Help! (With heating tape please)

[beardeds4life]

hey guys so I am wanting to start breeding leopards soon and I have a few questions. First off when they say that heat cable is 15 watts is that per foot or the whole thing? and with 15 watt heat cable would I need a thermostat for leopard geckos? Also how much would it cost to heat the 15 watt heat cable per month? Thank you so much!:)

[infernalis]

My leopard gecko has a small under tank heat pad, I have not seen any real difference in my electric bill.

15 watts draws no more than a night light would. In fact it would require seven of them to equal leaving an average 100 watt table lamp on all the time.

[aj099]

i would not worry about the heat wire costing alot.
i have some pretty big set up`s here and there is only a very small inpact on the hydro

as for the wattage i am unsure i have never used it and i have never owned a gecko
but best of luck with it please post pic`s of your set up!

[beardeds4life]

my bearded dragons enclosure costs 25 dollars a month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ok i will post pics of the geckos enclosures if i do decided to breed 'em

[Gungirl]

my bearded dragons enclosure costs 25 dollars a month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How in the world is it costing you that much a month??

[youngster]

Yeah. My 3 snakes and my beardie combined doesn't cost that much. What is running in his enclosure?

[infernalis]

My goodness, Chomper has 2 basking lamps and his enclosure is next to a heat register that uses hot water from my furnace boiler and he does not cost that much???

Of course his baseboard heat is hitching a ride while heating the house, so it's impossible to figure a cost.

[youngster]

My goodness, Chomper has 2 basking lamps and his enclosure is next to a heat register that uses hot water from my furnace boiler and he does not cost that much???

Of course his baseboard heat is hitching a ride while heating the house, so it's impossible to figure a cost.

I wonder what his new "enclosure" will cost :)

[infernalis]

I wonder what his new "enclosure" will cost :)

The floor heat will still be hitch-hiking off the house boiler, and with R-30 insulation it will be so efficient that I could lose all power for a day and it's won't drop much.

Think of it like this, how much would it cost if you kept your animals in an ice chest? or if you fashioned a viv out of a broken refrigerator?

Most all vivs available or built have zero insulation and begin cooling the second you shut the heat off.

Build vivs double wall with a layer of house insulation between the walls and the heating bill will drop so significantly it will blow you away.

Would you use a fish tank as an Ice chest in the summer? doubt it, your food will be spoiled by the end of the day.

The same principal applies to heating.

R-30 insulation is roughly equal to 30 feet of concrete in terms of thermal blocking.

The entire floor will have 2 layers of the same exact insulation rodent pro shipped me thousands of frozen mice in. I have been saving up that insulation for 5 years now and have more than enough... It keeps dry ice going in the back of a UPS truck for two days, so it will keep the heat trapped inside that room just as well.

[youngster]

I get it...
that's a very good point.
CANNOT wait until you guys finish :D

[infernalis]

Don't mind me, I'm unusual. :)

[youngster]

In a closed-minded everyday person all of us reptile owners are unusual. :)
Plus many of us are unusual! :D

[Gungirl]

Being unusual is the normal... being "normal" is unusual

[beardeds4life]

How in the world is it costing you that much a month??

well its more like 15 dollars a month and he has 1 75 watt heat and 1 25 watt u.v. but it is on for about 16 hours a day because there is no light in that room (its also my bedroom) so that is what is lighting my room but im getting a ceiling fan soon so it will only be on for about 10 hours a day