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cage in basement question...

Bandit_1008 Feb 28, 2011 05:12 PM

Because of upstairs space I was hoping I could set up two cages in my basement. Here is the setting. The basement is completely finished and furnished, but I live in New York and the temperature is naturally somewhere around 68 to 70 degrees year round.

Question: Is there a cage that could be recommended for me to keep two Male BCI's? One that could easily obtain the proper temperatures, or humidity?

Thanks to any that can teach me something here, with a reply...

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Replies (8)

Bianca Mar 01, 2011 01:39 AM

Hi
I used to live in NY till made the mistake of moving to Miami but moving back.
Well the weather is nice but either way I kept my king in the basement and in a pvc type cage with screen top .
The temperature is very easy to keep warm even with low watt bulbs those cages truly hold heat.

I did not like uth because they did not heat the air and my basement was 65 or so 4 months a yr.
I don't know if posting links is allowed here but if you go to animal plastics site they offer cut out screen area's but so do countless other pvc cage builders so look around.

Btw My king loves Miami lol but funny enough even with warm winters he still semi brumates 2 months a yr.

Sarge2004 Mar 01, 2011 10:44 AM

I live in PA so the winters are similar and the room temp of my snake room is 65-67 winter and 72 summer. I use Barrs and Vision cages and under cage heat only. Belly heat works very well for snakes and I don't worry about ambient cage temps as long as they have a hot spot of 90 on one side. This provides a temp gradient and they thermoregulate according to their comfort. I use a temp gun to check the true surface temp and control the temp with rheostats and adjust by the season. My boas and pythons thrive in this set up. Bill
-----
...three years ago it was just another snake cult...
The Retic is King.
Anacondas-the other Dark Side.
Afrocks-the dark side of the Dark Side.

Bianca Mar 02, 2011 01:17 PM

How are you able to heat the air they breath with just an UTH?

gregspencer Mar 02, 2011 09:30 PM

LOL!!! You don't need to heat the air that is being breathed.. just the animal in the enclosure. UTH heaters work much better for kingsnakes. They heat themselves when needed, cool down when needed. Thermoregulation. Overhead heaters can cause burns if the animal gets too close, are more expensive to purchase and more expensive to operate. Regardless of heat source, a thermostat or rheostat should be employed. Basements work great for snakerooms, and UTH heating sources work excellently in such.

Sarge2004 Mar 03, 2011 08:11 AM

Overhead lights dry up humidity and this is compounded by the screens used for these lights. Proper humidity is maintained much better with UTH which is a requirement for tropical boas. Bill
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...three years ago it was just another snake cult...
The Retic is King.
Anacondas-the other Dark Side.
Afrocks-the dark side of the Dark Side.

Bianca Mar 05, 2011 06:16 PM

So even if the room is cool wich is completely unatural for boas and you only heat the bottom of cage that is okay?

Would think they need warm air.
I used to see 3 ft smallish size boas all the time and hotter the night the more you would see.
Coldest I recall in a yr was 70 degrees one night and that was cold night.

Kingsnakes I can see UTH but boas come from tropical places.

Bigtattoo Mar 07, 2011 10:53 AM

If you're using a UTH and monitoring your temps as was stated by the previous poster you shouldn't need to heat the whole room.

If the temp on the hotspot is 90*F. How cold do you think the air is in that area?

If the UTH maintains temps so even the cool side is 70-75*F How cool do you think the air is?

It's not as cool as the ambient air in the room. So heating the whole room is not necessary as long as you maintain a healthy heat gradient in the enclosure. An appropriate sized UTH should be adequate to heat almost all enclosures. Most produce so much heat that they should be regulated with a good remote thermostat to tweak temperatures from season to season.

As mentioned a humidity gradient is also essential with boas. This is near impossible to maintain with overhead heat and screen lids. Humid air also holds heat better than dry air.

The use of decent thermometers and I don't mean the cheap stick on ones but real thermometers is essential. Even better are infra red heat guns that measure the temps almost instantly. These are so inexpensive now that it is well within the budget of almost all herpers.
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BigT
There is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. The ignorant can be taught, stupidity is beyond our control.
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Bianca Mar 05, 2011 06:10 PM

I thought for Tropical snakes like boas you needed to have warm air. I lived in Panmama for a yr and it was hot .
Saw plenty of boas up on telephone polls ,yard walls,tree's on hot nights..
Would think they enjoyed warm air since they climb and from Tropical places unlike kings and corns..

I prefer to heat the whole area and in large enough enclosure you still provide a cooler area .

Here in Miami I dont heat at all but when lived in NY heated side of enclosure with 30 watt bulb and since it was pvc it was great for warming one side.

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