RHPs

[pet_snake_78]

I'm not sure how many inches from the substrate mine is, maybe 8" but there is a hide they will set on top of that puts them at about 5-6" from it, they will use that very occasionally when they want to be extra hot usually when digesting food and even then not often.

[bigsnakegirl785]

Originally Posted by pet_snake_78

I tend to think the 80watt would do the job unless it's a cool room (under 70-75F).

80 watts is not going to heat a 6' enclosure, that's better suited for 4', maybe 5' enclosures. 120 watts is the minimum I'd implement in an enclosure of that size. An 80 watt panel is just going to work too hard, especially during the winter.

I have two 6'x2'x3's, both heated with a 120 watt panel on one end and a 100 watt CHE on the other end. During the summer, I can maintain temps fine. During the night, the temps drop from 88F to 84F and 85F to 80F, unless I used a space heater, which I'm not going to bother with at that temp. During the winter, even with the space heater set to 85F, I'm lucky to get any part of the enclosure near 85F. I think that's mostly because it's 3' tall and the draftiness of the trailer. That said, I don't have as hard of a time heating it here at the trailer as I did at the apartment. I'm actually thinking of either upgrading the panels or switching them out for shorter PVC enclosures (2' rather than 3'), because it's simply too much of a pain as is.

Originally Posted by Wykyd

Another thing the guy from RBI mentioned was putting a piece of slate to make my "basking spot" since the RHP will heat up the slate.

One other thing I wanted to ask was temp probe placement. I read somewhere that you want to be roughly 6" from the highest basking spot so the snake can't cover the probe. Any tips, tricks to making it almost impossible to cover? I would like to adapt something so it looks like it belongs in the enclosure while still doing it's job.

In my PVC enclosures, I had basking shelves installed, and attached the probe to the underside of the shelf. Imo, this is the easiest way to both heat the enclosure and keep the probe from getting smushed. If you heat just the top half of the enclosure, your heating element doesn't have to work so hard, and the probe is well out of reach. You just have to do some adjusting with the thermostat settings to get it to the right temp. For example, I have two T12's stacked directly on each other. The bottom one is set to 85F right now to reach 90F on the top since I recently got an A/C unit and had to boost the temps a bit, and the top enclosure is set to 83F to reach 90F on the top half.

That set up allows me a temp range of 80-90F with 80 watt panels (T12's are 4'x2'x2').

[Wykyd]

RBI did recommend I go with their 160 watt panel. It spans roughly 2/3 of the enclosure (which I questioned). If I'm understanding how these work, the RHP only heats directly below itself. In turn objects under the RHP absorb heat and transfer that heat to the air. My main concern is reaching a nice gradient. Here are few orientations I thought of. My favorite is the pushed back into the corner. It allows me to pull my temp probe just through the foam background.

Roughly a 30° angle.


Pushed closer to the rear of the enclosure.


Center left (I just realized I'm placing the RHP on the left and it belongs on the right :3.

[Ian of Oldham]

looks cool.
2 Royals, 1 Corn 1 Boa and a mad Cat.

[bigsnakegirl785]

I honestly prefer my heat on the left rather than right side (I'm a leftie), but ultimately it doesn't matter which side you put it on.

Of the three orientations you spoke of, I'd probably push it slightly to the back. I'm not sure what angling it will do, and more heat will hit the walls if you push the whole thing back rather than to the side, since more of the heat panel is getting closer to the wall lengthwise than in the width. That said, you're probably not going to have a significant amount of wiggle room. My 120 watts have maybe 4"-5" of clearance on either side from the front and back walls (they're 2' wide), so not sure how much of a difference it would make, especially if the 160 watts is slightly wider (haven't looked).

[Ian of Oldham]

I use heat bulbs in the day with thermoses and ceramics at night. it is much more economic and give the snakes somewhere to bask in the day


2Royal 1 Corn 1 Boa and a mad Cat.

[Wykyd]

Originally Posted by bigsnakegirl785

I honestly prefer my heat on the left rather than right side (I'm a leftie), but ultimately it doesn't matter which side you put it on.

Of the three orientations you spoke of, I'd probably push it slightly to the back. I'm not sure what angling it will do, and more heat will hit the walls if you push the whole thing back rather than to the side, since more of the heat panel is getting closer to the wall lengthwise than in the width. That said, you're probably not going to have a significant amount of wiggle room. My 120 watts have maybe 4"-5" of clearance on either side from the front and back walls (they're 2' wide), so not sure how much of a difference it would make, especially if the 160 watts is slightly wider (haven't looked).

Putting the heat on the right is just to break the norm. So many enclosures I see have their heat on the left. I mainly think it's because we do everything from left to right so it comes naturally. I like to go against the grain, so right to left it is!

That was my thinking too on the orientation. It allows much easier placement of the probe as well as heating up more objects. As far as the clearance, Bobby told me all that matters is in front of the lens. The panel can be tight against the wall as long as nothing on that wall sticks out less than 6" from the panel lens.

Originally Posted by Ian of Oldham

I use heat bulbs in the day with thermoses and ceramics at night. it is much more economic and give the snakes somewhere to bask in the day


2Royal 1 Corn 1 Boa and a mad Cat.

Heat bulbs don't penetrate the way that RHPs or UTH's do, I'd much rather try and mimic the sun as best that I can in the way that it heats, which is infrared. As I said earlier, I will mimic daytime with LED light bar and my computer emits blue lights from it's fans and such which will give that "moon" glow at night.

[Ian of Oldham]

Originally Posted by Wykyd

Putting the heat on the right is just to break the norm. So many enclosures I see have their heat on the left. I mainly think it's because we do everything from left to right so it comes naturally. I like to go against the grain, so right to left it is!

That was my thinking too on the orientation. It allows much easier placement of the probe as well as heating up more objects. As far as the clearance, Bobby told me all that matters is in front of the lens. The panel can be tight against the wall as long as nothing on that wall sticks out less than 6" from the panel lens.



Heat bulbs don't penetrate the way that RHPs or UTH's do, I'd much rather try and mimic the sun as best that I can in the way that it heats, which is infrared. As I said earlier, I will mimic daytime with LED light bar and my computer emits blue lights from it's fans and such which will give that "moon" glow at night.

Well I will move in to your Viv ha ha

[Wykyd]

lolz, wait til I finish it, it's going to be a dream enclosure for any boa :P