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Thank you for your response! That helps a lot in planning this out. What if I were to try and have the RHP create the hotspot instead of using both? Because the RHP needs a separate thermostat, I would need to buy more thermostats AND the RHPs...that's a whole lot of money at once, I really can't spend too much. In that case, would the 80 watt be better as to not be one massive hot spot or are RHPs like heat tape and some spots are warmer than others (namely the center)? Or would the 120 provide the hot spot but not be overwhelming by heating most the cage too much? Thank you again for your help, as you can see I'm totally new to RHPs and I want to make sure I don't overheat my snake or take away her gradient (even if she usually lazes in the cool side anyway). ;o;
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You can always install it temporarily and try it in various places to see what will work. I suspect you'll find that with only a single heat source, you can figure out a setup that will work when the house is at one temperature, but not when the house temperature changes. So you might have to revisit things when spring comes, depending on what your room and your cage are like. Any setup you come up with will be more likely to work for a wider range of room temperatures if the cage is well insulated.
Think of it this way: a styrofoam box with walls 3" thick would take very little energy to heat, and it wouldn't make that much diffference whether it was in a 50 degree room or a 75 degree room. A small heat source on one side would heat the whole thing very nicely with probably a pretty small temperature difference from one side to the other. Now picture a rabbit cage made of chicken wire. In a 75 degree room, you might get the far side up to 80 degrees by heating the near side to 95 degrees or whatever; but in a 50 degree room, you would have to heat the near side to way more than 95 degrees in order to get the far side to 80.
So experiment and see what you get; but you'll have an easier time of it if you insulate the bejeezus out of your cage. Lots of things work as insulation. Blankets, for example, make great insulation. That's why we cover ourselves with them at night. ;)
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Re: RHP questions for cold room and T8
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coluber42
If you're using a RHP plus a UTH or heat tape, you could theoretically arrange things any of the following ways:
1. RHP on cool side for overall ambient temperature, UTH makes hot spot on the side that doesn't have the RHP. This is probably the best route if the RHP is larger compared to the size of the cage, because it lets the RHP run at a lower temperature/power to just maintain even overall temps; the UTH makes the hot spot and in doing so ensures that the corners farthest from the RHP don't get too cold, which could otherwise result in condensation.
2. RHP on the warm side, UTH just supplements the temperature on the cool side. This one is probably the hardest to get right because the cool side would have a warmer surface temperature than its air temperature (and would probably be warmer inside hides than outside, too). But it could help if whatever the cage is sitting on is a major heat sink. Although if that's the case, you should insulate the bottom instead. This way is probably better for a large UTH and a smaller RHP.
3. Both RHP and UTH on the warm side, cool side ambient just comes from spill-over heat. This one will probably give you a way bigger differential between the warm side and the cool side than you want, unless the room temperature is relatively high - in which case, you probably don't need both heat sources.
4. Large RHP dead center, UTH makes hot spot somewhere. This is basically a lot like case number 1. Keeping the RHP centered is probably the most efficient with regard to losing as little heat as possible to the room outside the cage.
If you're only expecting the RHP to give you the ambient temperature you want, not the gradient, you can't "overwhelm" the cage with a large one, assuming it's on a thermostat. If it's bigger, that just means it will run at a lower temperature but spread out over a larger area for the same total heat output. That sounds like a win-win to me, especially if the snake has branches/perches that it uses.
I can think of several reasons not to use an RHP under the whole setup. One: it's not as flat/ thin as a UTH, so you'd have to set it up on something. Two: You'd lose more heat to the room with it on the outside of the cage than on the inside. Three: It can run safely at higher temperatures on the ceiling than on the floor because snakes can't sit on the ceiling. You couldn't run a RHP under the tank at any higher power than a UTH of the same size, for the same reason you have to limit UTH's with thermostats/rheostats: floor can get too hot otherwise and snake gets burned. So it would basically be a really big bulky expensive UTH.
For what it's worth, I built my cage so that the RHP sits under a shelf/platform inside the cage instead of on the actual ceiling. This setup loses less heat through the top than just sitting it on the ceiling, and it makes an additional hot spot/warm zone on the shelf above the RHP. BUT: there is also a fair amount of insulation between the RHP and the surface of that shelf. At the power level required to heat the cage in the winter, the surface of that shelf would get way too hot without it. With the insulation though, the shelf is generally in the mid-80's. There is a plant and a couple of hides up there, and my snake actually spends more time up there than he does on his slightly warmer floor-level hot spot.
