Still having problems with RHPS

SO I have two AP T10's with 80 watt RHPS and cant seem to get the hot spot up past 85 without overheating the cage and having both boas plastered to the cool side. Anything over 85-87 and it starts getting up to 83 on the cool side.
Although on the same note both boas Never use a basking spot..My female wont use the warm side even after a big meal.She sits in the 80-81 degree side but has never had a problem.I just moved the little male into his new cage, he is very active and is all over the cage right now, but rarely used the UTH when in the small cage.
So should I even worry about it and just leave it at 85 degrees on the hot side?

I also have one AP T8 with a 40w RHP and its also has the same problem. I did put in a kitty litter pan hide on that side and its up to 89 on top the hide and 81 on the cool side.So at least this cage is stable..

Thats why i quit using RHPs. I had the same problems. In winter, it works better but in summer, not so much.

I switched to flexwatt and havent looked back. Sure in the winter if it's really cold, i run an oil filled radiator for the room to keep it around 78F.

I was talking to Skip Frye and we both pretty much run the same set up. Only difference is he uses Corrugated wrap for substrate where as i use aspen or ReptiChips.

My boas also dont sit on heat much. I kept a 90F hot spot. Maybe try 86F hot spot. Skip was telling me he keeps his Surinames all at 86F on the belly heat and they use it. And i too kept 90F hot spots and my boas never used it either. I have dropped it to 86F now.

Seems AP cages hold heat so well that the RHP just warms to cool side too while trying to maintain that hot side lol. And i definitely would make sure they have a cooler side to go to. Overheating will do much more damage to them than being a little cold.

I personally don't keep any of my hotspots over 85. Even with lower hotspots my snakes rarely use them.

I have six rhp but only two I use year round. Those are for my arboreal ones which is where rhp shine. In my other cages I only turn the rhp on for cold nights for a bit of added heat. Other than that I stick to uth.

OMG, I just cant win. I do all the research and everyone and I mean EVERYONE says RHP are the ticket..So I put away all the flexwatt and shell out the hard won cash and now Im hearing they are crap...:( I do know this winter I will be loving them though,the temps here will drop like a rock and I will have the opposite problem..Thanks for the replies I will stop trying to get a 90 degree hot spot and not worry about 86 which is what Im getting right now anyway.
It is 103 here today and I had to turn the heat off completely to my colubrids downstairs but they are setup differently.

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Originally Posted by Miranda2

OMG, I just cant win. I do all the research and everyone and I mean EVERYONE says RHP are the ticket..So I put away all the flexwatt and shell out the hard won cash and now Im hearing they are crap...:( I do know this winter I will be loving them though,the temps here will drop like a rock and I will have the opposite problem..Thanks for the replies I will stop trying to get a 90 degree hot spot and not worry about 86 which is what Im getting right now anyway.
It is 103 here today and I had to turn the heat off completely to my colubrids downstairs but they are setup differently.

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They are great.....in some situations. It sounds like you'll end up using them like I do. In the winter you'll be glad you have them.

They work great it's about your room and how you set up.

I put the probe on the opposite side of the panel. I set the temp to have a cool side of 80-82. The warm side runs 8-10 degrees warmer.

There are plenty of keepers using panels exclusively.
This guy does it with big cages and big retics.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zPMlSFjQYZ0


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-FjH931SD4k

They are not crap whatsoever.

There are many factors involved.

Like mentioned, it depends on your set up and ambient temps in the house. If your house is kept fairly warm, then a RHP isnt going to work great for you. If your house gets cold, you will love them. For me, like i said, I keep my house around 77-79F in the winter and the basement stays a bit warmer as it is partially underground. Both methods will work. I mean Gio, JMCrook and i believe Stern uses RHPs with no flexwatt where as I use only flexwatt. The same goes for a guy named Skip Frye who breeds a lot of Surinames. We were talking and we both use pretty much the exact same set up. He has a t-stat to run his oil filled room radiator which i dont have yet but will be picking up a Herpstat HP this fall to run my oil filled raidator too. If your hosue is 102F, dont forget to turn down your flexwatt and other heat as snakes can be kind of dumb and not realize they are sitting on the heat overheating lol.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

If your house gets cold, you will love them. For me, like i said, I keep my house around 77-79F in the winter and the basement stays a bit warmer as it is partially underground.

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:O Oh no!!!!

During the cold months my house is in the low to mid sixties. Summer I'll let it get up to 75 when I'm not there but if I am it doesn't get above 72. I also prefer a night drop (lol!) to 66.

You'd be happy living in my snake room. It stays between 77-82.

Our basement stays pretty stable 75 in summer, 60 in winter but I hibernate the colubrids down there so I keep the boas and pythons in our bedroom upstairs. It doesnt help that our weather is so unstable here. I have the herpstat 2 to control the RHPS.
The bedroom is hot in summer even with the AC, its the room that gets direct sunlight. But its cold in winter because of the giant window.
We currently rent because we moved for my son to go to school but will be moving back in 4 years and will have our own place again. So I have to work with what we have for now.

Currently the probes are pushed in the middle vent in the back of the cage and hang down about halfway. I have the Herpstat set to 85 but have been moving the temps around trying to get things dialed in..I even put in a shelf under the RHP to see if I could get a hot spot and it didnt seem to work.