Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am building a new tort enclosure for my two leopards. The new enclosure is in my basement where the temp is 59 degrees. The enclosure is an "L" shape with each leg 7' long and 3' wide - almost 35 sqft. I need to provide overall heat just to get the min temp up to around 75. (then heat/basking/uvb bulbs will provide the additional heat.

What is the most cost efficient way to heat? The enclosure is up off the floor 2'. I was thinking using a radiant electric floor heating mat attached to the underside of the plywood floor of the enclosure everywhere - same as you would a tile floor in your bathroom. I would then attache rigid insulation below the heat mat to reflect the heat up. An electric space heater seems too dangerous and too expensive, forced air heat seems too expensive since my basement is not ducted now and would require ducting. Buying reptile heat mats are also so expensive.

Has anyone run their own heating cable istead of buy a premade mat (this way you can shape it to the exact size you need)?

Anyone have input for me - cost of hardware vs cost of running?

Thanks, Ben

Hi Ben

Are you familiar with Flexwatt? it is a radiant heat source on a flexable milar backing.

you could put down the rigid foam insulation then on top of that lay down a thin plywood on top of which would go 1 ft square ceramic tiles then on top of the tiles you could attach the Flexwatt using duct tape along its outer edge to secure it to the tile.

the flexwatt is pretty safe and should warm up the underside of the enclouser enough to allow you to use the other heat sources that you have mentioned.

the flexwatt can be controlled by a thermostat but it may not have to be as it does not put off a very extreme heat. If you have any questions about this please feel free to contact me.

scuter