Quote:
Originally Posted by murrindindi
Hi, I suspect your snake doesn`t need or use a surface temp between approx. 50 to 60c+, the CHE`s are NOT suitable for creating these temps at the basking site simply because the heat is directed all around as previously stated, they also dry out the air to a much greater extent than for example the relatively low wattage halogen (flood) bulbs, though I have and still do use them for raising the ambient temps at times (during the night, very cold weather).
It would be good if you could explain how you provide those basking temps with CHE`s, and also how you control the humidity range in your Varanid enclosures if you primarily use those (size of enclosure, wattages, distance from animal/s, etc)? Thanks!
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Hi there, Im actually just finishing off a new enclosure and am hoping to get pics up soon, but will post that later.
Since this is a monitor enclosure discussion thread, I would like to respectfully address what has been previously stated about CHE's. I'm not an expert, so I apologize for the very long post.
CHE's and Halogens work by the same principle. They turn electricity into UV Radiation. The halogen produces light and heat. The CHE just produces heat. This distinction is muddled by the fact that depending on a materials make-up, they can absorb light, which is "stored" as heat. (A dark rock will become hotter in the sunlight than a lighter coloured piece of rock, which will reflect some light which we then perceive as colour.)
To this end, a 60w halogen and 60w CHE will roughly produce the same amount of heat.
Heat travels in three ways. Radiation, Conduction and Convection. We are only concerned with Radiation and Conduction.
Take the temp of the face of your basking bulb. My 65w Halogens are between 325F and 365F, and my 100w CHE has readings between 464F and "Error" (+700F).
Heat travels by radiation in that a warm surface will emit IR at a perpendicular angle towards a colder surface. The much hotter temperature of the face of the bulb is radiating IR straight down to the colder surface of the basking rock. When you place your hand under a basking bulb you are feeling the IR being emitted from the hot bulb to your colder hand. There is far more going on than, "The air is warmer here." Now, the air does have a temp as well, but we really dont need to get into that right now.
Under my CHE, I have a basking rock with surface area 3-4x larger than the face of the CHE. As the CHE radiates heat downwards, CONDUCTION will allow heat to move between objects in contact. So IR hits ~25% of the rock, and since the rock is always in contact with itself, it will attempt to equalize its entire temperature. I use a uniform thickness rock and it does have a perfect temp the entire length of the rock. IE. Directly under the bulb is the same temp as the edges of the rock.
Now, take the temperature of the neck of your bulbs. My 65w Halogens have surface temps between 239F and 296F , and my 100w CHE between 286F and 596F, getting hotter the closer I get to the face. The CHE is a heated coil starting and stopping at the base, with the majority of the coil in a spiral position on the face of the bulb. Its not an aesthetic design, but intended to direct the majority of the heat in the desired direction.
So while there is some "bleed off" with the CHE emitting heat in directions not where you want, we see a similar effect with the Halogens. There are a couple different types of outer core you can find on Halogens, and without testing the styles I dont have, I cant know if one is any better than another in terms of heat efficiency. Im under the impression the bulbs were designed with light output and heat dissipation as the only considerations. Not its ability to direct heat, but again I could be wrong. Ive seen some marketed as "heat bulbs", but dont know if it plays on halogens normal ability to produce heat, or if outer core design will actually reflect additional IR.
When people talk about humidity, they are really referring to relative humidity (rH) which is the % of water vapour in the air, compared to its full saturation level. Humidity is a measurement of water vapour, generally given as parts per million(ppm).
Warmer air can hold more water vapour than colder. So as you heat the air, rH will go down. Humidity levels will always try to equalize themselves. To give you an example, when your outside in the winter you can see your warm humid breath in the air. As the with every dry breath in, you expel humid air from your lungs, as they “bleed” vapour to the dry air you breath in. This is also how lizards dehydrate. Tarantulas and a variety of invertebrates have books lungs which passively absorb oxygen from outside the body, and preferably humid oxygen so they don’t desiccate.
The water vapour will never disappear. The warm air rises and continues to draw in more and more vapour the warmer and higher it gets. It sucks in vapour from the surrounding cooler air, which in turns draws in water vapour from its colder surrounding area, and so on. When the air hits the roof and can no longer heat up, and as reached its desired saturation level, it will slowly make its way to the opposing end of the enclosure, spreading its warmth and vapour in a never ending attempt to perfectly equalize. As the warm humid air hits the relatively cold glass, the air quickly cools and suddenly has an excess of water vapour. This is deposited on the glass as droplets of water, which will eventually slide down to be reabsorbed by the soil where it can start the cycle all over.
Unless I misread something, Varanid keepers don’t add ventilation to the enclosures. Humidity will escape along the sliding glass doors, and any possible cracks that weren’t sealed. As well as everytime you open the enclosure. It is possible for water vapour to pass through dense objects but this is a part of physics that I am stuck on. The point is, in a properly built enclosure humidity is very easy to maintain, and relative humidity is affected by temperature not the heating device itself.
I truly wish I had a halogen and CHE of same wattage. My figures would make a lot more sence than that.
If you made it this far, thanks, and I hope this info helps people with their future enclosure designs. I will be sharing mine shortly.
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