Electric bills

[cathatesrudy]

So, we haven't been keeping herps in any real numbers until late last year/early this year and after a few months I am really stuck trying to figure out how those of you who keep larger numbers of herps afford to keep them heated?!? We keep MOST of the snakes in one room that is kept at a higher temp but does not have a door on it and Hubby likes to keep a fan on in there at all times, the rest of the house is on central air but I'm told not to turn it off when we aren't home so it doesn't have to work so hard to get to a decent temp by nighttime and sleeping, I feel like these things are running us into the poor house! Any tips from longtime keepers of large amounts of snakes and/or lizards? We have 17 snakes and 8 lizards by my current estimate and only the corn snakes and ATB are fully grown, I can't imagine how much I'm going to be paying when the carpets and the RTB get big... HELP!!