PVC Owners - How Do You Heat?

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Originally Posted by thejennabird

Interesting, I wonder what would create such different results between KMG and AlexisFitzy. AlexisFitzy, what are your ambient room temps? I wonder if the RHP works better for you because your room is warmer. Maybe it's a brand/materials thing? Or the amount of "heatable objects" within the enclosure?

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I have ProProducts RHPs. I think it has to do with the fact that my cages are huge and I like my house cool. I like it around 68 so it was just to much for the rhp alone.

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Originally Posted by KMG

When it was high enough to warm the entire cage the hotspot was too hot.

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I wondered about that as well. Or the top of hides getting too warm compared to temps inside the "hot hide".

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Originally Posted by KMG

I have ProProducts RHPs. I think it has to do with the fact that my cages are huge and I like my house cool. I like it around 68 so it was just to much for the rhp alone.

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Out of curiosity, how tall are we talking? Wonder if the problems would be better or worse with lower (15"-ish) heights.

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Originally Posted by KMG

That is correct. I spoke to him and took his suggestion but it just didn't warm the entire cage like I wanted. When it was high enough to warm the entire cage the hotspot was too hot. He does know his stuff and is very helpful.

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Ah wasn't sure which RHPs you had.

Agreed they don't do the greatest job by themselves in larger cages. Mine is in a 6 x 3 x 18. I also heat the room with a radiator and use the RHP primarily for the hotspot. I don't see there being any problems in a smaller enclosure.

A lot of nice info here. I'm starting of with racks but will eventually move to larger enclosures. Good to know this ahead of time.

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Originally Posted by thejennabird

I wondered about that as well. Or the top of hides getting too warm compared to temps inside the "hot hide".

Edit:
Out of curiosity, how tall are we talking? Wonder if the problems would be better or worse with lower (15"-ish) heights.

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I just noticed the first time I said my cage sizes I said 4 x 2 x 18inchs, mine are actually 15 inches. I don't know why or how I hit 18. At 15 inches the rhp give me a great hotspot, they just don't give me the ambient temps I need on the other end of the cage.

I also have a 2ft x 2ft x 20inch cage for my GTP that has a RHP. The rhp did the same thing in this cage. It made the upper perches way to hot when you try to get the ambient temp within the ideal range.

In all of these I settled for using the oil heater for the ambient temps and just using the rhp for hotspots.

I also had another issue with them. I have three large cages stacked and when you start to raise the temp of the rhp they heat the floor of the cage above it. So this means the rhp in the cage heats the floor but the other rhp in the cage below also heats the floor. This made the temps hard to control and forced me to keep the rhp at a lower temp.

I also tried different hides and objects in the cages but when your housing a 5.5 ft and 30 pound Blood nothing stays in place and she does with her hide as she pleases.

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Originally Posted by KMG

I just noticed the first time I said my cage sizes I said 4 x 2 x 18inchs, mine are actually 15 inches.

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Duh me, just noticed you specified your cage sizes the first time! Sorry for that. Thanks for all your info! This was super-informative, and gives me a lot to think about.

Like I said before, I just use a RHP in my 48x23x14. I keep the room around 75F so it's easy keeping the cage in the 80s to low 90. Snakes don't need belly heat as long as the ambient is warm enough. My 6ft BCI has never had a UTH, just RHP and she has grown like a weed. Went from a little 18" baby to now 6ft. She is kind of chunky but that's cause I have overfed her a little. If you want belly heat, just throw a flat rock under the RHP and it will heat right on up and provide even more ambient warm air. The RHP I use is a Pro Products PH3 65 watt. When I get my AP cage, i'll do the same thing, just a RHP. I tend to like to have thick substrate to give my snakes something to "dig" into. My BCI likes to make a round divet and curl up in it and just leave her head out. Plus the deeper substrate soaks up more of the river she makes when she goes piss.

Also remember a UTH isn't going to heat the air so if you cant get the cool side high enough, you probably need a bigger RHP or you need to insulate the floor of the cage. Bob at Pro Products told me to put down about a 1/2-1" sheet of rigid insulation between the table and the cage. I did it for awhile but after doing a big cage cleaning where I tore it all down and cleaned each piece, I just put it back on the table with no insulation as it doesn't get cold enough for me since it didn't really look good.

Now don't get me wrong, I use a UTH in my glass cage for my BP but that's because we all know glass is a bad insulator but PVC cages, again I don't see the point. But hey, each to their own and if you feel better with it, go for it :)

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Originally Posted by thejennabird

Interesting, I wonder what would create such different results between KMG and AlexisFitzy. AlexisFitzy, what are your ambient room temps? I wonder if the RHP works better for you because your room is warmer. Maybe it's a brand/materials thing? Or the amount of "heatable objects" within the enclosure?

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My ambient room temps in the winter are around 68-70 so my RHP barely has to do any work to get temps in the proper range. My cage is also on the smaller side. Placing the thermostat probe in the right spot is a huge thing when it comes to your RHP being effective or not. When I first got it I put it in the wrong place and the temps would never get to right range, but with some help from the member on this site they helped me get everything worked out.

I heat my room to 80 degrees, and offer a hot spot using heat tape (UTH).