Winter Heating in Large Enclosures - Page 3

Terranaut · 11-08-13, 07:05 AM

I think I remember Wayne doing something similar with his first Sav set up and he had humidity issues. Wayne?

bigsnakegirl785 · 11-10-13, 12:13 PM

I've got Cloud's CHE installed and running. I'm now just waiting for it to warm up. Hopefully this will do the trick, and they'll be set for winter! *fingers crossed* The cages are pain to make. Cloud's bulb cage took 8 hours to make, until I found out that the lamps were made to come apart. -.- So, then I had to make a smaller one. I've been working on Cloud's since Saturday morning. I'll take a break and hopefully I can get started on Bud's tomorrow. This is the test run, though!

(As we speak, I can see the temp rising! It's warming up much faster than the RHP ever did. It's only at about 77F right now, but maybe in the next half an hour to an hour it will be 90F!)

bigsnakegirl785 · 11-14-13, 06:06 AM

So I bought the CHEs and installed them. They aren't doing any better than the RHPs, in fact they're doing a little worse, unless the Herpstat is inaccurate. I've draped a heavy blanket over the front to hold heat. The side with the RHP can keep it at 84-85F+ but the CHE side rarely breaks 80F, and normally stays in the 77-78F range. I'm reading Cloud's branch at 90.3F, but he rarely ever climbs so although he has access to it he never uses it. This is during the day, and I've been trying to allow the wood stove heat my room, but although it's heating my room better than last year (maybe not using that fan helped), it isn't good enough. At night the RHP side falls to 80F with the blanket over it and the CHE side falls to 75F with the blanket, in Cloud's. Bud's enclosure falls to 78F, so this is the first I've had problems with his enclosure. The only thing working is heating with the space heater. So, I'm going to have to run it constantly and heat my room to the temp they need rather than their cage. I'll have to hope it doesn't raise the bill by more than $30 dollars, otherwise my father will no longer let me use the heater. He doesn't know and he doesn't care about the importance of temperature for the snakes, and he won't give me a reason why he set that limit (I guess financial?). If that happens, I'm really not sure what to do. I guess I could move Bud back into his tank, since I didn't have a problem heating it last year because it's so small. Cloud's old tub broke, so I don't have one for him. Besides, he would be too big for it. I guess if it comes to that, I won't have any choice but to either find Cloud a new home or see if one of my mom's friends can care for him. They can't keep on having these low temps, and I can't spend any more money trying to heat these ridiculous enclosures. I honestly think we made it too tall, which is just making this whole thing more difficult to deal with. I did try asking my father to make it 2ft rather than 3ft when we first made it, but I didn't think it would turn out to be this much of a problem so I let it go. Now I wish I would have insisted. Also, yes, I would have tried the insulation if both my father and an insulation company had not of been adamant about the ineffectiveness of the insulation.

HoldenC · 11-16-13, 03:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigsnakegirl785

So I bought the CHEs and installed them. They aren't doing any better than the RHPs, in fact they're doing a little worse, unless the Herpstat is inaccurate... The only thing working is heating with the space heater. I'll have to hope it doesn't raise the bill by more than $30 dollars, otherwise my father will no longer let me use the heater.

What wattage CHE did you get? If it isn't working, can you take it back and get a higher wattage? Also, have you offered to pay your share of the power bill? Heating and enclosure costs are all part of taking care of an animal.

LarryS · 11-16-13, 05:13 AM

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but would rather you be prepared for the inevitable.

A typical space heater of around 1000 watts could easily add 100.00 a month to your electric bill if it is running 24/7.

If there is any way way you could insulate around the outside of cage (as suggested)you will probably be ahead of the game financially speaking.
The duct board used in the HVAC industry is generally not flammable and also relatively inexpensive.

I truly wish you luck and hope you can reach a solution that is acceptable for both the animal and your Dad!

Terranaut · 11-16-13, 05:45 AM

Something is not right here. The room my big enclosures are in it hivering around 73ºish and I have no problems hitting 90º imside them.
Is the cage on the floor? Mine are both sitting on a smalk stack of styrofoam insulation. You have to fix the heat loss first. Then fix the heater. Can you post a few pics of your set up?

bigsnakegirl785 · 11-16-13, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terranaut

Something is not right here. The room my big enclosures are in it hivering around 73ºish and I have no problems hitting 90º imside them.
Is the cage on the floor? Mine are both sitting on a smalk stack of styrofoam insulation. You have to fix the heat loss first. Then fix the heater. Can you post a few pics of your set up?

Cloud's is half a foot, or just under that, off the floor and the bottom of Bud's is 4-5ft off the floor because his is stacked on top of Cloud's with about half a foot between them. How big are your enclosures? I think my enclosures may be a foot too tall; you go up a foot and it's in the low-90's, and in the mid-80's at the bottom. I'll post some pics soon.

