Having Trouble With Temperature Gradient

Hello,

I am having some difficulty with the temperatures in the new cage I am getting ready for my snake.

My issue is that the RHP I have on the cage ceiling is heating the entire cage too much.
When I heat one side of the cage to 89-90 degrees, the coolest spot I can find on the other
side of the cage is within a few tenths of a degree either way of 84.

My worry is that this temperature gradient is smaller than what I see recommended.

Before I did anything like take a look at changing the orientation of the RHP or attempt to
deflect heat toward the warm side I wanted to see what some people thought about my situation.

Is never having a temperature lower than 83 or 84 degrees acceptable (generally speaking)?

If it makes a difference, I have the thermostat probe suspended in the air by an edge of the RHP,
and in order to get these temperature readings (all taken from the cage floor with the TG-1)
I have the thermostat set at 99 degrees.

I have no experience with rhp, so basically just wanted to say good luck getting it figured out! I'm sure someone will chime in :)

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Low 80's on the cooler side versus the hot side being 89-90 isn't too bad, trust me I've seen far worse. I would more so go for 82 but that's my opinion.

Just to help give you better advice, what size tank?

The tank is 36 inches wide, 24 inches deep and 18 inches high. Sliding glass doors on the front.
After maintaining the environment for awhile, it looks like the best I can do is:

about 92 degrees ON TOP of the warm side hide;
about 90 degrees INSIDE the warm side hide;
about 86 degrees ON TOP of the cool side hide;
about 84 degrees INSIDE of the cool side hide.

I can't find anywhere in the cage measuring below 83 degrees, although I found below 82.5 inside the cool hide.

I have a digital thermometer/hygrometer designed for a humidor mounted on the back wall which is measuring:
57% humidity (haven't misted for about 18 or 19 hours
87 degrees temperature.

ALL of the temperature readings I mentioned were obtained with a TG1 Temp Gun

Right now it looks like I have to choose between a 90-91 degree hot spot with a cool side that runs at about 85 degrees OR
a hot spot of 86-88 with a cool side that will run about 81-82.

I just want my snake to be comfortable and happy:(

What type of cage is it? Could you add some vent holes to the cool side to allow some of the heat to escape? I added an extra vent to my vision to help with heat and humidity being too high.

It's 3/8" PVC and was made by Jim who operates pvccages.com.
EDIT: it has an 80 watt RHP (maybe I should have gone with 40?) and a fluorescent light fixture mounted
along the front edge just above the doors.

I could do that. Should I put the holes near the top or near the bottom? Or just all over the side I want to be cooler at varying heights?
Also, does anyone have knowledge of the best way to put holes in PVC? I'm about to ask Google but thought it would be worthwhile to pose the question to people who may have done the same thing for the same reason also.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Havalian

It's 3/8" PVC and was made by Jim who operates pvccages.com.
EDIT: it has an 80 watt RHP (maybe I should have gone with 40?) and a fluorescent light fixture mounted
along the front edge just above the doors.

I could do that. Should I put the holes near the top or near the bottom? Or just all over the side I want to be cooler at varying heights?
Also, does anyone have knowledge of the best way to put holes in PVC? I'm about to ask Google but thought it would be worthwhile to pose the question to people who may have done the same thing for the same reason also.

---

Are there any other vents in it already? If so where are they located. For my vision the vent was in the back so I added one in the top. Depending on where yours are at I would add it to the top on the cool side, or on the side of the cage towards the upper part. You can add vents in a few ways. One, decide where you want to vent at and drill some holes at a low speed, or what I did was cut out a rectangle with a razor blade, drilled some holes along the outside then put a piece of perforated metal screen over it and bolted it down.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jclaiborne

Are there any other vents in it already? If so where are they located. For my vision the vent was in the back so I added one in the top. Depending on where yours are at I would add it to the top on the cool side, or on the side of the cage towards the upper part. You can add vents in a few ways. One, decide where you want to vent at and drill some holes at a low speed, or what I did was cut out a rectangle with a razor blade, drilled some holes along the outside then put a piece of perforated metal screen over it and bolted it down.

