ambient air heat - how?

qwerty53 · 03-30-17, 06:38 AM

I have heatpad in hot spot and its all good for the floor but i am in cold state. So far i had room at 75 so it was all good.
Now I want to ambient heat only the cage. I have this (glass with metal net on top).https://www.amazon.com/Zilla-28021-2.../dp/B0017694AI
I tried the lamp but the metal of the cage become extremely hot....
What else can I do?

akane · 03-30-17, 08:34 AM

Ambient air control is really hard to achieve and I can't say anyone has explained the setup needed to me very well. What are you keeping? Most of the time it's not necessary. Snakes that stay on the ground will usually get their heat from below and above just fine. You only need to make the suggested temps on the floor of the cage and the radiant heat will cover enough. A temp gun works better than thermometers for measuring that. Rocks hold heat really well and if you don't want a rock from the wild you can get real stone tile from stores. Marble holds up the best, slate is cheap and easy to resize but becomes brittle at a certain temp and I actually broke a thick piece by accident in my hand moving it while hot, and so far travertine which is quite cheap has been safe. They work great for gluing into hides also.

qwerty53 · 03-30-17, 09:45 AM

Thanks.
BUT Its a boa. And when its minus 15 outside the heat mat will not provide the ambient heat anough

afsgr88 · 03-30-17, 09:55 AM

Try using a heat pannel. It worked for my burm and my BCI

qwerty53 · 03-30-17, 10:06 AM

Whats a heat panel?

dannybgoode · 03-30-17, 10:32 AM

Heat mats are rubbish at raising ambient temperatures (and they're a particularly poor choice for arboreal species for this reason). A heat panel or a che emit heat much like a radiator does and warms the air.

Further in the confines of a Viv they heat the ground as well which then radiates the IR as heat back up.

I don't use heat mats at all for this reason except in quarantine tubs.

**EL Ziggy** · 03-30-17, 10:50 AM

Under tank heaters are fine for terrestrial snakes but like others have said they don't do anything to raise ambient temps. If you're going to use the glass tank and screen top I'd use a low wattage IR heat bulb or CHE to boost the ambient temps.