RHP with common boa

[Snakesitter]

Sorry, Point #3 was a reference to operating cost, and Point #4 was reference to power grid load. I'd originally had them as one combined point then broke them up -- to me they are both pluses, even if they draw from the same underlying cause, as my apartment building was apparently constructed in the stone age and power load is a major issue. But I get your point.

My point regarding specialists was that you were only talking to partisans on one side of the issue. I'm sure your lead herpetologist and zoo curator are wonderful and experience people, but as you said both are neutral -- whereas the RHP manufacturer will be firmly in one camp. The missing opinion would restore the balance. Thank you for reaching out for it.

As for the missing word, I had one version with, and one without. I was annoyed because it looked like you'd buried the correct use, which you had already quoted, to advance your argument...but perhaps that was just an honest error. No worries.

As for evaporation, both will promote it to a degree...but I suspect the undercage will do a better job. For example, I lay sheet of paper towel directly over my heating elements, which makes the process more direct (high temps right on the water) and therefore faster/more efficient. A radiant heat panel will have less heat reaching that same water, and therefore presumably less evaporation. Unless I am mistaken, the enclosure's air temp is more of an indirect effect: it will impact how much humidity can be held in the air, but this is secondary to causing the evaporation itself at the source. Hopefully that makes sense.

It took me a moment to figure out who Karl was.... :-)