No hot spot, ambient temps only

[spitzu]

I'm constantly worrying about the flexwatt/thermostats in my snake room. A couple of weeks ago I ordered more tstats so I could begin outfitting my racks with backup thermostats that will turn the heat tape off in the event of primary thermostat failure. Due to recent events I'm about a million times less comfortable with all of this rigged up flexwatt in my house.

I've seen a few people comment about "some big breeders" who use ambient temperatures only with no hot spots. Are there any of you who are doing this with success, or can perhaps point me in the right direction?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I do

Here is what I posted on the subject a few days ago

During the winter they are provided with 78 degrees on the cool side (this is achieve with a oil filled heater) and 88 on the warm side (The warm side is 88 during the day and 80 at night since I cool down my breeders)

During the warmer months (I live in the South) April to September they are kept at 85 with no hot spot, breeders and hatchlings, and yes females have lay their eggs with no hot spot also.

Because the snake room is a bonus room over the garage it gets hotter than in any other parts of the house. To make it efficient energy wise I chose to work with it rather than fighting it having to run the AC to cool it down to 78 and than having to provide a hot spot.

Works great that our second year in this house and the snake have adjusted to this without any issue.

Now would I recommend that to a beginner barely starting out? No I always recommend optimal setting that I know will help a new owner with their animal limiting feeding issues and behavioral problems, once they understand their animal however they should experiment if they feel comfortable enough to do so and find what works for them.

They can be kept various way what necessary is to find what works for your animals and for yourself.

[snakesRkewl]

Excellent post Deborah

[spitzu]

Good news for the summer months, but I was hoping to be able eliminate the use of flexwatt entirely. I suppose I can see how that would be problematic for my girls' follicular development.

[Salodin]

What's with your phobia of using UTH? Sure something bad happened with a breeder recently, but how many more hundreds of thousands of tubs are using uth right now with no problem?

Not saying you must use uth, just saying it's by far the most ideal setup to use for a bp; and you shouldn't let recent events be your considering factor in deciding to not use it.

[spitzu]

What's with your phobia of using UTH? Sure something bad happened with a breeder recently, but how many more hundreds of thousands of tubs are using uth right now with no problem?

Not saying you must use uth, just saying it's by far the most ideal setup to use for a bp; and you shouldn't let recent events be your considering factor in deciding to not use it.

My phobia stems from the fact that running flexwatt is a huge fire hazard several times over and I'm constantly worrying about it.

• thermostat probe gets knocked loose
• thermostat fails in the open position
• tub digs grooves into the tape and exposes metal strips
• improper connections
• connections getting wet

Yes, these are all things that can be mitigated by being careful, but the hazards still exist.

And it isn't just one breeder... I've seen a couple of these cases. This just happens to be the most recent and the worst.

how many more hundreds of thousands of tubs are using uth right now with no problem?

That's all well and good to say until it happens to you. My garage caught fire last August supposedly due to a faulty Dewalt battery or its charger that I always left plugged in. These things causing fires are pretty damned rare, but do you think I leave in 24/7 anymore?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Good news for the summer months, but I was hoping to be able eliminate the use of flexwatt entirely. I suppose I can see how that would be problematic for my girls' follicular development.

It can be done year round you just need to keep your ambient temp higher during the winter as well.

Depending on the size of your room it may slightly or greatly increase your power bill.

You need to compare risk, cost and how it would affect your collection but it is doable.

Once my room is to full capacity rack wise it will likely be the way I will go about it year round.

[spitzu]

Good input, thanks.

My power bill has already doubled in the winter due to space heaters in the garage (rats), QT room, and snake room. I just added up all of the flexwatt and it's close to 1500 watts. The snake room is pretty small, so I'm betting that the trade off on my bill will be minimal.

edit: I just dropped all of the tstats 1 degree and bumped the space heater up to 84. I'll drop the tstat temps 1 degree a week until the hotspots match the ambient temp and then I'm unplugging them.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

flexwatt is very low wattage... how did you figure that you have 1500 watts of flexwatt?!

[spitzu]

flexwatt is very low wattage... how did you figure that you have 1500 watts of flexwatt?!

10 watts per foot of 3", 20 watts per foot of 11".

100 ft 3" x 10 =1000 watts. 28 ft 11" x 20 = 560 watts.

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