Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i was on proproducts.com and was looking at heat panels and was reading and it said they dont create hot spots. so are heat panels just to heat the entire cage if the room is cold? what if i keep my room temp in the high 70's, can i get a heat panel that will heat 1 side and make that my hot side without using anything else to make the snakes hot spot (no UTH)? thanks

I believe they mean one of two things. I'm guessing that the panel itself won't be dangerously hot. In fact they do a great job of heating and are only warm to the touch.

Or possibly that you won't need to create any uncomfortably or dangerously hot areas in order to achieve your desired cage temps.

With flexwatt if you have the basking area controlled to a certain temperature it may not heat other areas of the cage, even within just a few inches of the heated area.

Or, if you're thermostat is controlling the cooler parts of the cage the heat tape area may end up getting dangrously hot.

RHP's really do a good job of avoiding this. Especially in cooler rooms which I believe you mentioned in the other thread.
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Current snakes:

0.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.3 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

3.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

so are you saying all i need is a heat panel for all my heating in the cage? im going to get somethin to raise the temp to high 70's in the room but for the cage, will all i need is a heat panel? will i be able to make the cool side low 80's and the hot side high 80's with a heat panel in a 4' long, 2' deep and 2' tall cage? thanks for clearing the other part up for me.

>>so are you saying all i need is a heat panel for all my heating in the cage?

Yup, and you could probably do it without heating the room. Assuming, of course, it's not like 40* in there.
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Current snakes:

0.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.3 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

3.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

The Pro Products don't create a hot spot on the product is what they meant. The are also safe to the touch.

Bob from Pro Products will recommend his products used only in heated rooms that way he set you up with a product that will be more efficient and will not require excessive control. IE on off on off pro products will heat closer to on all the time and stay close to the wanted temp. Thats there goal at least.
Jeremy

Jeremy,

>>The Pro Products don't create a hot spot on the product is what they meant. The are also safe to the touch.

That's what I meant when I said:

"... the panel itself won't be dangerously hot. In fact they do a great job of heating and are only warm to the touch."

>>Bob from Pro Products will recommend his products used only in heated rooms that way he set you up with a product that will be more efficient and will not require excessive control.

That's somewhat true but far from necessary. I think if more people took his advice on insulation seriously the heated room recommendation would not be so important.

Regardless, the right thing to do is call him. Very helpful guy.
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Current snakes:

0.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.3 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

3.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

I just built a 4' X 18" X 18" cage for my balls. (That still makes me laugh). Anyway, I installed a 12X24 pro products RHP. Right next to it I installed an outdoor patio light fixture. The get the UV from the panel and it heats the entire cage to whatever I set the thermostat to. The light heats the other side to 94 degrees. The cool side stays around 80 during the day, then drops to 78 at night. It creates a hot spot, during the day and a nightime drop at night. I'm working on installing a photo cell switch to turn on black lights at night. They'll help with the night temps and I like the way it looks. One factor that may be different from yours. My new cage sits right on top of my burm cage where the RHP is for the burm cage. Even still, the hot spot side drops 15 degrees when the white light goes off.

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DZ

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

ya that seeps to be the sameee thing i want to do other than the top thing i wasnt planning on doing but i like it. do you need the patio lights or could i be okay with just a rhp?

According to Bob at Pro Products the panel is all that is needed. He said you can provide a light source for day, night issues but the panel is all that you need for heat and UV. If I had the cage closer to a window I would boost the temps on the panel and that would be the hot side. Right now the panel is actually the cold side because the light gets so hot.
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DZ

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

According to Bob at Pro Products the panel is all that is needed. He said you can provide a light source for day, night issues but the panel is all that you need for heat and UV.

Now I know that RHP's produce light in the non-visible spectra, but I believe it's entirely infared, not ultra-violet.

There must be a misunderstanding here.
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Current snakes:

0.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.3 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

3.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

I hope not because I have no other UV source. I could have sworn he told me UV was produced by these panels.
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DZ

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

I would e-mail Bob and ask. I was certainly under the impression that the non-visible light produced by heat panels was entirely in the IR range.

But I really don't think you need to worry about it for a Ball Python.

>>I hope not because I have no other UV source. I could have sworn he told me UV was produced by these panels.
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>>DZ
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>>"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell
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Current snakes:

0.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.3 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

3.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

What did you finish the inside of your cage with? Looks great!

I bought a textured roller from Lowe's. I painted 2 coats of primer/sealer, then a dark green base, then a light green using the textured roller. I liked it so much this is the 3rd cage I've painted this way. Gives it a jungle look without all of the cleaning obstructions. My first cage had all kinds of rock and fake vines and looked incredible. Being a burm cage it ALL had to be bolted down so cleaning the cage was a pain. Now, all my floor are linoleum and I use newspaper substrate. It doesn't look as good as bedding but cleaning up even the nastiest load is 10 times easier.
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DZ

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

Great looking cage, Dont you find that nothing to this day heats a cage like incandescent bulb ofcourse ceramic heat emitter being the strongest?

Possibly. I say that because the remote temp probe sits on the floor directly under the light but...that side of the cage sits right on top of my burm cage where the RHP is on the burm cage ceiling. I do, however, have that silver sided bubble wrap and a 1 inch gap between the burm cage ceiling and the RHP in hopes the rising heat will reflect down. I've been thinking of puting a 2 inch spacer under the ball cage to see if that makes a difference.
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DZ

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

I use only RHPs to heat my cages and have been doing so for years. My basement temps can drop to around 65 in winter and go up to 75 or more in summer.

I have plastic cages ranging in size from 24 x 12 x 12 (using 6 x 12 panel) to 67 x 30D x 18H (using 18 x 24 panel). The 3 and 4 foot cages use 12 x 12 and 12 x 18 panels, respectively.

On some of the cages I use proportional thermostats; on a few I use lamp dimmers.

Hope this helps.

Bill

Cage height is important when selecting the right panel. If you're considering Pro Products, call Bob and tell him what you have and he'll make sure you get the proper panel.

Bill

Your basement sounds like mine. Mine is 65 in winter gets higher in summer.
I use only the UTH if even that in summer and my snakes do great. I use ceramic heat emitters or UTH in winter. I am not a breeder and use tanks with screen tops.
What temps do you get with your RHP at room temp of 65 degrees?
Are those the only heat sources you use no UTH ?
Thanks.

My temps are good with RHPs alone. In winter, the cool ends are about 78 - 80, and basking temps are just where I want them. RHPs provide good basking heat from above, and they also heat the cage air which in my situation is a necessity. I've tried belly heat on few occasions, and while it did indeed give me a warm floor temp for the basking area it did next to nothing to raise the ambient temp in the cage, especially when using newspaper as a substrate. Just inches from the belly heat area I'd get temp readings not much higher than the outside room temperature.

I don't want a hot spot in a cold cage, and RHPs let me get the temps I need in year round, no matter which room I keep the cages. As I mentioned, I use proportional thermostats on some cages and they come in handy in the warmer weather.

With larger cages 4 feet and over, there is a bit of flexibility. I can use a 12 x 18" RHP, and during the winter months add a small 6 x 12" RHP in the cool end. In my 6-foot tegu cage I use an 18 x 24 RHP only, because I want a hot basking area of 110 and the 18 x 24 RHP throws a lot of heat.

As you know, getting the right basking and cool-end temps depends on room temperature, type and size of cage, type and location of the heating device, and requirements of the animal. For me, RHPs do the job.

Bill

I have a feeling I have been somewhat ignorant to these things. I thought they were the same more or less as ceramic heat emitters.
How do they work are there coils in them that heat up? Your right about UTH ONLY heating the surface not the air .
What brand do you use, do you know site? If not by the name I can find it.
thanks

Not sure how they work but for triple the price they better be allot different. I used to use CHE's and switched to RHP's. I really noticed a big difference. Some days I wanted to crawl in with him. I bought both of mine from Pro Products. Bob, as mentioned several time through many threads, is great at helping you figure out what is best for your situation. He'll bring up issues and ask you questions you never thought pertained to the situation. Check him out!
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DZ

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

Thanks I am going to look at the site. I use glass tanks which is why I use UTH or heat emitters but in process of building an enclosure for an arboreal ratsnake think this might be something I might want to add.

I've been using Pro Products RHPs since the early 90s. No problems, ever. Just great performance.

www.pro-products.com

Their customer service is great as well. Call Bob at PP and tell him what you have and he'll make sure you get the right panel for the job, and he'll tell you how to use it, too.

Bill

Thanks for the site. I went on it I think I know what I need but your right it would be foolish of me not to call and ask him.
Thanks.

Bob is a great guy to talk with, and you'll wind up with a lot of good information on heat panels and cage heating in general. If you're interested, ask him about humidity, too.

Bill