Ambient temperatures?

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Originally Posted by Prognathodon

A lock keeps a snake from working a sliding door open as they explore, squishing themselves between the door and frame. Consider it a door latch, aka inexpensive peace of mind, and keep the key on top of the cage. If you have kids (or childish adults) in the house or visiting, a lock can also help keep unauthorized hands off.

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For this reason exactly. Nobody in my family really even goes close to my snake enclosure. My snake is small, and isn't able to move the glass doors on her own. BUT.... what if my son has friends over when I'm not there, and they get curious. What if while cleaning or moving stuff around, I bump it and slide the glass open a little? In my house, there really is no chance of that cage being opened by anyone other than me, but for $20, I have the peace of mind knowing that nobody can get into that cage and no snake can get out without my knowledge.

Just cheap piece of mind.

I was worried about ambient temps too. I am waiting on the shipment of my T8 cage. I have ordered an 80Watt RHP for heat. My ambient temps never fall below 70 degrees in the winter. Do you all think I will be fine for ambient temps inside the cage with an 80W RHP heating it??

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Originally Posted by chrid16371

You don't need heat tape with rhp. You just use the rhp as your only heat device. You mount the rhp on the hot side and put your herpstat probe on the cool side and set it to 80 and you will have your temp gradient.

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will that make an effective heat gradient? why do I set it to 80?

Also, my room can drop below 60 😬. Will one 80w rhp be enough to heat it?

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Originally Posted by Mizaniverse

will that make an effective heat gradient? why do I set it to 80?

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Your putting the probe on the cool side so the probe won't be under the rhp so the rhp will heat up hotter to get the cool side to 80 and the hot spot right under the rhp will be around 90. Your other option is to mount the thermostat probe under the rhp around ground level and set it to 90 so that way you know your hot spot will be right and the heat from the rhp will radiat toward the cool side making it around 80. You want to mount the rhp a few inches from the right or left wall whichever side you want to be your hot spot also since there 12.5 inches wide you should mount it so its not all the way to the back of the cage and not all the way to the glass door but an equal distance between. The 80w should be enough, radiant heat panels are really good at heating and at 22.5 inches that's half the cage and a t8 is not very tall so you should be fine. Objects absorb the heat from the rhp. I would say you could upgrade to the 120 but its a little to long for the t8 IMO. You wouldn't be left with much of a cool side with the 120. Also about the lock. You don't have to buy the $20, Lowes sells what's called a showcase lock for $6. I use them on my vision cages. You should be able to use them with t8 with sliding door. You could ask someone on here or call and ask animal plastics.

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Originally Posted by chrid16371

Your putting the probe on the cool side so the probe won't be under the rhp so the rhp will heat up hotter to get the cool side to 80 and the hot spot right under the rhp will be around 90. Your other option is to mount the thermostat probe under the rhp around ground level and set it to 90 so that way you know your hot spot will be right and the heat from the rhp will radiat toward the cool side making it around 80. You want to mount the rhp a few inches from the right or left wall whichever side you want to be your hot spot also since there 12.5 inches wide you should mount it so its not all the way to the back of the cage and not all the way to the glass door but an equal distance between. The 80w should be enough, radiant heat panels are really good at heating and at 22.5 inches that's half the cage and a t8 is not very tall so you should be fine. Objects absorb the heat from the rhp. I would say you could upgrade to the 120 but its a little to long for the t8 IMO. You wouldn't be left with much of a cool side with the 120. Also about the lock. You don't have to buy the $20, Lowes sells what's called a showcase lock for $6. I use them on my vision cages. You should be able to use them with t8 with sliding door. You could ask someone on here or call and ask animal plastics.

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Thats great. thanks for the information :D

It has been my experience that heat lamps are not the culprit for killing humidity. Too much ventilation is. Mind you we keep our snakes in Arizona where ambient humidity is in the 30'same. We use glass tanks with screen lids (covered with plexi).
Manage your ventilation and keep the water bowl (a big one) under the heat lamps and use it to your advantage and you should be fine. Doing this our tanks stay about 60 %.