Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently finished my new snake room (8'x18') and have some questions with regards to heating. I live in a older house and the basement has no heat or vents. I currently heat the room with a small portable fan forced heater. The temps are around 78-80 in the room. However the heater has proven to be a pain to set a solid temp. I wondered what everyone was using to heat their snake rooms? So many models to pick from! My 2 choices would be oil filled radiant or the quartz fan forced with a humidfyer built in. Any thoughts ???

TT
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http://www.reptile-pit.com

2.1 Irian Jaya Carpet Python
1.1 Jungle Carpet Python
1.1 Coastal Carpet Python
0.1 Olive Python
0.1 Baja Rosy Boa
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home depot as these red 250 watt bulbs that are for heating bathrooms and reptile cages,if you have 2 open sockets in your rooms ceiling and that should help your heat situation,these bulbs can heat upwards of 150 degrees so maybe you should try one out to see what happens,there about 10.00$ each so thier not expensive and gaurenteed for 1 and 1/2 years on a average use,being a reptile bulb i'd say 8 months or so.they might be a little expensive to run but may save you in the end atleast for the winter.

kali

I have a reptile room that is 9x 10 and I have heated it with the oil filled heater .I have found this to work great and the electric bills are still good .Just my two cents........

I agree with fatboy. I am working on a 8 x 8 room. I am going to heat it with an oil filled heater and i am going to use a ranco thermostat to control it. I am going to have a humidifier and a fan in the room. The fan keeps the rooms heat even.

>>I have a reptile room that is 9x 10 and I have heated it with the oil filled heater .I have found this to work great and the electric bills are still good .Just my two cents........
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Thomas Jones
aligatorhunter@earthlink.net

No one is to be trusted

Awesome! Sounds like I am on the right track...NP
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http://www.reptile-pit.com

2.1 Irian Jaya Carpet Python
1.1 Jungle Carpet Python
1.1 Coastal Carpet Python
0.1 Olive Python
0.1 Baja Rosy Boa
0.1 Sorong Green Tree Python
1.1 Blue Tongue Skink (Female Irian Jaya - Male Merauke)

I agree that an oil-filled is by far the best and safest way to go. I have one that is about 15 years old and that was submerged for several hours during a flood that still works fine.

A couple of comments on their safe use.

1) Absolutely use a thermostat rated for the max wattage output of the space heater. I can't tell you how many times I've seen thermostats only rated for 300 to 500 watts hooked up to oil-filled space heaters that can crank out 1500 watts.

2) Most oil-filled space heaters will have two switches and a rheostat to control the output. It is best to adjust these BEFORE hooking the unit up to your thermostat. The goal is to find what setting heats the room to your liking. For me I only need to have the 900 watt switch turned on and the rheostat turned to about the mid-point. I then turn the rheostat up 1/4 turn and then hook up my thermostat. This way I know that if my thermostat fails the space heater is not going to continue heating. If my thermostat failed at max setting I could easily kill all my herps.

This process can take a while. I prefer to do it on a weekend when I'm home and can monitor the temps.

3) Pay attention to where the space heater is in relation to your cages and set the thermostat's probe accordingly.

4)) I plug a multi-outlet strip into my thermostat and then plug a fan and/or an incandescent light fixture into the strip. Obviously the space heater also is plugged into the strip.

What this does is turn the fan on ONLY when the heater is running. I like this feature because it saves some energy and lets me know how often the heater is cycling at my preferred temps.

I use the light fixture only when I want to see if the thermostat is cycling without opening the door to my quarantine space. I have the light sitting outside the room and can check and see when the light is on. If it's on all the time or rarely on I know to go in and check the temps.

I had the same issue. I purchased a 100k BTU furnace. My basement is about 1400sq ft and it heats it just fine to 80F all year. I really didn't notice that much of an increase in my gas bill, espically in the winter months. I would use foam core insulation and you should be able to get away with a small heater. I have no insulation so I'm wasting a lot of heat.

I would look into using your hot water tank to heat radiant pannels or the floor. I actually purchased this setup but never got it set up.

John