Review RBI 3x2 with RHP

Hey
I received my RBI cage today in the mail. It took only eight days...the website said a minimum of ten days before it actually shipped. What a surprise wen a huge box was given to me.

The cage was nicely packed and the finishing is flawless. My heating choice was the 80 watt radiant heat panel.

I used a pen to stretch out one of the vent holes to put my herpstat probe through. I pushed it through and let it hang halfway down. I put a thermometer in the middle of the cage under the RHP and a thermometer on top of the cold side hide. It took only about 1 hour to get the temps right. The thermometer underneath the RHP is reading 91.5 but my herpstat is reading 84.8....weird right?? I would of thought of it the other way around. So this stresses how even with a thermostat a thermometer must be used on the side. My cold side is at 80F. I also picked up the RBI hides which are really nice imo. I also paid for the fluorescent light which I kinda regret. because.the on/off switch is on the inside of the tank. I was hoping for it to be on the chord itself so I can turn it on/off as I please.but I just unplug/plug it in for now.

and of course...Here are pics
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...o2001/RBI1.jpg

As you can see from the picture below. You can see my herpstat probe on the wall and my reg thermometer probe running under the newspaper and I cut a little slit so the probe sticks out on top of the newspaper. so I don't have wired running everywhere.
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...o2001/RBI2.jpg

Happy Snake
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...o2001/RBI3.jpg



Any thoughts?? I dunno if my probes are in the right place...or are they???

Niiiice!!!!
I have the probe in my ball cages a lower than half way given that my balls are typically on the ground and so that is where I want the heat to be controlled at. The probe is about 2 inches up from the floor of the cage. I have the herpstat set to 90F and it does the trick!!

Thanks starmom.
Thanks for all your help as well.

Would my method of measuring the hotside work? Since the probe on the floor is reading 91F its fine that my herpstat is set at 84F as long as the temp on the floor is where I want it at?

I don't get why there is so much difference... :weirdface
Are you using a temp gun?

Edit>>> Oh dude- wait a minute.... measure the temps in the warm hide- not right under the RHP! That's why there is such a difference!!! Jeez, thought I was going crazy for a minute!!! Yes, go by the temps in the two hides for the measurement of high and low.... :)

Starmom, would you have any pictures of your probe in one of your cages? Also, do you just let the probe hang free or is it fixed to the side with something, or is it even stuck to the side?

I'll get a picture. In the meantime, I have the probe about 2 inches from the floor. Yeah, I'll grab a picture....
I have the probe just hanging; in my boa cages I have it zip tied through the cage since they are such climbers!!

:mad:no I do not have a temp gun. I am workin on gettin one. I'm running out of money. after I just spent thise much on a cage and i just bought a digi scale for the cresties. What is the difference between using a probed thermometer and a temp gun??

right now my BP is in a 20L and my thermometer probe has a little peice of velcro wrapped around the base and it's stuck to the side of the tank about three inches above the floor. My Herpstat wire is wrapped around the thermometer wire and the probe is just sort of hanging at the same height. When my RBI cage arrives, I was planning on velcroing the Herpstat probe to the side.

starmom.....would it be fine if I put the probe under the newspaper underneath the hide?? I don't want the snake to move it around and stuff. i feel like if i put the probe underneath the hot hide that outside temps outside the hide would be far over 92F

put the probe for heat on the hot side underneath your hide box. set the hide box down on the probe wire so the snake cant knock it around much. remember ball pythons require alot of belly heat so you need to keep your temps measured in her hide where she will be laying alot.

true.I ended up cutting a little slot in the newspaperr and ran the wire underneath the newspaper and the probe sticking on top of it ..under the hide.

now i gott aplay with my herpstat alittle more to get the corect temps

Here's 2 of my cages. Excuse all the moss; it's really dry here. Relative humidity today? 28%. Yup- I'm drying out- feel like climbing in with the snakes or making myself a nest of moss!!!! :P As you see, the probes are not attached and are hanging low.

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...0/DSCN5957.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...0/DSCN5956.jpg

Mckinsey,

I am having trouble with my temps now. I put themometer probes under each hide...in order to get my under the hide temp to 91, my cold side gets to like 85

I have no idea how t osolve this problem

Have you tried positioning the hides differently?

In each of my cages, the hides are in different places to compensate for the variance. My hot hides (they are big ones) go from ~90 to ~94F and my cooler hides go from ~80 to ~83F. My ambient temps run from 82-84F. I have the Herpstat set to 91F.

Also, in my warmest cage I melted holes in the top of the hot hide with an old wood burning kit gun thingy. This helped a lot with heat dissipation under hide in the warmest cage...

