room that gets pretty cool in winter, low 60s but its high 70/low 80s in summer. Also its for a boa(BCI),
I have a thermostat and I have 2 panels of 11 inch flexwatt.I also have a 150 watt CHE.
I was thinking RHP but dont know what size for such a big enclosure.Also will it keep the cool end air temps up high enough in winter or should I supplement with something else?.
Thanks..

RHP is the best way to go. Most reputable retailers will help you decide on which size if you give them the dimensions, room temp, ect

I emailed proproducts but I wonder if I will need something as well as the RHP?
Right now I am using the flexwatt and a CHE but the room is warm so its easy to heat.The boa is a bit uptight, all that space,I put in all kinds of stuff for her so she will feel safer.

The folks at Pro-Products will help. Keep in mind though they often give advice for one scenario. When ambient air temp changes alot, the scenario changes. Read on.

My 2 cents is that it is always best to go with two (2) RHPs in a cage that large, especially when the ambient air may change over 15 deg from Summer to Winter.

If the ambient air temp stayed constant, then it is always easier dial in a setting and stay with it. But when the ambient air temp changes significantly from one seaon to the next, then you have to have some ability to expand or shrink the heated area square footage, not just the temperature. Having multiple RHPs gives you that ability. In Summer you only need one plugged in. In Winter, 2. You can do this automatically with an ON/OFF controller on the 2nd RHP - it will only kick in when that side of the cage drops below say 75 deg. You can use a dimmer in-line with the ON/OFF controller to further tweak to taste.

The 2nd RHP can be a smaller one compared to the main RHP.

You could go with one proportional controller for one the main RHP, and the dimmer plus ON/OFF on the 2nd RHP.

One more tidbit - the effectivity of an RHP depends how close it is to the animal. So, to provide even more variability, you could use wood or styrene foam spacers to drop the main RHP down a few inches lower than the other. I say this because, for an RHP, about 12-14 inches from heater to object is a good distance for a basking RHP.

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Mark

Wow thats alot of info to digest.So if I got two RHP I probably wouldnt need any other heat(like flexwatt).
I actually was going to use the flexwatt for a basking and was hoping the RHP would heat the ambient air in the cage.But I never thought of using two RHPS.That is a bit more expensive of course.
So I would put a largish one in the main warm side and a small one nearer the cool end somewhere to keep the temps from dropping below 75?

Oh you can use Flexwatt, that is always a choice. So many people do. You can use the Flexwatt as your main basking area. No problem. No real need for an RHP if using Flexwatt. You can probably tape a run if Flexwatt along the back wall of the cage to help raise air temps too. You can try this first and see how it works.

You can do 2ft of Flexwatt at 90 deg, and another 3-4ft held at 80 deg, all under the cage. That is another idea.

I think for large enclosures and large boids, RHPs make alot of sense. Power-usage-wise, safety-wise and functionality-wise. I think they are the easiest heater to deploy because you mount them inside the cage, and done. Logistically speaking, the cage is its own system. No propping up the cage on spacers so you can tape Flexwatt under it, no heating the floor under the cage, etc. No tape, no gosh darn Flexwatt trying to roll up while you try to lay it down.

A little more about RHPs:
RHPs do not heat the air in the same way that light bulbs do. RHPs direct infrared heat straight down, heating objects below. Just like your CHE but without the flesh burning surface temps.

For example, the air in the cage could be 70 deg and your boa directly below the RHP can show a body temp of 85 deg easily. RHP heat is absorbed by muscle tissue very well. In reality in a closed cage, the air temp does rise because the RHP will be heating the snake or substrate below, and some heat is then given up by said objects. So yes, the air temp will rise some, but only after the objects below the RHP are heated.

You theoretically do not want an RHP right above Flexwatt. That is why I suggest RHP or Flexwatt, at least on that side of the cage.
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Mark

Read through the replies and all good info. Only thing I'd add is with a cage that large and temp swings that great in the room, I'd go with a dual heat/thermostat setup. IMO best would be two RHP's and a herpstat 2. One end would be a larger RHP and temps set higher as a basking area and the other would have a smaller RHP (or maybe the same size to get larger heated area) with that temp set as "cool end". That way both the cool and basking areas would be thermostat controlled.
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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 (02/01/2010):
42.61 BRB
27.40 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats