Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello Chris.

If I want to place an insulating material (like that dense pink Styrofoam at Home Depot or Reflectix if I can find it) under the cage floor, shouldn't I first create a 1/2 inch high base with airspace for the cage to rest on? That way I'd have the insulation, the frame with airspace, then the cage floor.

Or is it sufficient to simply place the cage on top of the insulating material?

Thanks!

Bill

Hi Bill,

If you can't find Reflectix then use the foil-faced poly-iso insulation board (FFPI). The foil face, whether from Reflectix or FFPI is key for any radiant heat source.

An air space is nice but not absolutely required.

What are your cages made from? Specifically the floor? It's a long explanation, but the air space is most beneficial with the floor is made up of materials with high emissivity.

Also, how are you heating them? Is there a lot of thermal mass in the cage?

I have no air space over it on my Bearded Dragon cage and there is nothing other than linoleum over the FFPI. In theory an air space would be beneficial for this setup, but I still heat that cage with very few watts.

In general I tend to push the Reflectix on this forum because it is a fire rated product. But I believe the FFPI is just as good, just practice common sense. The Reflectix is more convenient, however, when trying to wrap it around the outside of a cage or rack with thin sides. But for resting a cage on, the FFPI is probably better.

Let me know a bit more about your setup and I may have some specific advice. But you're going to see improvements with any foil-faced product under the floor.

Thanks, Chris.

Most of my cages are plastic -- either Neodesha, BARRS, Precision, or Monster. I use RHPs in all of them. In the basement where the cages are kept, the temperature can drop down to 67 in the winter even though there are a couple of hot air vents in the ceiling. Also in the winter I run a Bemis whole-house humidifier in the basement 24/7 since it can get very dry.

I'm thinking about getting a 6-foot AP cage for my Jampea retic -- he's in the 4-foot Monster Cage now. That's why I'm interested in the insulation -- I want to give a boost in efficiency to the RHP.

I've read the specs on the insulation that says to leave some air space; that's why I asked. I'd rather just place the cage on top of it without having to make a special frame base.

Bill

Bill,

The air space is recommended because it's almost always behind drywall which tends to have a fairly high emissivity. To put it another way, the air space never hurts, but it does not always help as much in every situation. So the manufacturers just suggest you go ahead and use it, even if it won't help that much.

At any rate, I suggest FFPI underneath each cage - just set them right on top.

Do you have the cages stacked?

I would also find Reflectix or the equivalent and drop it behind, over and around the cages as much as you can without effecting the appearance or your ability to remove them for cleaning, if that's what you do.

Adding some thermal mass inside of the cage is also a good idea. Although if you keep retics and similar snakes, they tend to contribute quite a bit to thermal mass already.

You can switch to ceramic water bowls or hides made from clay flower pots, for example. But maybe you're like a lot of herpers and prefer to keep things plain, simple, and easy to clean.

Regarding your humidifier, remember that a room humidifier does very little to increase humditity inside of cages. It does slow down evaporation from cages, but that effect is fairly trivial.

For example. Let's say you run the humdifier and the room humidity increased 20%. The increase in humidity in any individual cages would be much, much less, depending on the amount and location of the ventilation in any given cage.

So you might also consider fabrication a system from an ultrasonic humidifier and directing that "fog" into individual cages.

Hi Chris.

My cages are not stacked. I just have them all over the place.

The RHPs work well in most cases, but I have one 6-foot cage (for my tegu) that dries out very quickly. I could probably dry fruit in it within a day. So I keep dumping water on the mulch and he has a humid hide box too. Whether I cover the vents or open them all the cage still dries out in no time. That's the only 6-foot cage I currently use and it's heated with an 18 x 24 RHP (150 watts) on a thermostat.

When I get the new 6-footer for my retic I do not want to create another "jerky oven," especially since I use newspaper for my snakes so there's no mulch to keep wetting.

I was thinking of using belly heat in the new cage for the main basking area and maybe a couple of small RHPs just to warm the air, since in my situation belly heat alone does absolutely nothing to warm the rest of the cage. I don't want a 67-degree cage with a hot spot. But I really don't want another 18 x 24 RHP -- in the experience I've had with that size it dries things out way too much, way too soon.

I have other RHPs including 6 x 12, 12 x 12, 10 x 12, and 12 x 18. None of them give me problems with humidity. But that big 150-watter might just be too much. Even though I need it to get the tegu's cage temps where I need them to be.

So maybe with insulation and the combination of heaters I can make a good environment for the retic.

Bill