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Two 3" diameter non-adjustable vents in the back towards the top.

Thank you very much. Based on the dimensions of my cage, what size rectangle would you suggest cutting?
A razor blade? As in box-cutter? I might have to use a drill this stuff is nearly half an inch thick!


Finally, with the temperatures the way they are now, would it be OK to introduce my snake to its new home?
The way he lives now the cool side is basically room temperature (which is currently around 80) but my snake generally
stays in the hide which is under the CHE I'm using in that cage. I don't want it to overheat or anything if it is unable to find
a spot below 83 degrees. Worse comes to worst I suppose it could dip into the water dish but that could barely be any cooler
than the surrounding air.

One option would be to get a dimmer switch so you can lower the power going to it which would lower the temps all over. The way it should work out and this isn't guaranteed but it's a guess is if you lower the highest from 92 to 90, then it'll lower the cooler side to about 81-82.

the rectangle that I cut was 3 inches by 12, but that was a big vent. I did use a box cutter because I wanted straight lines and didn't want to curl the plastic. Took about 20 minutes, half an inch is pretty thick though...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Neal

One option would be to get a dimmer switch so you can lower the power going to it which would lower the temps all over. The way it should work out and this isn't guaranteed but it's a guess is if you lower the highest from 92 to 90, then it'll lower the cooler side to about 81-82.

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x2

Personally I would add a couple small holes low on the cool side and high on the warm side.
My reason for doing this is tho encourage the warm aid to rise and leave pulling in cooler air on the cool side.
If you get overzealous some holes can be plugged but I would just add a couple at a time until you get the gradient you want to have.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Havalian

It's 3/8" PVC and was made by Jim who operates pvccages.com.
EDIT: it has an 80 watt RHP (maybe I should have gone with 40?) and a fluorescent light fixture mounted
along the front edge just above the doors.

I could do that. Should I put the holes near the top or near the bottom? Or just all over the side I want to be cooler at varying heights?
Also, does anyone have knowledge of the best way to put holes in PVC? I'm about to ask Google but thought it would be worthwhile to pose the question to people who may have done the same thing for the same reason also.

---

40W should do a ball enclosure. I am curious though as to what type of thermostat you are running this RHP on. A proportional control like Herpstat or Vivarium Electronics should in theory dial down the output power even on an 80W to maintain the set temp without dramatic overheating and cooling as a slow on/off thermostat would and I am not entirely sure a pulse control couldn't cause the same issue.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Neal

One option would be to get a dimmer switch so you can lower the power going to it which would lower the temps all over. The way it should work out and this isn't guaranteed but it's a guess is if you lower the highest from 92 to 90, then it'll lower the cooler side to about 81-82.

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The RHP is already controlled by a VE 200 from Reptile Basics. The reason the temps are so high is because I was trying to achieve the correct basking temperature in one spot, but in order to do that the RHP heats the entire cage more than I need.
Should I just sort of shoot for the middle and have the hot spot be 87-89 so I can keep the other side at 81-82?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Raven01

40W should do a ball enclosure. I am curious though as to what type of thermostat you are running this RHP on. A proportional control like Herpstat or Vivarium Electronics should in theory dial down the output power even on an 80W to maintain the set temp without dramatic overheating and cooling as a slow on/off thermostat would and I am not entirely sure a pulse control couldn't cause the same issue.

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It is controlled by a Vivarium Electronics VE200. What I have done is hang the probe so it is just under one edge of the RHP. This means in order to achieve the correct temperature on the cage floor I have to put the set temp several degrees higher than what I actually want. When my probe is reading 98-99 the temperature on the floor of the cage is right around 90 on the warm side.

My problem is that to get a hot side temperature of 90 the entire cage is heated to the point that even inside the cool side hide the temperature on the cage floor is a little over 83 degrees.

Is it OK to introduce my snake to its new home the way it is? My main concern is that my snake has always had the option of moving to a spot that is cooler than 83 degrees.
I'm also wondering which is more important: a hot spot of around 90 degrees or a cool spot around 80?