Also, a temp gun would really help you...

my hides are on complete opposite ends of each other....I think i'll put some holes in the hot hide so i can lower my herpstat output but not sacrifice hot side temps.
as of right now my temps are 91F and 84ish herpstat set to 88.4
. lets hope they somewhat keep stable.

I received my cage yesterday. I have my Herpstat probe hanging about 2 inches below the RHP and set the Herpstat to 92°. The floor of the cage below the RHP is 90°, the cool side floor is 81°, and my air temp inside is about 84°. When i temped the inside of the warm side hide, it was 86°. I didn't want to turn the heat up any more for fear it would be too hot inside. The cage is in the kitchen and the room temp is 80° right now. When it cools off more here, the house will be kept at 70°, so I'm sure I'll be OK then. Just not sure what to do now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vgibbens

I received my cage yesterday. I have my Herpstat probe hanging about 2 inches below the RHP and set the Herpstat to 92°. The floor of the cage below the RHP is 90°, the cool side floor is 81°, and my air temp inside is about 84°. When i temped the inside of the warm side hide, it was 86°. I didn't want to turn the heat up any more for fear it would be too hot inside. The cage is in the kitchen and the room temp is 80° right now. When it cools off more here, the house will be kept at 70°, so I'm sure I'll be OK then. Just not sure what to do now.

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You could always put a few more vent holes in the back of the cage where Rich already has the two rows of venting and then cover them for the winter if needed. You really do need to get the temps up inside the hides though. I suppose you could also move the cage out of the kitchen and into a cooler space...

Have you tried lowering the probe further down into the cage? This would permit the Herpstat to run less and also give the cage more heat.

I thought about putting more holes along the back. I liked the idea of putting holes in the hides as well. Right now we're using those hides that look like rocks, maybe I can drill them without breaking them. I guess, I can drill a hole in the side and run the Herpstat probe down the left hand wall 'til the probe is about 2" above the floor. When I purchased the cage, I purchased the light with it. Rich had installed the light against the back and the RHP is on the left hand side kinda centered from front to back. I was going to move the light to the front and then move the RHP to the left rear corner to get more seperation from the heat front to back and side to side.

Just remember that there is a minimum distance from the walls that the RHP needs to conform to... I can't really remember... Is it 2 inches away??

Holes in the hides work well for heat dissipation but it seems as though you need more heat under your hides...

Gosh, there are so many ways to tweak things according to the variables within the larger environment... You'll get it worked through :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by starmom

Here's 2 of my cages. Excuse all the moss; it's really dry here. Relative humidity today? 28%. Yup- I'm drying out- feel like climbing in with the snakes or making myself a nest of moss!!!! :P As you see, the probes are not attached and are hanging low.

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...0/DSCN5957.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...0/DSCN5956.jpg

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I need help with my humid. also what kind of moss do you use???

I use long fiber Chilean sphagnum moss and I got mine on-line from here: http://www.tropicalplantproducts.com...?productID=501. They are great people to do business with and will send the product out when you tell them that your check is in the mail. works on honesty- that's nice.

The moss works really well, holds moisture really well, and lasts for quite the long time even after repeated wettings. It looks and smells great!! :)

For those of you who are interested, I have a great spot for the probe placement.

Drill 2 small holes in the top of the hide about 1/4" apart.
Loop a small zip tie through the holes and attach the probe to the inside roof of the hide.

This gives great temp feedback (inside the hide temp) and is still in a place where the snake or pee/poo cannot come in contact with it.

This also protects the probe from accidentally getting misted.

How do you clean the hide??

Quote:

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Originally Posted by starmom

How do you clean the hide??

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Just slip the probe out of the zip tie loop and your free.

Huh. What's the cool side temp (and the rest of the cage temps) if the probe is under the hot hide?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by starmom

Huh. What's the cool side temp (and the rest of the cage temps) if the probe is under the hot hide?

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Its pretty much the same as if the probe were sitting on top of the hide. I set the stat to about 93 and the cool side is usually about 81. So the top surface of the hide is 93, a little cooler inside the hide maybe 90-91. Or she can bask on top of the hide at 93-94 if she wants to and never contact the probe.

Well that's pretty darn cool!!! :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by starmom

Well that's pretty darn cool!!! :D

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Thanks, if you try it let me know how it works for you.

