Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i had posted a question a few days ago regarding reccomondations on how i should heat a custom vivarium i built for one of my chondros.anyway,im only familiar with heattape/pannels and have never used ceramic heaters.i decided id like to try a ceramic heater in this cage for a few reasons and im wondering if i could get some feedback on them and what you guys think of them.id like to use it as the only source of heat,so id like to be able to lower its output at night with say a rheostat or something similar.any ideas if this can be done and if so,what size ceramic should i use for my enclosure?its custom made of glass but id say its about 40 gallons tall,with half the top screened and the other half glass,the rest is all glass with front sliding doors.if the ceramic cant heat a tall enclosure all alone i can add botom heat with like heattape of pad but id like to at least use the ceramic for a basking site on the top of the cage.basically just wanna know if i can use a rheostate to adjust output and what size i need to get.im talking about the ones that screw into a light fixture,not sure if they make anyother kind.thanks

Hey Icey. I happen to use a 60 watt ceramic heat emitter in one of my chondro cages. They definitely put out more heat than your average light bulb(and will last much longer). I've had this one, which had also previously been used, in constant operation for over a year with no problems. They do seem to dry out the cage relatively quickly, in comparison to a radiant heat panel. It will also create a more focused "hot spot" because of the relatively small heated surface area, and you will have to play with branch placement to achieve the right basking temps and overall cage temps. Eg.: If you offset the branch so it's not directly under the heat source it helps provide sufficient ambient heat for the whole cage, but not create a basking spot that is too hot.

You can check out the Bean Farm, they seem to have the lowest prices on ceramic emitters and I know they have excellent service. I'm not sure if I answered your questions, but here is a pic of the setup, using a 60 watt emitter. For size reference, the lamp is an 8", and the tubs in the rack below are rubbermaid 3gal.

Hope this helps,
Kevin

PS. This set up will probably retain heat more effictively than your glass enclosure. Just a pointer that might help you find the right wattage.

I use a ceramic heater as well. I like it a lot, although I'm currently using it to heat a rubbermaid container. It heats well, and I use a Spyder Herpstat thermostat to keep it at 87 on the warm side. I also have glass covering the spot where the heater is, so it sits above the enclosure and not directly on like the other one in the picture.
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1.0~amel corn~C.S.
1.3~Aztec Okeetee corns~Coatl,Maya,Acatl,Tepin
0.1~Green tree python~Tempest
0.2~Rhodesian Ridgebacks~Akilah, Ona
1.0~Black fat cat~Topper
3.0~Horses~Zaarah,Galliano,Achilles.....

Hey again. I forgot to mention in my first post that you can use a rheostat to regulate a ceramic heat emitter.

Kevin

>>i had posted a question a few days ago regarding reccomondations on how i should heat a custom vivarium i built for one of my chondros.anyway,im only familiar with heattape/pannels and have never used ceramic heaters.i decided id like to try a ceramic heater in this cage for a few reasons and im wondering if i could get some feedback on them and what you guys think of them.id like to use it as the only source of heat,so id like to be able to lower its output at night with say a rheostat or something similar.any ideas if this can be done and if so,what size ceramic should i use for my enclosure?its custom made of glass but id say its about 40 gallons tall,with half the top screened and the other half glass,the rest is all glass with front sliding doors.if the ceramic cant heat a tall enclosure all alone i can add botom heat with like heattape of pad but id like to at least use the ceramic for a basking site on the top of the cage.basically just wanna know if i can use a rheostate to adjust output and what size i need to get.im talking about the ones that screw into a light fixture,not sure if they make anyother kind.thanks

I currently use one for my Argie enclosure, but have also used them in other applications in the past.

1) You can use a rheostat to control the output. This route is always tricky because a house/room temps fluctuate with the seasons. Which means you have to keep an eyeon the temps and adjust the rheo as needed. You would be better off buying a Ranco thermostat, you can get them with a powerstrip for $85. If you have enclosures of the same size and with the same heat source one Ranco can control many enclosures at once.

