Let me hear you ideas to heat my 46" x 3' x 2' vivarium iyo

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Originally Posted by VEXER19

Cody, I was thinking the same thing about RHP. But was thinking since it kinda acts like a sun, if I got a big enough one it may heat the air but would definately need alot of UTH. And I know we talked about CHE but I just think to cover that size CHE to make it safe for Kira my be difficult or just ruin the look of the viv. I mean I could hide it if worst comes to worst but I just want as little hazards in the viv as possible. Keep the ideas coming though. I appreciate all your input. Maybe I should make a poll outta this once I get a few more opinons.

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IMO you should contact Pro Products or Reptile Basics and tell them your size and dimensions of your vivarium. They will usually know best on what size RHP to recommend. Another great feature of the RHP is it cant actually burn your snake at all, since the snake cannot rest on top of it. It does take around one or two hours to heat up, but it definitely gets hot enough. Very reliable product imo.

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Originally Posted by mattchibi

IMO you should contact Pro Products or Reptile Basics and tell them your size and dimensions of your vivarium. They will usually know best on what size RHP to recommend. Another great feature of the RHP is it cant actually burn your snake at all, since the snake cannot rest on top of it. It does take around one or two hours to heat up, but it definitely gets hot enough. Very reliable product imo.

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Yeah thats why I have been leaning towards RHP. I care to much about my snake to put anything in there that can potentially hurt her. Ive been through and injury with her before and I am going to make sure that this is a safe enviroment for her. Especially cause I already have $600 invested in this viv and I didnt spend all that money just to hurt my baby. If I need to buy a pricey RHP then that is what I will do. She is my first and forever my favorite. So saftey first is important to me. Thanks for the info. I really do appreciate it.

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Originally Posted by VEXER19

Yeah thats why I have been leaning towards RHP. I care to much about my snake to put anything in there that can potentially hurt her. Ive been through and injury with her before and I am going to make sure that this is a safe enviroment for her. Especially cause I already have $600 invested in this viv and I didnt spend all that money just to hurt my baby. If I need to buy a pricey RHP then that is what I will do. She is my first and forever my favorite. So saftey first is important to me. Thanks for the info. I really do appreciate it.

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I have a spare ginormous 120W RBI RHP. I'm in Norcal too. PM me if you like to try it and see how it works.

whatever you do, either rhp or che, i would just worry about it not heating in the proper range, lets say you put it over the hot end, get that temp right, but your cool is too low, i wouldnt want to have to raise the hot temp too high just to get the cool end warm enough, or have t buy a second heat source. if your stuck on the rhp, i would get a uth for the hot side, and move the rhp more towards the cool side maybe? no matter what though, your gonna have to experiment with settings, and where to place it anyway, but im sure youd be able get either one to work with enough tweaking

I just question if a RHP will heat the floor to 80 from three feet away without being super hot to touch. I have helped set up a aboreal enclosure with one but it didn't seem like it would do such a distance. The foot print is large but the height I think will make everything very difficult for little gain.

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

I just question if a RHP will heat the floor to 80 from three feet away without being super hot to touch. I have helped set up a aboreal enclosure with one but it didn't seem like it would do such a distance. The foot print is large but the height I think will make everything very difficult for little gain.

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That why I was thinking of combining RHP with UTH.

I am certain you will need dual sources. RHP and a UTH plus dual t-stats. I'd make the suggestion that you should only look at proportional units as the heat sources will me inside the enclosure. Personally I'd also suggest a failsafe too.

If you're considering doing 2 heat elements and 2 t-stats anyway, you could always just do 2 UTH, one set to give 91 or so on the hot side, the other to give 83 on the cool side. Chances are your viv will be well enough insulated to get appropriate ambient temps just from those.

The RHP with the UTH on dual proportional t-stats will do you fine. There are certainly other options and this route may not be the cheapest, but I like how the RHP is SAFE. It works like the sun and it will heat the floor of the cage just fine after a while. If you leave something outside in the sun too long, it'll heat up - you know how concrete gets hot on your feet in the summer time? The sun heats it. The RHP does the same thing. The correct wattage is the key to getting the full vivarium heated appropriately. Combined with the UTH, you can achieve a nice localized hotspot. I would mount the RHP in the center but slightly offset towards the hot end where the UTH would be. This should create a good temperature gradient. However, I agree that you discuss this with the guys at Reptile Basics or Pro Products - they're experts on wattage and placement.

I do not think a CHE would be in your best interests. They are not as safe and they'll suck the humidity right out of there.

As far as t-stats, there are several you can pick from. But I would suggest the Vivarium Electronics VE-300x2. It is dual-zone, proportional, and has night-time drop. You can get that at Reptile Basics too.

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Thanks a lot I think that I will call reptile bsics and do the RHP and UTH setup with dual t-stats. Thanks for all of your help.