Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I built an enclosure for my Brazilian Rainbow Boa. The humidity and everything is fine its just the temp. The enclosure is 4 feet long, 2 feet tall, and 2 feet deep. The top is plexy glass and the front is plexy glass. The back, bottom and sides are 3/4 inch plywood. I have a radiant heat panel attached to one of the inside walls but the problem is that it won't heat the enclosure right. All the heat raises to the top of the enclosure and none on the bottom. I would put it underneath but I do not think it will heat through the wood because of the thickness. I bought just a regular human heat pad for the inside, I think I will attach that to a rehostat or thermostat unless someone has a better idea of how to heat this enclosure. I am trying to stay away from using a heat lamp. I would really appreciate any help.

A couple of cheap things to try before you spend a lot more money.

Set the cage on top of a piece of foil-covered, styrene insulation.

Have the RHP direct its rays downwards, not sideways.

Increase the thermal mass in the cage, especially right underneath the RHP.

I have a bearded dragon cage with a large, heavy rock directly under a CHE. The CHE heats it up and heat radiates (from the rock) throughout the cage. If I remove the rock it totally changes the thermal gradiant of the cage.

Cheapest/quickest way to increase thermal mass is to place a one gallon plastic water bottle (full) into the cage, preferably close to the RHP.

Regarding the heating pad, I have heard of these being used inside of cages. However, it's not something I'd recommend.

>>I built an enclosure for my Brazilian Rainbow Boa. The humidity and everything is fine its just the temp. The enclosure is 4 feet long, 2 feet tall, and 2 feet deep. The top is plexy glass and the front is plexy glass. The back, bottom and sides are 3/4 inch plywood. I have a radiant heat panel attached to one of the inside walls but the problem is that it won't heat the enclosure right. All the heat raises to the top of the enclosure and none on the bottom. I would put it underneath but I do not think it will heat through the wood because of the thickness. I bought just a regular human heat pad for the inside, I think I will attach that to a rehostat or thermostat unless someone has a better idea of how to heat this enclosure. I am trying to stay away from using a heat lamp. I would really appreciate any help.
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Current snakes:

1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

I agree with chris... if you look at how the radiant heat panel works, it is designed to reflect the heat down. You put it to the side it's going to shoot it out as much as it can, but it wont reach the front of the cage and end up just going up. You end up with a 1/2 heated cage.

The size of your RHP may also be the problem. What brand is it? Then there are many other factors which go into the problem... ventilation...well yeah maybe just that one (that i can think of at least lol).
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-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

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Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Claudius)... coming soon