New Member, Need Some Advice

[danimal]

Hi everyone, I'm new here, been browsing around, and I'm looking for some advice about our BP. We have a 4 year old female who has been in a 20 long fish tank. Basically the worst possible setup, no insulation, screen lid. Add in that I don't keep the heat too high in the house, you get the picture. She eats well and seems to be in good health though.

I just built a new enclosure (hence my joining here, as I was looking for info and wanted to browse posts) The enclosure is made of 3/4" cabinet grade plywood, as we wanted something that would look like furniture, but also be easy to clean and maintain. After reading here I now know it's going to be too big, as it's about 4' long, a little less than 2' deep, and about 2' tall. On top is a light box that is 6" tall so the overall inside height is about 30". The front is 1/4" acrylic, on a wood frame that is hinged at the bottom to allow access for cleaning. The light box on top is also hinged at the rear so the top opens up. I put a vent you'd use for a floor heat duct on top to help regulate heat. We have indoor outdoor carpet for the bottom, and the entire thing is painted inside with water based outdoor enamel to help with cleanup.

I'm still experimenting with the heating. I have a 2 socket spotlight type set mounted to the lid, and have a 250w red heat lamp in there. So far it gets very hot directly under the bulb, but almost nothing outside of that area. I'm trying to use the dimmer to regulate the temp and find where it should be set. In the 2nd socket I have a regular light bulb to use for viewing, which is also on a dimmer.

We're going to make a humidity hide with spaghnum moss on the cool side, and use the hollow rock hide we use now on the warm side. Since the cage is so big I'll probably do another hide in the middle. We have a small cat pan for water, it's about 9x12 and a couple inches deep. Indoor outdoor carpeting on the bottom of the cage as we've found this easy to clean. We have a fake little tree in the current tank that we'll move over too.

With my lights mounted inside the box, I'm in need of some advice on how to keep the snake from getting up there and burning herself. I was thinking about chicken wire but it looks like crap. I was also thinking of some kind of rack or screen system.

In a larger enclosure, how do you keep the cool side at the right temp? Is the ambient heat from the hot side supposed to do that?

It seems like this 250w bulb is overkill, as I have the dimmer down pretty far now in my testing. I have a regular 75w heat bulb like we use in the old setup, but I'm thinking the light is too far away from where her basking spot will be to be effective.

We have an undertank heater. Obviously that won't work on a wood enclosure. Can I put it inside the tank, under a flat rock and have it heat the rock up?

Thanks for any suggestions.

[starmom]

Have you looked into RHP's? A large wattage one would help the temps and they don't zap humidity. You do need to control it with a thermostat however.

Here's a link for the RHP's I use and can vouch for: http://www.reptilebasics.com/RBI-Rad...p-1-c-283.html.

[danimal]

Those look great. Based on their FAQ an 80 watter would be good for our cage. I'm thinking I could mount it to the side or back wall on the hot side.

[starmom]

Wattage depends not only on the cage size, but also on the external environment.

As an example, I live in the high desert of central Oregon and it is cold here; we even have cold nights in the summer time. I have 80watts in my 3x2x1 cages since they not only heat but also bump up my ambient temps. When I get the AP A35 cages for my boas, I'll have two 80watt panels in each cage (one at the top and one under a lower shelf)~ again, I live in a cold place and there is a lot of air to heat.

I suggest that you email Rich and describe your cage and your external environmental temps (room temps, etc.) and let him guide you tot he correct wattage. He knows his stuff and is great to work with

[SvicksTC]

Ya i emaild him the other day and he got right back to me....

[danimal]

I sent an email. I also did some googling on RHP's. There are a lot of them out there- what about the kind you put under a desk to keep your feet and legs warm. They are only about 40 bucks and are the same principle.

[Spaniard]

I sent an email. I also did some googling on RHP's. There are a lot of them out there- what about the kind you put under a desk to keep your feet and legs warm. They are only about 40 bucks and are the same principle.

No one is warming their feet for 24 hours 7 days a week. You want something thats not only the same principle but designed for your application. You don't want to have a unit fail and cook your snake.

[danimal]

Thats true, one of those foot warmers might not be a good idea. But, there are panels made for home use that would potentially be used for long periods of time that are not as expensive as the reptile-centric ones. Just like you can pay 12 bucks for a red bulb that is supposed to be for reptiles, or pay 3 bucks for the same type bulb at the hardware store.

I had some good email exchanges with a couple of the providers of the panels, and they both said my cage is too tall. Lack of planning on my part, I know, but at this point, I really can't change that. Based on the poor conditions we've kept the snake in for the last 4 years, this cage will be a huge improvement for her. Just from the temperature perspective it will be a huge improvement. Her tank now is warm enough under the one heat lamp, but the rest is in the 70's. There is only 1 hide. Lots of things wrong. I have never really done a lot of reading about BP's. This was originally my son and wife's project, back when he was in high school and still lived at home. They went on what the pet store told them, and now we know that the screen lid glass tank is not giving very good living conditions for her. My wife didn't even know it was a BP, she kept saying it was a Burmese, until I did some reading and found out there is no way a 4 year old Burmese would be less than 4' long! I actually built this cage based on the premise that it was a Burmese, which is why it's so big. Then I decided I better do some reading to learn about things like interior paint, substrate, lighting, etc., and learned she is a BP. Then we dug out the paperwork from when they bought her, and sure enough, BP!

I've really been playing with the heat lamp setup since yesterday. I realize my cage is much too tall, but there isn't much I can do about it now except to completely rebuild it, and I dont' want to do that. It's been pretty easy for me to set the dimmers to get a hot side temp of 90-93 and a cool side around 80. With the 250 watt bulb I don't even have to turn it up halfway to maintain the temp on the hot side. Today I put a 75w heat bulb in the side where I had a white bulb. I'm going to let it run and see how it maintains the cool side temp. This way I can leave it on and not worry about stressing the snake out with a white light on all the time. If that doesn't work I'll get another 250w red bulb. It was very inexpensive at Lowes, and with the dimmer I can turn it on barely enough to keep the cool side at the right temp. I can put another white light in on a timer to do a daylight simulation, if that's even necessary. The room she's in gets a fair amount of sunlight, though not direct.

Anyway- I know there are things wrong with this setup, but I'm going to give it a try and see how she does. It's gotta be better than what she's in now. Hopefully she'll adapt to it.

[danimal]

Oh- one more thing- since my cage is so big and has so much air space, what about something like this to help warm the air- it's actually for a dog house, mounts on the wall, and has a built in thermostat:
http://cozywinters.com/shop/hound-heater.html