retic cage plans

[scottyy]

I plan on making a 7'HX3'WX2H out of melamine with sliding glass doors. as far as heating goes i am leaning towards using heat bulbs but have also looked into radiant heat panels. i have heard people say that radiant heat panels dont work well with retics. also what wattage of bulbs would i have to use to heat a cage that big? Will a radiant heat panel or heat bulbs be better? also if u have any ideas to add or building tips or pictures of custom enclosures that you guys have built or anything please share.

[Reptile_Reptile]

150watts would be my guess for a cage that size, but personally i would get some flexwatt heat tape.

[marvelfreak]

Check this site out and scroll down. At the bottom there's a section on how to know what size you need for Radiant Heat Panels.

[stephanbakir]

Heat pannels, UTH and flexwat are the way to go,

[stephanbakir]

Also, your gona want at least 8X4X4 for your retic unless its a dwarf

[scottyy]

Originally Posted by Reptile_Reptile

150watts would be my guess for a cage that size, but personally i would get some flexwatt heat tape.

I would get the heat tape but i dont really like it to be honest. it just doesnt get a nice ambient air temp and i feel that its just not good enough for her because thats wat i have her on now and it gets the cage to about 80 and when i was only using that every time i held her she felt cold. maybe i am not using it right? i just have it sitting under her cage with some spacers to let out extra heat so it doesnt burn her.

[scottyy]

Originally Posted by stephanbakir

Heat pannels, UTH and flexwat are the way to go,

i have heard some say that heat panels dont work well with retics but thats just some people. i am kinda leaning towards it because it will be cheaper in the long run. wats the average life of one? if i get one thats too big for the cage would it be ok on a thermostat?

[stephanbakir]

Originally Posted by scottyy

i have heard some say that heat panels dont work well with retics but thats just some people. i am kinda leaning towards it because it will be cheaper in the long run. wats the average life of one? if i get one thats too big for the cage would it be ok on a thermostat?

Should be, just make sure its surface heat isnt too hot.

[Damion930]

Heat panels emit infared heat and have a focused array that is supposed to limit the surface temp keeping it cool to the touch so not to burn animals haven't used them yet but hear very good things about them

[stephanbakir]

I bought one on ebay a while back and it got really hot and didn't emit that much heat at all.
Must have been defective, ill need to look em up

[Damion930]

Yeah I've only read and talked about them with a few ppl that use them I think aaron s brought them up in a topic about thermal build up with heat pads and larger snakes. The ones I've read about had a fuze safety system that would burn out if the surface reached dangerous temps not sure of brand or anything.

[Jendee]

Flexxwatt!! I preach flexxwatt everytime one of these threads come up lol been using it for 10 plus yrs On my large snakes and it works beautifully!!! why take any chances on anything else and you cant beat the price of 3.00 bucks a piece lol

[stephanbakir]

What retic morph are you buying anyway?

[scottyy]

Originally Posted by stephanbakir

What retic morph are you buying anyway?

well i have a sunfire retic. she is probably in between 6 and 8 months of age. it will still be maybe another 10 months or so before i need to get the lifetime enclosure for her but i want to have it all figured out before then

[stephanbakir]

Yeh, you have a little time left. the nice thing about sunfires is they generally cap off at 16-18 feet.