Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I bought a Ranco thermostat for a stack of 4 BARRS cages that are 36 x 24 x 12. I am running 2' of 11" Flexwatt in the north west corner of each with a hide on both ends divided by a water bowl. I am using rheostats on all of the uths. I have a hole drilled into each cage for a digital thermometer probe lying on top of the cage floor with a pile of sphagnum moss on top. The room where this stack is has a nighttime temp drop of 8 degrees degrees. The top enclosures stay 3-4 degrees warmer than the lower ones since the room heat rises. I want to put the thermostat probe in the 3rd from the bottom cage and still use the rheostats on all of them. I assume I can adjust the rheostas to achieve optimal temps in all of the levels. Does anyone have any suggestions for me if my plan is not sound? ...or does it sound reasonable?
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When the student is ready, the teacher appears. When the student is ready, the teacher appears. When the student is ready, the teacher appears. When the student is ready, the teachers appears.

I like using dimmers/rheostats to adjust individual cages. I would put the probe under and contacting the UTH. You can cut a groove on the top of the cage below to make room. Then you have to set the thermostat to several degrees higher to get the desired cage temp. If you don't already have one, get a temp gun, I love it for checking temps.
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Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife
0.2 kids
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.0 Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 Het for Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)
1.0 BCI albino het stripe
1.0 BCI salmon hypo
0.1 BCI ghost

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Great idea but I don't think it will work for a 1/4 to 3/8 PCV cage. I would need a much more compact probe and a router saw. I do have 3 temp guns (long story) and I think they are the best tool I own. Thanks you.
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When the student is ready, the teacher appears. When the student is ready, the teacher appears. When the student is ready, the teacher appears. When the student is ready, the teachers appears.

Linda,
It sounds good. I use my thermostats in a very similar way. I place the probe inside the cage under the layers of newspaper. I have stacks of 5 cages and usually place the temp. probe in the 2nd from the bottom and set the thermostat in the middle of the desired temp. range.

It might be important to note that I heat the entire room as well. Right now I'm working out of two rooms. BCI in one room which is set at 85F at the top cage level (usually kept at 82f but I have 2 gravid females). My rainbows and colubrids are in another room I keep at 75F.

Judging from your previous successes, I think you've got it figured out....btw - when are you going to post some pics of that Hog Island? Maybe we could work out a breeding loan and we could put it with one of my Argentines???!!! Just KIDDING!!!!!

Chris O
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New Site Coming Soon.........
www.chrisolsonreptiles.com
Naked I see the camp of those who desire nothing

Argie Isle Boa....sounds great! I will let you know in 3 or 4 years. ;p

Pick from about a month ago:

Linda,
...Great advice from everyone. It is kind of neat how different people come up with different methods to make things work. One other idea is to cut the flexwatt a couple inches shorter under the top cages. If you get it right this will eliminate the problem of upper cages being warmer than lower cages due to the rising warm air in the room.
Good luck,
Jeff

>>I bought a Ranco thermostat for a stack of 4 BARRS cages that are 36 x 24 x 12. I am running 2' of 11" Flexwatt in the north west corner of each with a hide on both ends divided by a water bowl. I am using rheostats on all of the uths. I have a hole drilled into each cage for a digital thermometer probe lying on top of the cage floor with a pile of sphagnum moss on top. The room where this stack is has a nighttime temp drop of 8 degrees degrees. The top enclosures stay 3-4 degrees warmer than the lower ones since the room heat rises. I want to put the thermostat probe in the 3rd from the bottom cage and still use the rheostats on all of them. I assume I can adjust the rheostas to achieve optimal temps in all of the levels. Does anyone have any suggestions for me if my plan is not sound? ...or does it sound reasonable?
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>> When the student is ready, the teacher appears. When the student is ready, the teacher appears. When the student is ready, the teacher appears. When the student is ready, the teachers appears.

I think I'll try this idea on the next stack. I really don't want to tear them all down and redo all the stuff. Is it okay to cut the tape anywhere? I thought it might be safer to only have the 2 larger elements exposed (and taped) than several rows of the diagonal ones.

want to make two stacks of two rather than one of four. The thing I am learning from all of you is that BRB's can take a wider range of temperatures than I previously thought so it may not matter that much. But, I have most of my cages individually controlled by Helix DBS 1000's (you'll have to tell us how you like the thermostat you're using). On the two sets I have that share a thermostat, the cages are side by side. At least this way, they are at the same temperature within the room. I got this tip from the Green Tree Python folks.

Mike

You have a beautiful and functional set-up. Currently I just don't have the money to buy another thermostat right now. I looked at the Big Apple ones, Helix, and Ranco fairly critically (I didn't really look much at the Johnson's) and have considered the Herpstat as well, but found this one on EBay for just about the same amount of money I had in PayPal. I won't use it for several weeks since I'm cooling the bottom 3 on this stack and the top has the 05's at a higher temp. It's just perfect right now, but I'll let you know if it works well.

I am doing this all one piece at a time. I have a long way to go.

LInda,
I think your pretty dialed in now. You just need more snakes! Post a pic of your setup when its done.
Paul

...

I've been there. WOW!! VERY impressive setup. After visiting and talking herps for a couple of hours, I went home and had to look at my herp room and plan some changes. Darn Mike is an expensive person to get to know.
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Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife
0.2 kids
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.0 Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 Het for Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)
1.0 BCI albino het stripe
1.0 BCI salmon hypo
0.1 BCI ghost

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

my five-year plan involves moving out into a small hut in my backyard so as to make more room for the snakes inside. All I have to do is convince my wife.

np
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New Site Coming Soon.........
www.chrisolsonreptiles.com
Naked I see the camp of those who desire nothing