Stacking cages

Hi all,

I received my new AP cage the other day and I put it on top of my other cage, which has a fluorescent light and an RHP.

The problem is that the RHP of the bottom cage heats the bottom of the top cage to about 92F w/o substrate. On the other side of the top cage, the light fixture heats the ground up to about 86F with substrate.

Do you have any suggestions as to what I can do to stop that heat transfer?

Would foam board help?

Foam insulation may help, but may cause them to be a little unstable. Maybe put the AP enclosure on the bottom?

I can't draw it in the reply, it's weird.

Well anyway, the bottom enclosure has a heat panel on the right side of the cage, and the light is on the left side of the cage.

The top cage has a divider in the middle so there's two heat panels, and there are also two lights.

The cage on the right side of the divider is getting all that belly heat from bottom cage, because the heat panel is right under it.

If I put the top enclosure on the bottom, the same thing would happen but then the now bottom cage would be getting extra belly heat.

I'll add some sort of insulation in between the cages; what material has great insulating properties? Anything affordable better than styrofoam?

You can buy 3/4" foil backed styro sheets at most home stores. That should do the trick.

When we stack cages, we use blocks to create a 3/4" air gap between the cages. We also use Reflectix to insulate the underside of the floor of the cage above. We get our Reflectix from Home Depot. You can use any 3/4 inch material, whether it be 1 x 4 or plywood.

Hope this helps.

I sent AP an e-mail and they said I should put some wood chips or whatever between the two cages, and if that doesn't work styrofoam or something should do the trick.

For now, I have wood chips but if that doesn't work I'll get some of that styrofoam stuff.

Alright guys, this is ridiculous.

I added 2" of styrofoam inbetween the cages, and the light in the bottom cage still heats the floor of the top cage to 92F!!!!!!

Will reflectix around the styrofoam really do the job?

Please help, I'm getting desperate

***bump***

No one, then?

Hi,

Could you possibly build some kind of shelving system so they could be seperated more?

Or possibly replacing the light in the top enclosure with an LED based solution to keep the temps down on the cool end? **edit** Re-read the descriptions and saw it was a split cage on top so this isn't much use to you - will leave it in just incase it helps later readers. **end edit**

Only other thing I can think of is more insulation between them - have you contacted the cage manufacturers? If they were meant to be stacked and use RHP's then surely they must have had to solve this before?


dr del

I contacted AP, they recommended air space and styrofoam; tried both, nothing worked.

Now I'm going with reflectix under the 2" of styrofoam, keeping the fingers crossed...

I added two layers of reflectix right above the bottom enclosure, then I have 2" of styrofoam and another layer of reflectix.

I see some difference, right now it's about 84-86 on top of the substrate and 86-88 under the substrate.

Would it help to cut the styrofoam in small blocks so I have 2" of just air in between?

Hi,

Honestly?

If three layer of reflectix and two inches of styrofoam isn't keeping the heat from bleeding through I would say it is time to give up and un-stack the cages. :(


dr dle

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dr del

Hi,

Honestly?

If three layer of reflectix and two inches of styrofoam isn't keeping the heat from bleeding through I would say it is time to give up and un-stack the cages. :(


dr dle

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I'm gonna see how it goes for now.

I added a little bit more substrate, and now the cool side is right around 84. Below the substrate it's hotter, but I've never seen my BP burrow so I think he'll be alright (with hotter I mean around 88, not burning hot).

Thanks for the help, dr. del.

Just caught on to this thread. Alright, so I have a very similar setup. I use pieces of the silver insulating blankets used on water heaters between the cages and a lower 'stat setting and don't have any issues. What is your 'stat set at?? If they are all being double heated in the same way (top and bottom) then adjusting your t'stat should balance it back out. Also, are your rhp's on the stat and your lights on a regular strip?? And lastly, what are you keeping in these and what are your cage and ambient room temps?

~Kat

Quote:

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Originally Posted by janeothejungle

Just caught on to this thread. Alright, so I have a very similar setup. I use pieces of the silver insulating blankets used on water heaters between the cages and a lower 'stat setting and don't have any issues. What is your 'stat set at?? If they are all being double heated in the same way (top and bottom) then adjusting your t'stat should balance it back out. Also, are your rhp's on the stat and your lights on a regular strip?? And lastly, what are you keeping in these and what are your cage and ambient room temps?

~Kat

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The silver insulating blankets... reflectix maybe? I got three layers + 2" of styrofoam...

In the bottom cage, I have the RHP on the right side and the fluorescent light on left side. In that cage, there's a JCP with the stat set for a 90F hot spot and like 80-82F during the day (no heat at night). The light is uncontrolled.

The top cage, which is divided, has a heat panel in the back on each side. Thus, the hot side is the back of the cage. The light of the bottom cage is actually heating the FRONT of the top cage, so there's less of a gradient. There's a ball python in this cage btw. If the fluorescent light in the bottom cage was in the back, I would have radiant heat and belly heat from the light, but unfortunately I don't.

Room temperature is low to mid 70's during the day, <70 at night (during winter only, 75F during summer).

However, I see a decrease in heat transfer now I also added some more substrate so I THINK the problem might be solved... I'll see how it goes.