OK, I've had my RBI cage for a few days now, and I gotta say I really like it compared to the 20L I was using. I did move the light to the front just behind the lip of the door, lowered my Herpstat probe like Starmom's and moved the RHP to the rear left side. This seemed to help give a larger gradient even if it was only moving the RHP three inches furhter back. My hot side temp is 91° and about 88-89° inside the hide. My cool side floor and hide temp is about 81° with the air temp inside about 83°. I was having trouble with keeping the humididy up since it's so dry here. The house humidity is around 30% right now so i added two softball sized clumps of sphagnum moss and the humidity is staying between 55-60%. So with all this, I think my BP is a little stressed with the bigger enclosure. We've been trying to leave him alone since the move. His first night in the cage he had diarrhea everywhere, but did eat the next night no problem. Last night I lifted his hide to check on him and he hissed at me for the first time. After that, he came out of his hide and just laid under the RHP for about two hours, then slowly went back into his cool side hide. I know he's been out exploring at night cause I can see where the cypress is pushed aside from him moving around. Hopefully he'll continue to eat, next feeding is Thursday.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vgibbens

OK, I've had my RBI cage for a few days now, and I gotta say I really like it compared to the 20L I was using. I did move the light to the front just behind the lip of the door, lowered my Herpstat probe like Starmom's and moved the RHP to the rear left side. This seemed to help give a larger gradient even if it was only moving the RHP three inches furhter back. My hot side temp is 91° and about 88-89° inside the hide. My cool side floor and hide temp is about 81° with the air temp inside about 83°. I was having trouble with keeping the humididy up since it's so dry here. The house humidity is around 30% right now so i added two softball sized clumps of sphagnum moss and the humidity is staying between 55-60%. So with all this, I think my BP is a little stressed with the bigger enclosure. We've been trying to leave him alone since the move. His first night in the cage he had diarrhea everywhere, but did eat the next night no problem. Last night I lifted his hide to check on him and he hissed at me for the first time. After that, he came out of his hide and just laid under the RHP for about two hours, then slowly went back into his cool side hide. I know he's been out exploring at night cause I can see where the cypress is pushed aside from him moving around. Hopefully he'll continue to eat, next feeding is Thursday.

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I was thinkin of the same thing...I don't like how the light is al lthe way iinthe back which causes the RHp to be more inthe cage...wat tools did u need in order to move everything?? I"m at school so I'm not really prepared for this

To do this, I took everything out of the cage and flipped the cage onto it's roof so I wasn't fighting gravity. There are two screws holding the light and the heat panel. The heat panel had phillips head screws and the light had blade screwdriver heads. You'll have to take the clip on plug end off of the light due to when the light gets moved the cord will plug into the light on the right instead of the left now. I had to drill out one of the vent holes on the rear right side to run the light electrical cord through. I used some zip tye anchors along the right hand side ceiling and fastened the light's cord to them so they're up and out of the way. It was super easy, only took about ten minutes. Now the light switch is right inside and I don't have to reach to the back to turn it on/off. Also, if the light is on and I look in, I'm not looking almost directly into a flourescent light. The way it is now, you can't even see the light fixture.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vgibbens

To do this, I took everything out of the cage and flipped the cage onto it's roof so I wasn't fighting gravity. There are two screws holding the light and the heat panel. The heat panel had phillips head screws and the light had blade screwdriver heads. You'll have to take the clip on plug end off of the light due to when the light gets moved the cord will plug into the light on the right instead of the left now. I had to drill out one of the vent holes on the rear right side to run the light electrical cord through. I used some zip tye anchors along the right hand side ceiling and fastened the light's cord to them so they're up and out of the way. It was super easy, only took about ten minutes. Now the light switch is right inside and I don't have to reach to the back to turn it on/off. Also, if the light is on and I look in, I'm not looking almost directly into a flourescent light. The way it is now, you can't even see the light fixture.

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got pics? I just wanna see where u moved the wires

I'm at work now, I'll have to take pics tonight.

thanks. much appreciated

It looks like he was hanging on the light's power cord a little as they're hanging down a little, but you get the point.;)

http://members.cox.net/vngibbens/Snake%20Stuff/3611

http://members.cox.net/vngibbens/Snake%20Stuff/3612

http://members.cox.net/vngibbens/Snake%20Stuff/3614

Does anyone think the light will fit on the 2 foot wall(side wall)...I don't think I would like all that wire floating around

ok so I moved my RHp all the way back

btw whoever has the fluorescent light..theres a outlet on both sides..one side has a cover on it.


SOOOoOOO I dunno wat the hell is going on.

I got a huge problem. I got back to my room to see that the temps under both my hides is 91F I have no idea wat is going on....I feel so bad cause I dunno how long shes been like this.

