Keeping BP Warm Enough In Winter?

My house tends to get cold in the winter. I'm really worried about keeping my snake warm enough. She is in a tub set up with a ZooMed UTH on the warm side. Since we got her early September, that has been the only source of heat and has been fine temp wise. The house is currently at 63* and it's only October so I'm really worried about the winter months. Right now I have a heater on right by her tub and it raised the temp to 70* (still on and raising the temp) but my mom doesn't want me keeping it on constantly due to running the electric bill. Every time I mention keeping my snake warm enough she gives me this annoyed look because money is an issue. I would think keeping my snake warm and healthy would cost less than the vet bills if she got an RI. I was thinking about getting a heat lamp (my dad already has a lamp fixture) however I don't know how I would set it up in her tub. Any affordable tips, tricks or methods to keep her warm and healthy during the winter? I'm just really worried about her well being and my mom's lack of concern worries me even more. :no: If I can't figure something out, I may see if my boyfriend can take her in for the winter. He loves her and his room with his animals is always warm enough. The only issue with that is that his mother is against him having snakes.

I use infrared heaters and they work awesome and they cost less to run

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You could also try a ceramic heat emitter, they screw in like a light bulb but don't produce light, only heat. They tend to last a little longer than the heat bulbs too.

hmm, I might try that. I don't know how I'd go about setting it up in the tub though.

I had the same problem last winter and I tried to fix it with strategically timed usage of the heater by putting it on a timer switch. It didn't work well though as it caused friction with my landlady/best friend. This year what I've done so far since the temperature has dropped (insert joke about canada and cold temperatures) is a heat lamp, only what I did is I bumped it up from a 60 watt to a 100 watt and so far, even when the external temp of my room was high 60's, the ambient temperature in Nagini's enclosure has stayed in the low 80, with a hotspot of 89.

What temp is your hotspot getting with your UTH pad? As long as there is a hot spot for the snake to warm up on, I think she'll survive the winter.

My house also gets very cold in the winter. I use an oil filled radiator heater to heat the general area of my snakes. It's cheap and doesn't use a ton of energy and comes with its own thermostat. I just set it to keep the ambient temp around 68 degrees and the UTH pad heats the tub just fine. The smaller the space you have to heat, the better. Since I have a big open room that's hard and expensive to heat, I put my snakes in my walk in closet when it's really cold and just heat the closet.

You can also insulate the general area of your tub with a blanket or styrofoam to hold heat in. Putting it on the shelf with some insulation on either side of it would help it retain heat.

You need this:
http://www.amazon.com/Lux-Heating-Co...stat+wall+plug

And one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Patton-PUH680-...eywords=heater

To keep your snake room nice and toasty and properly regulated. And you're at less than $100 shipped.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FranklinMorphs

You need this:
http://www.amazon.com/Lux-Heating-Co...stat+wall+plug

And one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Patton-PUH680-...eywords=heater

To keep your snake room nice and toasty and properly regulated. And you're at less than $100 shipped.

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Those heaters cost a ton to run constantly. Oil radiator heaters retain the heat a bit better and can save some money.

Thank you very much! My UTH is set to 92 and provides belly heat however the air temp still drops to 63-75ish depending on the weather. I'm going to try to move her into a warmer room. I'm just worried about her getting an RI.