My electric bill is PAINFUL!

[stillcleaning]

I adopted a juvenile albino corn snake and a juvenile leopard gecko at the same time about 3 months ago. The gecko, Indica, has a heating pad and my snake, Daiblo has a heat lamp with a dimmer switch set on top of the mesh of his enclosure. I manually dial the light up and down morning and night. Both animals seem to be doing very well. Here's the thing, my electric bill has basically doubled! I can't even believe it. So, what can I do to reduce the cost of keeping these babies? I really enjoy them but wow, what an ongoing hit to my wallet! Any recommendations as to what wattage is the minimum I can get away with or getting rid of the lamp and just doing regular room lighting with a heating pad instead for Diablo on a thermostat? Help!
P.S. Diablo's lamp is 260V 660W

[chairman]

What temperature is the room that you keep your animals in?

I ask because I keep my reptile room between 72 and 76 F and I am able to heat most of my enclosures using between 25 watts and 60 watts per cage. 600 watts is enough to run a space heater capable of heating a 400 sq ft room.

I am mostly able to accomplish this because I use PVC enclosures and selectively choose efficient, low wattage heat sources that fit the animals I keep.

In addition to possibly adjusting room temperatures to the low/mid 70s F, you can reduce costs by:

Keeping animals in enclosures with minimal ventilation (i.e. no screen lids);

Using enclosures made of materials that naturally trap heat well (like PVC or wood enclosures);

Switching to more efficient heat sources (flex watt, heat cable, radiant heat panels, CHEs, xenon or halogen bulbs).