Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Go big or go home right?!?!? I was getting worried that our temps where I am at would not drop low enough this season so I built the cold chamber. The chamber measures 52" wide, 40" deep and 68" tall. It's cooled by a 1000BTU window AC unit and circulated by a 50CFM fan. Its currently holding at 70 degrees and the AC is not over working itself. I had it down to 64 for a bit as a test. Same thing. Held a good temp and the AC wasn't over working....still had room to go down on the temp dial too. I plan on adding a better door and maybe a wood frame for next season. The fan now has a shroud btw.

Outside

Peek inside. The females are in the top cage. My big girl kicks the aspen around hence all the aspen in the door track!

That looks like a good solution to beating the heat when brumating. Can it go to 55 F, or do you even need to go that low for the types of snakes you keep?

My place last April; all I have to do is put the snakes in tubs on my bedroom floor and cover the tubs with quilts. I keep montane species which need cooler temps, but the pits also do fine at 50 to 55 F. When I start warming them up in February and March is when I use more electricity, what with all the heaters going back on line. That's when I wish I lived in Florida!
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

i think i can get it that low.....and need it around there! had it at 64 for a while and had room to go on the temp dial.

wish it got cooler here....maybe not like your place, although i think i would enjoy it!

Pretty cool idea with the cool room. Maybe some SIP panels, including the floor, and you would use very little electric to keep that room cool. I sometimes will use my basement fridge (much to my wife's dismay). If I dial the temps as warm as they will go they stay in the mid to upper forties. I only use the fridge for my montane snakes and they do just fine in there for two months or so until the outside temps are cold enough for them to be moved back into the snake room. I open the door every three days or so to let in some fresh air. I have read how dangerous using a fridge can be but I have not had any problems. I will say there are certain areas in the fridge that get colder or warmer then others and I tested this for days prior to using it.

Joe

SIP as in styrofoam isulation pannels?

the entire thing is styro except the floor. the floor is just my garage floor. I went back and forth on if the floor needed to be covered.

Structural insulated panels. Basically they are just wood sheathing with isulation in the middle. Different kinds of insulation are used but I am sure some have the same foam you used. Sheathing is super cheap so I guess all it would take is to sandwich the foam between two pieces of sheathing. I was going to make some for the roof of my addition when I built it.

Joe