Cheap Heater for "Snake Room"

PsychoSnake · 10-25-15, 10:32 PM

I understand you generally get what you buy, but does anyone have any recommendations for a relatively cheap space heater to heat a snake room?

I'm planning on brumating my rosy boas this year (breeding!) so I plan to only have the house thermostat set to 55 F. However I don't want to brumate the other snakes. All the other snakes fortunately are residing in the "snake room" (my bedroom, but let's face it they use it more than I do). The room is 12 x 8 x 8 feet with only one wall being exterior. I would like to have a heater on a thermostat that can keep the snake room at least up to 75 F.

I hear a lot about oil filled radiators for such applications. Would that be efficient enough to do this job? Are there different types of heaters that will work as well? Any advice would be well appreciated.

Sublimeballs · 10-26-15, 12:35 AM

Oil filled space heater should work great for what you have in mind. I use one to heat a much larger area( 28x18). Biggest thing to make sure is that the thermostat you use can handle the heater, most are 1500 watts. Ranco or Johnson thermostat should work for you.

treaux · 10-26-15, 01:07 AM

Def an oil filled radiator. I heat my whole house with them (cheaper than using propane). Get one that has a built in thermostat and it'll be easy to setup. I just get the cheap ones from Target that are $40 and have the dial thermostat and two switches (for how many watts it uses).

chairman · 10-26-15, 07:24 AM

My reptile room is a 15 x 15 room in my basement. I heat it with an oil filled radiator style heater controlled by a baseboard thermostat. I usually keep the heater at its 600 watt setting but occasionally use the 900 or 1500 as well. I do find that running two heaters at 600 watts heats my room better than one heater at 1500.

trailblazer295 · 10-26-15, 07:42 AM

You're really committed having the house at 55f lol it's funny to hear someone intentionally having their house that cold. As an HVAC mechanic I get calls "it's freezing in the house" when it's high 60s low 70s. Gone to people's houses that's colder then mine and say it's freezing.

PsychoSnake · 10-26-15, 10:30 AM

Thanks guys! You've made my shopping a lot easier.

Quote:

Originally Posted by trailblazer295

You're really committed having the house at 55f lol it's funny to hear someone intentionally having their house that cold. As an HVAC mechanic I get calls "it's freezing in the house" when it's high 60s low 70s. Gone to people's houses that's colder then mine and say it's freezing.

All the other rooms in my house are not well insulated. It's an older house with an addition so I figure this way I can save a few dollars on my heating bill. I thought about brumating the rosies in the basement but since I can only access the basement from outside it puts them in a position of "out of sight, out of mind." To check on them I'd have to walk out in the snow. If I can't take the cold I'll just go into the snake room, lol.

SSSSnakes · 10-26-15, 08:39 AM

Oil filled heaters work great. I also have a fan running on low to circulate the heat evenly through out the room.