Reptile & Amphibian Forums

You people are the experts here, so if you could answer a few questions for me I would be very grateful. I have always used glass aquariums, and heating was never a problem. I decided to build boa breeder cages, and used melamine. Cages are 4' x 2' by 17" high. I figured we use heat tape for racks so I installed 2 store bought 11 x 17" size on right side of cage, one on bottom one on ceiling. These are inside the cage and have a dimmer on them and a temp probe running to bottom one. I then did not like the idea of snakes being on pad so I use a tempered glass cutting board 18"x20" size over the bottom heat pad. I was still struggleing to heat cage as this set up is in basement and even though carpeted and insulated, still gets cool. So I bought an under the cupboard 40 - 80 watt incandecant light, with high low setting and may also need dimmers, this installed brings up temps great, only now I worry because I use newspaper substrate and do not want a fire. I am now considering useing the fake outdoor grass plastic type, but have not done so yet...thinking about clean up now. Any help today or whenever, would be great. I will check back later. Thanks again, Andrew Federico

Hi Andrew,
Well the problem you have is two fold. You are going to need to bring up your room temperatures to at least the upper 60’s to 70 degrees. Once you have done this and you have provided heat to the cages then the cage temps should come up to the needed amount. A hot spot in the mid 90’s should provide a temperature gradient through out the rest of the cage between the hi of the mid 90’s to the low of the room temp at 70. A room space heater can work fine to elevate the entire room temp, but then you also have to keep humidity in mind. Heaters dry things out so daily misting or a room humidifier may be needed. I don’t like the idea of heat and electrical sources being inside of a cage. I don’t worry about fires as much as I would worry about the water causing electric shocks to the snake. Snakes tend to spill water bowls and dump large amounts of urine out that can where on wire and connections. If you have to put these connections in the cage make sure they are well insulated with a marine type heavy duty caulk.. I too use under counter lights in my big cages (see the website link to lighting and heating on my web page) but I have the plug and connection go out the back of the cage. I have done this by cutting off the original plug so I could fish just the wire through a small hole on the back of the cage. I then put on a replacement plug (home depot for .59 cents) to remake the connection outside the cage. The lights are on timers to control them..
I would not use the “astro turf” type of stuff for bedding, it has no ability to absorb any waste. If the heat tape has to be inside the cage and you have covered it with glass, then again I would use the heavy duty marine caulk to insulate around the glass and keep out any liquid from getting under it. Also I would use the same method for removing the cord out the back and again caulk the hole to keep out any liquid. I specify the marine caulk because it is much more durable then the regular tile and bath caulk and it is designed to hold up to a bite more corrosive environments.
Feel free to look through my web site for any more answers to questions.
Goof luck
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Jim Hopkins "Hoppy"
Hopkins Holesale Herps
Hopfam1@aol.com