2)Using a CHE (cermanic heat emitter) requires the use of a light socket. Once the che is installed this becimes a bulky item in the enclosure. Some just place the che in a reflective socket/shroud and set this on top of the screen cover. This works , but there is a lot of heat loss this way. As heat escapes through the shroud and into the room instead of the enclosure.It is my understanding that the heat waves are different when compared to say, an RHP (radient heat panel) Check in at the cages/enclosures forum, a few there understand heat waves better then i.

When i have finished my new Argi enclosure i will be using a rhp. All the research i've done leds me to believe this is the better way to heat a herp enclosure. Rhps are cheaper to run, are safe to touch, even when fully on,Produce heat waves more similar to the way the sun warms the earth. They do cost a bit more, But a che will run $30-$40 plus you have to buy a lite shroud $10-$20. So for a rhp the upfront cost is more, but they are cheaper to run. So to answer your question yes, a che will work. Is it the best way to heat your snake, No.
Also i would buy the 100w che since you are using a temp regulating device, better to have some extra watts available then a 60w che struggling to get the temp high enough. I would also add that you tape off some of the screening on the top of your cage. A che will dry an enclosure out real quick, so much so that it will be hard to keep the humidity above 50%. Well, that is my input do with it what you will, good luck and let us know what route you end up going. Clint
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0.1 Colombian Boa-(Boa Constrictor Imperator) "Honey"
1.0 Hogg Isle Boa-(Boa Constrictor Imperator) "Peeker"
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa-(Epicrates Cenchria) "Houdini"
1.1 Argentine Boa-(Boa Constrictor Occidentalis) "Lacie" & "Oreo"
0.0.2 Green Tree Python-(Morelia Viridis)Biak type-"Smog" & Sorong type- "un-named"
2.0 Canines Husky-Cody & Husky/Shepard-Trail
0.1 Wife-Michele
2.0 Kids-Chris & Bodhi(still in the oven)

I use a 100 watt as well, but since mine's not directly on the cage, that works best. I found the rheostat allowed such a huge fluxuation in temp that I invested in a nice proportional thermostat. It only allows for 1/2 degree changes so it's working well.

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1.0~amel corn~C.S.
1.3~Aztec Okeetee corns~Coatl,Maya,Acatl,Tepin
0.1~Green tree python~Tempest
0.2~Rhodesian Ridgebacks~Akilah, Ona
1.0~Black fat cat~Topper
3.0~Horses~Zaarah,Galliano,Achilles.....

thanks to everyone,all my questions have now been answered.as long as you can adjust their output,theres no harm in going for the bigger one.yea i have been using heat tape and heat pannals for almost all my enclosures but this time,due to the nature of the enclosure(its a natural,planted vivarium,i wanted the heat source to be hidden as much as it could be.as far as heatloss through the screentop,well yea i thought of that and the entire top is not screened.its basically a glass top with a strip cut out of the center that is screened.just enough room to place my full speclight and ceramic heater sidexside.moneys kinda tight this time around so im going to use the ceramic with a wallmouted thermometer, and use a rheostat to adjust temps.im sure im going to have to keep my eye on it as the temps may fluxuate a couple degrees this way but if its not too bad of a fluxuation id like to keep it this way at least untill i can afford another thermostat.im wondering if anyone does use a rheostat here.i have used them in the past and found them to work quite well once you get the cage temps stablised and as long as the ambiant room temps dont bounce around a lot.my rheostat only needed to be very slioghtly adjusted like maybe once a month.actually with the setup im refering to it wasnt really a rheostat,it was a fully adjustable light dimmer switch,i guess thats a type of rheostat but it was cheap and worked really well.i think the trick is not to use the dimmer switch with 3 settings,you should use the one that has an infinite number of settings,those adjust really well.its even cool to set up your lights on them and just dim them at night for viewing and a little heat.anyway,thanks a lot guys and meg.these forums are great when you are into a project and want a second opinion or advise on a product you have never used before.you cant get this type of honest info even from the manufacturer.