My gradient has totally disappeared

reset my temps and got them consistent 90 hot 80 cold ..woke up today and now its 90- 85
I dunnoe wat is going on...I'm missing my 20L now

That dosen't sound too bad. What exactly is your setup? Where is your RHP mounted? Where is your probe mounted. Is your room temp changing alot throught the day?

RHP is placed in the back left of the cage and my hot hide is under it and my cold hide is in the front right.

I looked at my max temps again..my cold hides max temp was 90F!!!!

Is there a possibility that when my snake is sitting on the hot side for a period of time and he moves to the cold hide..that his body heat and throwing up my thermomters that are placed underneath the cool hide???

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chetman7

Is there a possibility that when my snake is sitting on the hot side for a period of time and he moves to the cold hide..that his body heat and throwing up my thermomters that are placed underneath the cool hide???

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If I am understanding you, are you asking if he is heating up the cool side hide? No, I don't think so.

What size RHP do you have? I have a 3x2 AP cage and it is working great with the 40W RHP. I know it is working for a few people, but in my opinion the 80W is too big for MOST 3' cage applications..

Where do your have you tstat probe?

I"m using the 80 watt cause my ambients can go as low as 70F.
Last night when he was in the warm hide. my temps were PERFECT 90 and 81.

My thermostat probe in through the vent hanging on the wall under neath the RHP.

Any ideas?

A representative at RBI said I could change out for the 40 watt. I might do a test of both. but wat is throwing me off right now is that my temps were perfect.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chetman7

I"m using the 80 watt cause my ambients can go as low as 70F.
Last night when he was in the warm hide. my temps were PERFECT 90 and 81.

My thermostat probe in through the vent hanging on the wall under neath the RHP.

Any ideas?

A representative at RBI said I could change out for the 40 watt. I might do a test of both. but wat is throwing me off right now is that my temps were perfect.

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Well I have a couple of thoughts. Put a thermometer in the room and find the max/min of the room. This could be affecting your temp swings.

I once had my probe kind of like you and I wasn't satisfied with the results. I ended up attaching it to the top of the warm hide (inside). See my prev posts on that. It works great. I like it that way because the RHP tends to heat objects more than air so I get a more consistent reading that way. Worst case, you could use the RHP for ambient temp (placed in the center) then use a UTH or flex under the warm hide.

I also have the same RBI cage with the same 80 Watt RHP.

I have had great success with my temps and humidity though. I ran the probe to my Helix stat thru one of the vent holes in the back and then foil taped the probe in place on the floor of the hot side underneath the craft paper that I use for bedding. My temps have been great and stead at 89 hot side and 81 cool side.

I hope you can get this straightened out - I'm sure you must be disappointed.

Good Luck.

I don't understand what the deal is here....

I have two 3-stacks of cages all heated with 80watt RHP's. I have probe in the middle cage. The temps within the cages (a little variance) dictates where the hides go in each cage. I also have some holes melted into the hot hides to disallow heat build-up within the hide.

Are you using a temp gun? Are you taking the temps when the RHP is on? Have you fiddled with hide placement?

Just some thoughts....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by starmom

I don't understand what the deal is here....

I have two 3-stacks of cages all heated with 80watt RHP's. I have probe in the middle cage. The temps within the cages (a little variance) dictates where the hides go in each cage. I also have some holes melted into the hot hides to disallow heat build-up within the hide.

Are you using a temp gun? Are you taking the temps when the RHP is on? Have you fiddled with hide placement?

Just some thoughts....

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yea I believe my hides are in the right spots. one is the farthest is can be from the RHP and the other is right under it.

I decided to do some more testing
being a bio major taught me to think a certain way lol

I took the bp out of the cage. placed the hides where they were and let it sit for about 20 minutes. I waited til the temps stayed relatively constant and recorded the temps which were 89 hot and 81 cold. heres my..baseline figures o and room temps were 76 for the whole time.

I placed jake back in in the cage, he went straight into the cold hide. I waited another 20 minutes and my temps were 89 and 85.

I let some time pass until jake moved into the hot hide...waited til temps stabilized and temps went to 91.4 hot to 81.7 cold.


There was a trend I guess that whatever hide he was in, the temp increased. Dunno if this makes sense but this is what info I got. I got nothing to do tomorrow. so I'm gonna keep a close eye on him tonight and find that exact moment where the cold side temps go to 90F. I"m gonna find the culprit.

Starmom. as of right now all I am taking temps with 2 thermometers with probes on the floor of the hide..under the hide. I have a temp gun on the way.

How's it going now?

everything is perfect , its been like that for a couple of days now.. I dunno what was going on with my temps before...maybe the second apocalypse??