Is an RHP Necessary in 2'x2'x3' Enclosure?

[Scubadiver59]

I'm looking at an intermediate arboreal for some of my juvenile climbers, namely a Dominican Red Mountain Boa, a Southern White Lip, and my Malaysian Red Tail Green Rat.

The enclosure will be .75" pressboard w/melamine laminate inside and out--I use these materials for my 4'x2'x20" enclosure--with a plywood front side w/plexiglass front door, again, same as my larger cages above.

I'm thinking of using a 60w light and a CHE at at the top...but will that be enough to keep temps up? Or should I go for a small RHP mid-enclosure?

Inquiring minds...

[pet_snake_78]

Depends on room temperatures. I use 40watts in 4x2x1 enclosures. I have them on tstats so I don't know how much heat they are capable of producing but I set a hotspot under them of upper 80s and that raises the cold end higher than the temperature of the room (I don't know how much offhand, maybe an extra couple of degrees). The further away the basking spot is from the rhp the harder it will have to run to hit the upper 80s and presumably the ambients will rise along with that. Best thing imo is heat the whole room to at around 75 F then the rhp will for sure do the job.

[jjhill001]

Originally Posted by Scubadiver59

I'm looking at an intermediate arboreal for some of my juvenile climbers, namely a Dominican Red Mountain Boa, a Southern White Lip, and my Malaysian Red Tail Green Rat.

The enclosure will be .75" pressboard w/melamine laminate inside and out--I use these materials for my 4'x2'x20" enclosure--with a plywood front side w/plexiglass front door, again, same as my larger cages above.

I'm thinking of using a 60w light and a CHE at at the top...but will that be enough to keep temps up? Or should I go for a small RHP mid-enclosure?

Inquiring minds...

Gonna depend on your personal situation. Could try the CHE and light see if it works in an effort to save a bit of money. If I could do it again with even my small 36x18x18 I would have just splurged and gotten the dang RHP for simplicity sake.

[trailblazer295]

Are you planning to keep this cage long term or just a gross up cage for them then sell it later? If you're going to keep the cage I'd go with an rhp. Will give you more common space and you won't have to worry about your climbers climbing the heat source and getting burned.

[Scubadiver59]

Theerws going to be a rectangular, screened cutout at the top, and I will use silicone sheets, with light cutouts to seal off the enclosure— the silicone is heat resistant up to ~500F so no melting will occur.

I was just wondering about the lower temps, but it the room is at 75F it should be okay. And, yes, I’ll be using a thermostat to dim and shut off the lamp in conjunction with the CHE.

[pet_snake_78]

I've never used bulbs or che with snakes so this is a guess, but I feel like it might dry the environment out if you're not careful or doing something to compensate depending on what you're keeping. If I were doing the CHE, I've put the bulb inside the cage as it seems like a lot less wasted heat that way and put one of those metal cages around it to keep the snake from burning itself. The cages are around 10$

[trailblazer295]

I have a CHE in a 4x2x2 inside the cage with the screen. One thing I learned the hard way is take into account the base and take measurements. They have different size and shapes of screens and not all are big enough. No problems yet with my girl.