Radiant Heat Panels

[Reptile King]

I am not familiar at all with these heating elements. After doing a bit of research it seems to me like these are the heat sources to use. If they are mounted to the ceiling of the enclosure above a ball pythons basking spot (which a hide box will be beneath it) how does the "hot spot" reach 90 degrees if the hide box is underneath the radiant heat panel? It would appear to me that the hide box would deflect the heat that the ball python is under?

[2kdime]

Yeah essentially the heat is going to be absorbed into whatever it first comes in contact with. Eventually it will somewhat stabilize and the area underneath the hide will warm up a bit as well, but the hide will always be a little warmer.

For what it's worth, after my own research and to my expense, I have used a slew of different types of RHP's.

I HATED them with a passion.

I sold off every single one of them I had and never looked back.

[Reptile King]

Yeah essentially the heat is going to be absorbed into whatever it first comes in contact with. Eventually it will somewhat stabilize and the area underneath the hide will warm up a bit as well, but the hide will always be a little warmer.

For what it's worth, after my own research and to my expense, I have used a slew of different types of RHP's.

I HATED them with a passion.

I sold off every single one of them I had and never looked back.

You might have just saved me some $$$. So if I got an RBI cage with the uth i would be set right?

[2kdime]

Hey don't get me wrong, some people LOVE the panels.

They work pretty good for Arboreal animals, but I bought some from RBI and from Pro Products.

If I were to recommend one, it'd be the Pro Products ones. They're built much more solid and just overall a better product in my eyes.

You can't go wrong with Rich at RBI, and I've heard nothing but good things about his cages.

As far as heating the cage, what is the ambient temperature in your room? Is it a heated room for the animals?

In colder rooms an UTH isn't usually sufficient enough. You have to keep the ambient cage temperatures up as well, and with an UTH alone, it's just not possible.

You might have just saved me some $$$. So if I got an RBI cage with the uth i would be set right?

[Reptile King]

Currently I am using glass tanks. Our outdoor temperature dropped considerably and as a result so did my ambient temps and humidity. I was thinking that if I got an RBI cage it would be much better because it is able to keep in heat and humidity much better than a glass tank? During the spring and summer I have zero problems with humidity.

[Reptile King]

My rooms wherey reptiles are not kept warmer. Is it possible to have both a radiant heat panel and a UTH and use them separately or combined depending on the conditions of the room temperature?

[2kdime]

Absolutely.

The main idea with RHP's is that they maintain your hot side temp, and in turn will as a by product so to speak, maintain ambients and cool side temps.

I had 2 RHP's in a 4x2 cage once and it worked "OK", but for the price, it wasn't practical. The temps also fluctuated wayyyy too much for my liking.

Why not heat your room and just use an UTH?

Is that do-able?

My rooms wherey reptiles are not kept warmer. Is it possible to have both a radiant heat panel and a UTH and use them separately or combined depending on the conditions of the room temperature?

[Wh00h0069]

Absolutely.

The main idea with RHP's is that they maintain your hot side temp, and in turn will as a by product so to speak, maintain ambients and cool side temps.

I had 2 RHP's in a 4x2 cage once and it worked "OK", but for the price, it wasn't practical. The temps also fluctuated wayyyy too much for my liking.

Why not heat your room and just use an UTH?

Is that do-able?

What size RHP's were you using. I was planning on installing 80 watt RHP in my 4 foot cages and 40 watt in my 3 foot cages. I will be moving my cages to a room that will be very difficult to heat, so I figured that the RHP's would make up for the low ambient temp.

[2kdime]

I used the 80w ones from RBI and quickly ditched those.

I then went with the 80w(i believe) ones from Pro Products, that in turn wasn't enough to heat the cage so I added another 40w one to the cage nd like I said, it worked OK, I say OK because it "worked"

The temperatures swung too much for my liking, and if the room temp dropped, the hot spot either got hotter to maintain the cool end temps, or the cool end got even colder and the warm end stayed the same.

I just didn't like them, the girl that bought them is using them on Chondro's.

I think if you were to maintain an exact room temperature and used a RHP, it could work out great.

But for using them to maintain a whole environment in a colder room, well, I sold em all.

What size RHP's were you using. I was planning on installing 80 watt RHP in my 4 foot cages and 40 watt in my 3 foot cages. I will be moving my cages to a room that will be very difficult to heat, so I figured that the RHP's would make up for the low ambient temp.