I've got a problem...heating

We built an enclosure for our common boa (5' long 2' deep 30" high). We built it this high to give him a little climbing room but the heat panel I purchased is not pushing heat to the bottom of the cage. We purchased a pro heat 125 (125 watt). If I run it nonstop (never shutting off) I might be able to get the top of a black hide to around 88/89° but the inside of the hide which is where he likes to go after he's eaten a meal is not getting up past 80/82. The upper part of the cage is plenty warm…
I need a solution!!!

I thought about building a shelf about half way down so that I can put the heat panel under the shelf and make it lower to the bottom. Does anyone have insight as to whether or not this would be a good idea or any other solutions??!?

Thanks in advance

A UTH perhaps? I've got both, and have no problem with maintaining temps, although admittedly my setup isn't as large as yours.

The enclosure is made out of birchwood. I've only used uth on my glass enclosures... not sure if it would be safe and/or if the heat could penetrate through the wood enough...

That's a big enclosure. Did Bob recommend that heat panel? He is usually spot on with his suggestions.

I'd exchange it for one with more power.

Yes, that's the one he recommended. He did say if I need to go up in size to let him know.

No, you sure don't want a UTH under a wood enclosure...wood insulates, & by the time you got the UTH hot enough to warm inside the cage, you'd be drying out the
wood dangerously. But you need more warmth on the floor of this enclosure, right? How about using a heat cable inside the enclosure- the kind sold to keep pipes from
freezing outside, so they're grounded...you just hook it to a thermostat, & you could probably also hide it pretty well if you want.

I've done this exact thing (years ago) to heat a tall cabinet converted for a rat snake home. I ran the cable horizontally around the back & sides, about 10" from the
actual floor. That was to leave the very bottom of the cabinet cooler, since heat rises, and that 3' cable did the job beautifully; the cabinet opened with front doors
that had glass windows. Anyway, there's many ways you can install such a cable to suit your purpose. The main thing is to have the warmth where it's needed.

A UTH is fine under a wood-floor enclosure, no different than under a melamine enclosure. It will just take a while for the wood to come up to temperature but once it does it will be very stable.

Another alternative is to put some sort of shelf or feature under the hide to raise it up inside the enclosure so it's closer to the RHP.

Thanks for the suggestions. I came across a similar situation where they added a shelf midway in the cage and put the RHP under that shelf so essentially bringing the RHP lower in the cage. Has anyone had experience with this type of set up?

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Originally Posted by Saml8

Thanks for the suggestions. I came across a similar situation where they added a shelf midway in the cage and put the RHP under that shelf so essentially bringing the RHP lower in the cage. Has anyone had experience with this type of set up?

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I would not. The top of the RHP can get quite hot and I would be worried that the shelf above it could get hot enough to burn your snake if it decided to lay up there.

From my perspective it looks like your problem in not inadequate heating, it's excessive heat loss. If there is any way to increase the insulation around your enclosure, I would give that a try.