Reptile & Amphibian Forums

It's for my retic, but I thought I'd ask in here as well as some of you might could help me...

Building my retics cage, and realized that it would be a really good idea to figure out how to heat the thing before I finished it up! (and I need to finish it up quickly)
So, I'm going to be ordering a radiant heat panel to heat it.

But, until I get the funds and actually have it shipped to me, what is the best solution to heat a large 8 foot long, 4 foot deep, and just about a foot and a half high cage???

There isn't any place for a basking light, only flourescent lighting so he won't be sitting in the dark all the time.

Any suggestions?
I'm going around and asking in a few other forums as well.
Any and all help appreciated.
Thanks!
Charlotte

How about using Zoo Med Heat cable. I believe it's reasonably priced.
Or installing an incandescent fixture in the cage itself, with a bulb cage for safety?
That would cost even less than heat cable.

You'll love your radiant heat panel once its installed; best form of heating. For now, even though the panel should already be in place, you have a few options:

1) Run a long 11" wide piece of flex watt heat tape through the entire width of the cage. This goes underneath and you want to make sure that it is raised in a manner so that the tape isn't sandwiched between the cage and the surface its resting on.

2) Get a big Kane Heat Mat. These can go directly inside the cage and provide a very large surface area for even big burms. They are fairly cost efficient and you will only need to drill a hole using a hole saw to feed the cord to the outside of the cage. We will even use these in conjunction with the panels at times (particularly for cages that are near the floor).

3) Install a couple of incadescent fixtures (you can get at a hardware store). These are easy to put in and you can just run a couple of standard incadescent bulbs 24 hours a day (don't worry about the constant light, you are better off having heat than temps that drop too low...give the snake a dark area to hide in).

Hope this helps.
Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm