Can't get ambient temps high enough!

I've been trying for MONTHS to get my temps perfect, ever since I moved to a new neighborhood (in February) with a different climate... it's pretty cool throughout this whole area, but my new place is ridiculously mild all year. Our outside temps don't get much above 60 even/especially in the summer, and don't drop below 50 too often either. Great for me, but the snakes are probably getting a bit chilly. :(

I use racks with flexwatt, thermostats, Acu-rites, and the whole shebang - one of the racks has back heat, though, so it's hard to measure the hot spot there. It's mostly housing corn snakes, who don't like it too warm anyway, although I do have 3 BPs in there as well. But no matter what I do, the ambient temperatures won't get above 74-75 degrees in any of the racks. Hot spots are also a bit low, but much closer to ideal at 86-90 depending on the tub/rack. I tried turning up the thermostats to 97-98, and the hot sides were getting too high, with very little change to the ambient.

So when you live in such a cool climate, how do you raise the ambient temps safely? They're kept in my bedroom upstairs, which is one of the warmest spots in the house... and I can't turn up the house's heat much more, without baking the humans & paying $300/mo for utilities. Any ideas? Should I maybe add a few heat lamps? I thought about a space heater, but as I mentioned they share my bedroom - I'm not so keen on sleeping in 80 degree temps myself. :rolleyes: And since I do have a roommate, there's not really anywhere else I can put them (except the living room which is frigidly cold 24/7). They do seem fine, however, and I've never noticed any signs of RI or discomfort. In fact a few of them still hang out on the cool side, like the Mojave who'll move his hide to the cool end every few days. I am concerned though, and would like things to be perfect!

If you have air holes in the tubs you can try taping most of them up and or maybe throwing a towel over the top and sides of the rack

Thanks, I'll try those ideas! Although I'm concerned about humidity getting too high, if I were to cover some holes... it's also fairly moist here (not humid really, but lots of fog & ocean air), so humidity is over 70 without at least 2 rows of holes around.

Get a kerosene / oil heater for your room, doesn't run up the electric.
On another note, my son was just out there last week, now he says we should all move out there :)

Try to tape up half a row or so and go from there.

My opinion is you should regulate the room temp itself. Get that up to 80* and you dont have to worry about each individual tub. Same goes with humidity. If you fear its too high, then get a dehumidifier for the room.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SnakeKB

My opinion is you should regulate the room temp itself. Get that up to 80* and you dont have to worry about each individual tub. Same goes with humidity. If you fear its too high, then get a dehumidifier for the room.

---

As I stated above, one problem is that they're housed in my bedroom - and I honestly couldn't live in a room that's 80 degrees 24/7. It would also take a LOT of heat to get it that high, since the house lingers at 66-69 even with the heat on... we turned it off for about 12 hours one day, and the downstairs temps dropped to 56. :O So I imagine we'd have to run the thermostat at 85 to keep it at 80, and that would cost an arm & a leg.

Wish I could move them into a different room, but unfortunately that doesn't exist as a possibility. Do you think if I ran a space heater near the racks, it would still be comfortable in the rest of the bedroom? It's a pretty big space, about half of the upstairs square footage (maybe 250 sq ft?). I don't know what else to do! Oh, but the dehumidifier is a good idea... :gj:

Hi,

Are the racks open sided or closed sided?


dr del

They are all closed-sided, and one is a Boaphile Ballroom rack (can't remember who made the others).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lolo76

As I stated above, one problem is that they're housed in my bedroom - and I honestly couldn't live in a room that's 80 degrees 24/7. It would also take a LOT of heat to get it that high, since the house lingers at 66-69 even with the heat on... we turned it off for about 12 hours one day, and the downstairs temps dropped to 56. :O So I imagine we'd have to run the thermostat at 85 to keep it at 80, and that would cost an arm & a leg.

Wish I could move them into a different room, but unfortunately that doesn't exist as a possibility. Do you think if I ran a space heater near the racks, it would still be comfortable in the rest of the bedroom? It's a pretty big space, about half of the upstairs square footage (maybe 250 sq ft?). I don't know what else to do! Oh, but the dehumidifier is a good idea... :gj:

---

I keep my bedroom at 80*. Doesnt bother me one bit. You could try and make something to block off the racks from the room and add a space heater in there. Almost like box the racks in on the front and have a curtain to slide across to contain most of the heat from the heater. Get a little creative with it. You will find the heater will dry the air out a good bit though trying to do it that way.