mixing heat elements for large cage(cold room)

[JWFugle]

Hi all ive got a Ap 8x3x2 coming in that i cant convince myself on how to best heat it. my house is usually in the 60s-70s in the winter so im concerned about the large cage with a small rhp and my snake not able to properly thermo-regulate

currently i have an 80w rhp that is 12x22.5 that has done an awesome job of heating my current cage. my issue is i do not think it will be able to handle heating this new cage. so my thought is to run 2 side by side rows of11in flexwatt under half the cage with the rhp centered over that half and link all that into my single thermotstat.

thermostat is a hydrofarm rated to 1000w
rhp is 80w
total flexwatt would be 8ft(2 rows of 4ft) @ 20w a foot 160ws

so total is about 320w at full power far below the thermostats limit. but is it safe/ok to have the rhp and flex watt on the single prob?

I will be using a combo of soil/clay and wood chips as substrate with large slate rocks that hold heat really well.

o yea and this is for my jamp retic :)

what do you think? opinions welcomed

[millertime89]

What's the cage made of? Heat tape or a RHP is the way to go but heat tape may not be an option depending on what the cage is made of/how thick the material is.

[Dan84]

I feel two heating sources would be fine but I would not control two different sources with one thermostat. Different sources heat at different rates so they should therefore be controlled independently. I myself have flexwatt heating the bottom of my hot side with the probe for that touching the bottom and I also have a 40W RHP with its associated probe at the surface of the aspen shavings. Both probe placements will give me the maximum temperature the snake will encounter either on the surface or burrowing.

[JWFugle]

cage is an animal plastics so no worry about flexwatt heat damage.

dan do you use both for similar reasons or does the flex watt not able to heat cage and sufficiently by its self

[bigsnakegirl785]

Yup, I use two heat sources in my 6x3x2's (LengthxHeightxWidth). An RHP on one end and a CHE on the other end. The CHE heats better than the RHP and it doesn't dry the air/bedding as quickly.

I've never used flexwatt, but I've got some coming in the mail so I guess I'll be getting ready to find out how they work.

[Dan84]

I use two because I have fairly deep aspen substrate and the room can get very cold (65).

For you, since it doesn't sound like you have a snake that burrows, I think that the RHP over the hot side and the flexwatt under the cooler side maintaining min temps would work best. Control each on their own thermostat, or get a dual zone model.

[JWFugle]

so why control minimum temps on cool side? my logic is id place flexwatt on the hot side and then place the rhp in the middle of that hot side to create that ample basking spot. the cool side will be heated by ambient air transferring over. this gives the snake the ability to warm itself when needed but to get much cooler if desired as well.

seems like a waste of heat to "heat" the cool side of the cage. rather just have a warm/hot side. its not like this cage is in the artic

is that wrong? just different?

[millertime89]

That's what I do. Although my room doesn't usually get below 73-75.

[Dan84]

I mentioned heating the cool side because my cold side can dip into the upper 60's even with a RHP and flexwatt on the hot side heating the ambient air. I have a 106 Qt Sterlite tub with a 40W RHP and 1.5' of 11" flexwatt. My plan for when I upgrade my boa to a 6x2 will be to use flexwatt to maintain the entire enclosure at a 73-75 minimum temp, and to use the RHP to get me to the 88 degree hot spot.

I am just offering a different approach. Just don't make any permanent installations and find what works for you. Update your post as well being that I will be in the same position as you very soon.

[JWFugle]

alright cool. and will do. cage will be in today so ill have it set up and hopefully moved in by next week sometime.

[JWFugle]

I mentioned heating the cool side because my cold side can dip into the upper 60's even with a RHP and flexwatt on the hot side heating the ambient air. I have a 106 Qt Sterlite tub with a 40W RHP and 1.5' of 11" flexwatt. My plan for when I upgrade my boa to a 6x2 will be to use flexwatt to maintain the entire enclosure at a 73-75 minimum temp, and to use the RHP to get me to the 88 degree hot spot.

I am just offering a different approach. Just don't make any permanent installations and find what works for you. Update your post as well being that I will be in the same position as you very soon.

well i have the flexwatt in and running unfortunately its not keeping my temps where id like them to be. i even went and through in my 80w rhp over the top and still barley keeping the temps at 82. trying to figure out what to do next. my thought is to lower the RHP so that it is closer to the ground and able to heat more efficiently, the trouble is how to lower it without allowing the snake to climb on top of it.. :/

[JWFugle]

i realized i had no pictures so here are some of the cage currently and during build. the heat tape pictured is not true Flexwatt but it shows how i have my flexwatt installed underneath. the cage is 8ft long and i have 2 rows of 5ft 11in flexwatt running along with a reptile basic 80w rhp centered in the middle of the hot side.