Building an enclosure soon, heating questions...

We've decided to build our own enclosure for our RTB, the thing is from the plan we made it couldn't be heated with UTH's (since the floor would be solid wood). Any ideas for the best way to heat it? Or a way to incorporate a UTH or another form of belly heat?

This is the "blueprint" we made. (I have the heat lamp boxes in there because that's the original way we were/are going to heat it).
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...variumplan.jpg

What type of substrate do you plan on using?

I use repti-bark and in the enclosure I built I have 1.5" lip along the bottom to hold it in when opened, under that I have a sheet of glass with flexwatt foil taped to the underside with 1/2" rubber feet.

I would use a radient heat panel with a thermostat.. They can be mounted on the ceiling of your enclosure, to one side for thermo-regulating.. This will eliminate the heat lamp.

Reptile Basics has some nice ones.

www.reptilebasics.com

Maybe place the thermostat probe for the radiant heat panel about 12 inches away from the heat panel.


That's going to be a big awsome cage! I would put a big climbing branch under the heat source so your boa can hang out and warm up.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rperry03

What type of substrate do you plan on using?

I use repti-bark and in the enclosure I built I have 1.5" lip along the bottom to hold it in when opened, under that I have a sheet of glass with flexwatt foil taped to the underside with 1/2" rubber feet.

---

Probably aspen, we used Repti-bark for my BP and I didn't really like all the fine dirt it left on the bottom. I'm guessing you have to have air flow under flexwatt too, thus the rubber feet?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jason Bowden

www.reptilebasics.com

Maybe place the thermostat probe for the radiant heat panel about 12 inches away from the heat panel.


That's going to be a big awsome cage! I would put a big climbing branch under the heat source so your boa can hang out and warm up.

---

Ooh, I've never heard of those. I'll check it out.

Yeah, we wanted to make it 3ft. tall to really give her some climbing room 'cause she loves to climb all over anything she can get a grip on. :) My boyfriend came up with the plan, he really goes the whole ten yards when making our snake's enclosures. Our BP just recently got a nice waterfall, which she loves.

The flexwatt doesn't need any airflow at all just make sure it's sealed so it can't get wet. The heat panel is most definitely the way to go if you have the money they are awesome.

I always thought flexwatt needed air flow and was concerned about not having enough, but I was thinking heat panels too and might change it up.

I use ReptileBasic heat panels in my cages as well, they are quality items. Rich is a great guy to deal with, I buy stuff from him often.

He will be able to tell you what size panel you need based on your dimensions, species, and ambient temps. I use the 80w panels successfully in 48x30x22 and a 160w to heat my 96x30x22. These cages are in a room with an ambient temp of 72-74 degrees.

Height is more of a determining factor than the length of the cage however, and yours being 3 feet tall will be a bit more difficult to heat. The ground temps 3 feet below a heat panel will not be sufficient for basking. A perch or shelf that would allow your snake to get within 1-2 feet of your heat panel would let them get the proper temps I'm sure.

I agree 3' tall is gonna cause a headache or two for ya. You may need belly heat in addition to the heat panel to maintain ambient temps in that much space.

I use flexwatt taped under my wooden cages and they work fine.
2 ft of 11 in flexwatt has a total of 40 watts.
The cheapest when it comes to purchase and running cost.

I also have had success with using heat pads under the wood cages.
Which works fine but still not quite a big enough area for gravid females imo.

Also lights and che will work fine

I use RHPs in all of my cages, and I highly recommend them.

Yea any of a number of things will get the job done adequately but it's kinda like a car; a '76 gmc pickup will get you to your destination but a hummer does it a lot nicer :). A heat lamp or CHE will work but flexwatt is better and a radiant heat panel is the hummer. If you can get the coin to buy it a RHP is the way to go IMO.

I'd use a RHP too...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rperry03

What type of substrate do you plan on using?

I use repti-bark and in the enclosure I built I have 1.5" lip along the bottom to hold it in when opened, under that I have a sheet of glass with flexwatt foil taped to the underside with 1/2" rubber feet.

---

I know this thread's a couple of months old, but I sure would like to hear more about this sheet of heated glass with rubber feet. Is there any danger that a snake could turn it over? What size of glass sheet did you use? Any details would be appreciated! :)