Thats a great reply. Thank you for taking the time to write that all up 👍🏼.
Im going to see if you have any pics in a profile album because your set up sounds awesome.
I ordered a Herpstat 2 today, I already use the Accurite thermometer, I also ordered the P12 Pro Panel and Im on a 4-6 week wait for Animal Plastics T8 or T10 (I have a few weeks to decide before they can even get to my order.
With all thats said once I change to the AP enclosure I'll mount the RHP on the cool side, keep my UTH on the Basking side with both ends providing a Cave and the Water in the middle.
The thing that concerns me is the time they spend climbing at the top of the branches. They climb all night from 7:45pm till about 5am. With that said maybe the T10 would allow me to have the Panel a couple inches higher so they arent right up at it? I worry about them getting burned as my Burmese would knock the house lamp over and lay on it without a second thought!
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Thank you! I'll toy with it in the empty cage and see how it goes, and I can try some cardboard (cutting out around the vents, that's why only the top has blankets on it right now) along the sides and such to see if that might help. I'll put some on the bottom, too, since I won't have to worry about the UTH. Switching between RHP for winter and UTH for spring wouldn't bother me, it was heating a whole room that was starting to get pretty costly. ;o; As long as a 120 watt won't mess up the gradient by making it produce the hotspot, I'll go with that to ensure Cinnamon Roll's cage is nice and warm.
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Re: RHP questions for cold room and T8
I talked with Bob at Pro Heat and I understood what his logic was with the probe being on the cool side. The snake will regulate itself from the hot side to the cool side as needed. But what shocked me more was when he asked what thermostat I was using, told him a Herpstat 2. He said that he does not recommend those because they are not UL listed, and that the best on market is the Hydrofarm thermostat. Seems strange.......
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Re: RHP questions for cold room and T8
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stearns84
I talked with Bob at Pro Heat and I understood what his logic was with the probe being on the cool side. The snake will regulate itself from the hot side to the cool side as needed. But what shocked me more was when he asked what thermostat I was using, told him a Herpstat 2. He said that he does not recommend those because they are not UL listed, and that the best on market is the Hydrofarm thermostat. Seems strange.......
Yeah - he said something similar to me about not spending a lot of money on Herpstat and just go with the $35 stats on Amazon. I still ordered the Herpstat after reading about them and members input here.
I've found Bob is BIG on UL, ULC, & CE listed products. He has a valid point in that every electric appliance, tool, etc. in your house should have that listing but the idea of a $35 stat without the safeguards that defaults to full on vs the Herpstat that shuts down just doesn't make sense to me.
But to each his own.
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Re: RHP questions for cold room and T8
Quote:
Originally Posted by AlbinoBull
Thank you! I'll toy with it in the empty cage and see how it goes, and I can try some cardboard (cutting out around the vents, that's why only the top has blankets on it right now) along the sides and such to see if that might help. I'll put some on the bottom, too, since I won't have to worry about the UTH. Switching between RHP for winter and UTH for spring wouldn't bother me, it was heating a whole room that was starting to get pretty costly. ;o; As long as a 120 watt won't mess up the gradient by making it produce the hotspot, I'll go with that to ensure Cinnamon Roll's cage is nice and warm.
Got my Pro Panel 88 watt P-12 on friday. It Raised my 48" long Aquirum (we all know how hard they are to keep warm) to 92 after 2 hours... I was seeing what it was good for so then raises it to 100 and it kept climbing more every few min. I have Plexy over 1/2 the screen. I decided the Test went on for long enough and IM ecstatic waiting for my T8 to come now. Make a long story short, you cant go wrong with these Pro Panels. Im also running the Herstat 2 and a Acurite... Its the bomb. I love the Alarms I can set for H/L Alerts.
If your debating and you go for the Gold you'll be like a kid in the candy store when you set it up!!!
Hope to hear back and see everything when you got things set up.
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I have T8s with RHPs from Reptile Basics. Animal Plastics and Reptile Basics are both awesome companies to do business with, as an aside :)
My house sits about 67 degrees year round and the setup does a fantastic job at keeping enclosures with proper temps. I have them on Herpstats. Very happy with all.
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My room is 60-65, divided T8 with rhp each side in the middle for hot spot, probe on cool side set to 80 and temps are perfect
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