I've covered both of their doors with blankets and towels. I've managed to get them to stay at 85F steadily, and I'm going to start working it up slowly to see if I can eventually get it up to 90F. I've stopped using my heater, and my room stays in the low- to mid-70s on a warm night, so I'll see what it's like when we get another 20F or lower night. For some reason once I covered Bud's doors, Cloud's CHE side has been going up to 82-83F.

I bought 100 watt CHE's on 150 watt capacity lamps. The 100 watt was the highest watt offered at my local store. I did offer to pay the difference, but he only agreed to $30 at most, whether or not I paid the whole thing. As I said before, I spoke with an insulation company, and they said I couldn't keep the inside of the enclosure more than 5 degrees above my room temperature.

Terranaut · 11-16-13, 06:19 PM

I can hold a 90º hot spot and the other perch is 77-78. The cage floor is 74-75. This is with an 80 watt in a glass 4x2x4 cage. Very verticle. The hot perch is about 16" below the rhp and the other is a foot lower but under the rhp.

bigsnakegirl785 · 11-16-13, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terranaut

I can hold a 90º hot spot and the other perch is 77-78. The cage floor is 74-75. This is with an 80 watt in a glass 4x2x4 cage. Very verticle. The hot perch is about 16" below the rhp and the other is a foot lower but under the rhp.

Cloud's branch is 91-92F and it's about 14in away from the bulb cage, where the limbs meet, and the highest branch is 10in away. Since he's mostly on the ground, I'm aiming for a ground temp of 90F.

Here are some photos of Cloud's enclosure. His hides are removed so you can see the probes.

Both cages.

The CHE.

The RHP.

The gap with a ruler in inches for reference. The pale line is where the corner is.

Terranaut · 11-16-13, 08:04 PM

Wow. Not sure what to tell you. I would expect the rhp alone to heat those.

Mikoh4792 · 11-16-13, 08:36 PM

So what temperature are you setting the probe to? The RHP seems a bit too far away from the floor to actually create a hotspot there. I create perches about 6"-10"(depending on the size of my snake) under the rhp.

Like this:

If you want to create a hotspot on the floor.... you'd have to use a heat mat.

bigsnakegirl785 · 11-17-13, 09:07 AM

I'm not sure exactly what's different now, but I've managed to get Cloud's RHP to reach 90F and Bud's thermostat is set to 89F now. I have tried setting both thermostats to 90F before, but I wasn't able to reach it. Cloud's max was 86F, and Bud's was 85F. Last night I slowly turned up the thermostats degree by degree, mostly to see what the max temp was if they weren't able to reach 90F. Once the probe read the temp I set and turned off, I would bring up the Day Time Temperature and repeat until I either reached 90F or the enclosures max. Well, Cloud's was able to get up to 90F in a few hours and his enclosure is still holding up the temps. Bud's temps were rising slowly, so I only made it to 88F last night and I turned up the thermostat to 89F this morning when I got up. For Bud's enclosure, I packed a bunch of coats and sheets in that small space between the top and the ceiling, and it seems to be helping quite a bit.

Terranaut · 11-17-13, 12:05 PM

Ahh. I may have this one figured out. I hope. Try ignoring the thermostat number and just keep bumping it up until you hit your measured temp your looking for. So for example a settung on the thermostat of 99° may be required to hit 90 on your hot spot. Setting radiant heat is not the same as with a uth. Make sense?

bigsnakegirl785 · 11-18-13, 09:36 AM

I did try this same method before, that's how I got the 85F and 86F numbers. I think when I last did it, though, I either didn't have the CHE or it wasn't covered. I'll be working on getting Bud's CHE installed as a back-up for cold nights, so I'll need to get started on that bulb cage soon. I've gotten Bud's hot side up to 90F as well, so I think everybody's set! It took long enough, but I'm super relieved everything is working now. Unfortunately, I may have to do this every time I have to have the enclosures open for an extended amount of time i.e. mixing water into their bedding for humidity, or the soon-to-come replacement of bedding.

I also think Bud's coming along. He's taken 4 f/t rats consecutively for me, and the amount of time between feedings is slowly decreasing. He was in shed last week, but he took his rat only just over 2 weeks from his last meal. Next week I'll see if he'll be hungry enough to take another. We finally got some breeder rabbits yesterday morning; two does, one of which is pregnant. We originally were only going to get one, but apparently the white one refused to breed so they offered her as well. We'll try our hand at it, but if we have the same luck she'll end up as dinner. Now we just need to get a buck. The rabbits will be both for snake food and for personal consumption.

bigsnakegirl785 · 11-21-13, 09:05 PM

I was correct in my last post. When I wet Bud and Cloud's bedding yesterday I had to start over. Bud's made up for the loss of heat and has been maintaining 90F since an hour or two after I finished. I've had to go through the whole process of slowly bumping Cloud's enclosure all over. I've got it to 89F so far. Well, this will be irritating but at least they'll get the heat they need.