Winter Heating in Large Enclosures

bigsnakegirl785 · 09-24-13, 11:44 AM

Ok, so it's starting to cool off where I live now. It's getting into the high-40's (Fahrenheit) at night, and barely breaks into the 70's during the day (there's a few days this week that are supposed reach the mid-70s, though). So, it's becoming a little harder to heat Cloud and Bud's enclosures. They are custom-built wooden enclosures measuring 6ft long, 2ft wide, and 3ft tall. They are being heated with RHPs, which keeps the ambient air temps at 85F (86F in Cloud's), a hot spot of 90F, and a cool side of 75F. They stay at slightly cooler temps nowadays, if I keep my door and windows closed at all times. I have closed the storm windows, but it hasn't really helped. So, it's 85-86F in both cages. If I open my door, it very quickly drops to 75F. They have tempered glass doors, so I was thinking of buying some window insulation film to put on them.

I have tried putting UTHs under them, but they just won't stick. I tried duct tape, electrical tape, and the sticky side of the UTH. None of those methods worked, and the UTH quickly just peeled off and fell to the floor. My dad is unconvinced of the importance of maintaining these temperatures, so I'm having a hard getting any major changes done on the cage. He's absolutely convinced they will be fine at 65-70F constantly, so I can only do basic changes to it as I have no experience at building anything, except while we worked on these cages. They don't have insulation in the sides, despite me being adamant on the subject, because my dad was so sure that the cages wouldn't need it. That was before I had the funds to help pay for all of the materials (I bought everything but the RHPs and the glass doors), so I had to go with it. No amount of care sheets, or other people's projects will convince him. Now I can buy the insulation, but I need my fathers help to remove them from the legs and take off the outside boards to install them.

He also won't let me buy a heater for my room. We have a wood stove in the living room, right outside my room, but last year my room never got above 65F even with it completely filled with wood and a fan blowing hot air into my room. It was usually around 55-60F. Of course, they were in smaller enclosures then, so it wasn't a problem. So, I was wondering if having the film on the doors and a UTH would be enough to heat them? Any ideas on getting the UTH to stick to the underside of the cage?

I am using probes hooked up to the thermostats to gauge hot end temps, and regular thermometers on the cool ends. The kind that you use to take the air temp of houses with. I am looking in to getting a probe digital thermometer, but I'm not sure which brand to use, and I'll be getting a temp gun as well. The probe is 4in off of the bedding, so about 6in off the bottom of the cages. The hygrometer I bought says it also reads temps, but the directions said nothing of the sort, and I don't see them on the actual screen. It's ExoTerra.

Mikoh4792 · 09-24-13, 11:49 AM

I've been taping my UTH's and they've been sticking without problems.

I just lay down an outline with double sided tape and once I stick the UTH onto that, I go over the UTH with some aluminum tape.

But of course it will depend on what kind of heat pad you use. I use ultratherms which are thin and light so they will hold in place.

formica · 09-24-13, 12:01 PM

What species have you got in the enclosure?

duct tape and electrical tape are heat sensitive, thats why it wont stick, double sided tape should be better as suggested

another simple thing you can do, is cover the entire outside of the enclosure with tin foil, tape/glue it like wall paper, and/or cover with bubble wrap, and then just put a blanket over the front of the enclosure so you have easy access

keep your probe/thermometer on top of the substrate, not 4-6inches above it, i doubt ur snake hovers 6inches above the substrate

bigsnakegirl785 · 09-24-13, 12:56 PM

I'm using ZooMed ReptiTherm UTHs.

Ok, I'll go out and get the tape, and cover up the cages. That's great, because I have, like 4 or 5 rolls of aluminum foil that we don't really use. XD There usually isn't very many left-overs here, and we usually use the Saran wrap.

I've got a boa constrictor and a ball python in the enclosures.

I have it 6in off of the floor, to give room for the bedding depth, which I like to keep at least 3in deep. It's 4in off the bedding, because that's the *rough* height of their coils, and it gives me a few more inches to play with the bedding. I can easily bring it down, though.

Mikoh4792 · 09-24-13, 01:08 PM

Yeah I would definitely lay it on the substrate. If it's a few inches off the ground, the actual hotspot will be much hotter.

Besides, if you put a hide over the hotspot it should create a pocket of hot air so you won't need to worry about the top of the body.

formica · 09-24-13, 01:10 PM

what kind of thermostats are you using? with the possibility of 65F, I'd suggest using a pulse proportional, to keep the temps more stable if you are using on/off type, you definitly dont want the BCI going anywhere near 65F, dont know about the ball, but I suspect the same is true

yep, lay the probe straight on the substrate, no need to hang it in the air

bigsnakegirl785 · 09-24-13, 01:20 PM

I am using two VE-100 On/Off thermostats, one for each RHP. I was going to get two more thermostats for the UTHs anyway. I'll look back on the website, and find some proportionals.

Alright, I'll move the probes down sometime today.

Terranaut · 09-24-13, 03:13 PM

This is an easy fix. Use the foil heating and air conditioning tape and cover the edge of the mat by about 3/4" and the rest on bottom of the viv. This will stick. Getting a new thermostat is useless if you can't maintain a minimum temp.

infernalis · 09-25-13, 05:40 AM

Insulation, insulation, insulation

I absolutely love it, reduces energy consumption.

If your enclosure is your animal's home, why not insulate it like your home?

Terranaut · 09-25-13, 06:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by infernalis

Insulation, insulation, insulation

I absolutely love it, reduces energy consumption.

If your enclosure is your animal's home, why not insulate it like your home?

This is of course the best way to go.

infernalis · 09-25-13, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terranaut

This is of course the best way to go.

Yes it is, provides a far more stable environment that does not fluctuate with room temps.

**EL Ziggy** · 09-25-13, 09:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by infernalis

Insulation, insulation, insulation

I absolutely love it, reduces energy consumption.

If your enclosure is your animal's home, why not insulate it like your home?

What kind of insulation do you recommend?

bigsnakegirl785 · 09-25-13, 02:49 PM

I did try to get him to get insulation while we were building it, and I've been bringing up taking them apart and putting in insulation. I'll keep bringing it up, and maybe I'll be able to get him do it. I'll definitely need his help with it though, because they're bolted to a wooden frame, and they would fall over without someone there to help balance them when taking it apart.

formica · 09-25-13, 02:53 PM

no reason to deconstruct it to add insulation, it is still effective on the outside, foil will help reflect heat back into the enclosure, bubble wrap will form an insulating layer of air, the more layers you can put on, the better, but even one will make a diffrence, attach it with the bubbles facing into the enclosure and u would double its effectivness

another option could be to pin foam board panels to the outside, and then cover with sheet plywood, or anything you have to hand - its all about trapping layers of air so that heat cannot transfer straight out into the room, even layers of paper will do the trick

bigsnakegirl785 · 09-25-13, 03:00 PM

The way we have it built right now, the ends have empty pockets of air. The ends were left with 1 inch or so edges, and then we covered them with plywood, so I figured since we already have that enclosed area, just put some foam insulation boards in there, and then I could put foil on the backs and the bottoms and drape some blankets over the doors.