RHP with common boa

soad · 02-09-15, 12:34 PM

I was just wondering if an 80 watt rhp will be good enough for the animal plastics t10 or if I should have flex watt underneath as well?

Snakesitter · 02-09-15, 02:47 PM

I would ask the RHP vendor. In addition to the size of the viv, your heating needs will also vary depending on the room's ambient temperature -- a colder room will need more heat to offset it.

Sublimeballs · 02-09-15, 02:54 PM

^ this.

But in my experience I've never had to use any other heat with a heat panel. I've used both a 40 & 80 watt in a 4x2(not at the same time lol) both worked great but the 40is what I stuck with for a 4x2.

soad · 02-09-15, 03:25 PM

Thanks for the input guys, sometimes the room may drop a little below 70, I'll be purchasing from reptile basics.

Snakesitter · 02-11-15, 03:34 PM

You are welcome, and good luck -- let us know what you decide to do!

Sublimeballs · 02-11-15, 06:13 PM

All my panels are RBI and I'm very happy with them. Great guys. They're relatively local to me and I've been to their shop on several ocasions. I highly recommend them.

revent · 02-11-15, 06:41 PM

i have a couple of constrictor northwest cages that are 4x2x 14" that i have reptile basics 80 watt heat panels in. I have to say i am very impressed with them. my room conditions sound similar to yours and they work great. they seem to hardly draw any power to keep temps very stable. but with that said i feel like 40 watts would have been fine now that i have them i just wanted to go with 80 to be safe, and I still dont regret that decision.

Mad Max · 02-11-15, 08:21 PM

The people at Pro-Products said that all under tank heaters are unnecessary and potentially dangerous when I spoke to them on the phone.

Pro Heat

Snakesitter · 02-12-15, 03:04 PM

All undertank dangerous? That seems like a competitive overstatement to me....

Mad Max · 02-12-15, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snakesitter

All undertank dangerous? That seems like a competitive overstatement to me....

Have you spoken to them about it or read the link that I provided? Salesmanship is definitely a possibility, but then they could also produce and sell under tank heaters if they just wanted to make more sales.

Snakesitter · 02-13-15, 02:53 PM

The link is impressive. It is also clearly a marketing piece. ;-) What caught my eye was the very broad use of "all under tank heaters are unnecessary and potentially dangerous"...which is fairly heavy.

Mad Max · 02-13-15, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snakesitter

The link is impressive. It is also clearly a marketing piece. ;-) What caught my eye was the very broad use of "all under tank heaters are unnecessary and potentially dangerous"...which is fairly heavy.

Clearly. Who doesn't market their products? But the two points that caught your eye shouldn't be too hard to disprove if they're false. So, why would an under tank heater be necessary when a radiant heat panel is used? And which under tank heater has no possibility of burns or combustion?

bigsnakegirl785 · 02-16-15, 12:21 AM

I also just find the way UTH/heat tape, etc. to highly inefficient in heating and I don't much like them. Since the air is room temp, not as much humidity leaves the bedding because the air can't hold as much and the bedding isn't being heated enough. Since I use my bedding to provide humidity, this becomes a problem, as the bedding will mold if not enough humidity is released fast enough, and if left for a long time could potentially cause scale rot. This means, in any enclosures I use belly heat, I must adopt a completely new way of providing humidity. Using solely belly heat means whenever the room temp drops, the snake's enclosure temps drops, too, since the air will never be above room temp. So any time the room temp drops (which is often as it's drafty), I must move the snake into a different room and heat it with a space heater, otherwise they will become extremely slugglish. I prefer using overhead heating where I can because of these reasons.

Mad Max · 02-17-15, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigsnakegirl785

I also just find the way UTH/heat tape, etc. to highly inefficient in heating...

Using solely belly heat means whenever the room temp drops, the snake's enclosure temps drops, too, since the air will never be above room temp...

I prefer using overhead heating where I can because of these reasons.

See, that makes sense to me. You gave your opinion and explained the logic behind it. Do you see any benefit to using an under tank heater in combination with a radiant heat panel, bigsnakegirl?

bigsnakegirl785 · 02-22-15, 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mad Max

See, that makes sense to me. You gave your opinion and explained the logic behind it. Do you see any benefit to using an under tank heater in combination with a radiant heat panel, bigsnakegirl?

Not really. The RHP seems to heat the bedding perfectly well, so I don't see a reason to use an undertank heater with it. My temp gun reads the same temps on the surface of the bedding as my thermostat probes are reading, and picking up my snake's belly, they read about the the same as well.