working on rhp temps

[chrid16371]

So I'm trying to work out my rhp temps. I bought one that runs the whole length of my enclosure. I still have a hot side heat mat but I'm hoping that the rhp will work with the heat mat so I can have a lower under substrate temp. Also what I would like outside hide for cool side to be around 85 which will hopefully make inside the cool hide around 80-83. Does this sound good? Will the heat penetrate the reptile basics hide enough?

[Sauzo]

You want to set the T-stat probe for your RHP on the cool side of the cage and set it there. For example I set my RHP on the cool side to 80F. That gives me about an 86F hot spot which for my boa is perfect as she hates anything over 86F. Also, your RHP is not supposed to run the whole length of the cage. You are providing no thermal gradient. A RHP should only cover 1/4 to 1/3 of the cage. If you are using a RHP, there is no need for heat tape unless you really want it. I don't run any heat tapes with my RHPs.

As for penetrating the RBI hides, that's not the point to a RHP. An RHP is supposed to heat anything under it which in turn heats the air. So a hide directly under an RHP will heat up plenty. I personally would temp gun the hide and probably move it so its only half under the RHP, not 100% under it.

Also 85F for a cool side for a BP seems a bit high for me. For Dottie, I keep her cool side around 78-79F and her hot side 88F and she thermal regulates normally. Remember BPs don't come from super hot areas. People make the same mistake with boas, thinking they need a 90s hot spot. Neither of my boas will go near a 90F hot spot and they very rarely even use the warm side of the cage. They spend like 85% of the time on the 80F cool side. Same with Dottie, she only really uses the hot side about 1/3 as much as she uses the cool side and like I said, I got her set at 88F hot side and 78-79F cool side.

[chrid16371]

Its actually giving me a gradient with my heat mat. 90 in hot side hide, 88 outside then after 3rd of the cage it drops to 84 and inside cool hide its 81. My main reason for getting one the whole length is my winters are bad here. Before I had to run heat mats on both hot and cold side and there was times during the night that I would check temps and there were cold spots off the mat at 70 degrees with an ambient temp of 76. This is actually cheaper then running an old filled heater 24/7 in winter. Also I was worried that if I bought an rhp that covered 1/3 of the cage and woke up on a -20 degree day and checked my temps that my cold side would be out of safe range. I'm just preparing for the worse. Yes I may be the only one that uses it this way but its working.