Winter is coming! -dramatic music-

Ok so everything so far has been going great with Sammy, however, WINTER IS COMING!! How do you guys deal with winter? Any heating tips?

If you've got an old breezy house like me, sealing up windows and door gaps with towels/blankets is surprisingly effective! :)

Those things also do wonders for the parts of the house which are just WAY TOO COLD for the central heating system to warm up...
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Alright! Once Florida gets hit by the cold I'll seal up the gaps in his room. Also invest in a heating system.

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Originally Posted by danielwilu2525

How do you guys deal with winter? Any heating tips?

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Insulate the heck out of the house, it is cheaper to keep the heat in than to replace it.

We keep a small chest freezer for frozen mice/rats/rabbits in the snake room. The exhaust from it helps warm the room. In the winter we close the door to that room, in the summer we actually have to keep a fan going to blow the air out as otherwise it would get too hot in there.

Use well-insulated enclosures made from melamine or PVC that are designed for reptiles.

Racks can be covered with a blanket to help keep heat in the tubs.

We also have a generator as it's common to lose power due to downed power lines during ice storms.

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Originally Posted by danielwilu2525

Alright! Once Florida gets hit by the cold I'll seal up the gaps in his room. Also invest in a heating system.

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Florida gets cold? Lol jk but compared to the winters here in PA I would love it down there.

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Ha! Anything below 70 is freezing for us!

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Originally Posted by danielwilu2525

Ha! Anything below 70 is freezing for us!

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thats funny. here in Mn ive seen -55

I run a heated room so I just keep the oil filled heater going. ;)

Oh ok thanks!

For us in case of power going out it's a combination of fireplace (that's mainly for the human and for legged critters), generator to keep the essentials running (fridge, freezers, lights and incubator should there still be eggs in it), and finally buddy heater (propane heater that runs clean) which heats the snake room.

Now as a normal daily thing (not emergency) the main snake room (Ball Pythons and Hatchlings) is heated with a oil filled heater and a reliable thermostat. The office/colubrid room stays at room temps.

I'm in southern California. I combined one of those portable heaters (on a timer outlet) with a humidifier (on a timer outlet) last winter. Heater dried out the air, so added a humidifier to even it out.

I use a 40 watt red heat bulb just to keep the ambiant at 78-80 at night when my house goes to 65. My bigger problem is humidity, for that i use a reptifogger on a timer to go off every 6 hours, and partially cover the top screen. That usually does the trick.

My snake lives in my living room, which gets down to 55 during the winter (we have a programmable thermostat, which turns the heat down overnight and during the work day when no one's home). He's in a 20-long now, which I kept heated very comfortably last winter by covering the bottom, back, and sides with foam and mounting an 80-watt RHP (on a Herpstat) to the top, with almost all of the screen covered. The 80-watt Reptile Basics panel covers most of the top, so it provides nice even ambient temps. Then I have a UTH running at very low power for the hot spot.
When the living room is in the 50's, the RHP has to run at almost full power, but between that and the herpstat, it does a great job at keeping the temps consistent.
People complain about the prices of RHP's, but it's a way more efficient and cost-effective way to keep one snake warm and happy than to raise the thermostat for the whole house when no one's home, or use a space heater for the whole room.

I'm building a new larger PVC enclosure soon, so hopefully the same panel will be able to do the job in there too. If I have to buy a bigger RHP, I'm totally keeping the 80-watt one next to my desk pointed at my chair!