Snake Room in unfinished basement: Heating

We moved into our new home and unfortunately for the time being my snake room is going to be in the unfinished basement. It is an open basement that is more than 1500 square feet so I’m afraid a space heater will not do a great job.
I use cages for my boas and I was thinking about adding radiant heat panels on the cool side of the cage(opposite the belly heat) and use the panel to keep the cool side at 80 with a thermostat. Does this sound like it will work?
Any ideas would be great. The basement will eventually be finished, but it won’t be before the winter is over.

Thanks in advance.

With proper insulation and extra RHP's, it could work, but I wouldn't recommend it. Too much margin for error.

Do you have to move them now? Can it wait until the basement is insulated/finished/heated?

If you have to move them, extra RHP's running off dedicated thermostats, or if the tanks are all the same, one multiple device thermostat, should work. I would be checking temps a lot and test first. You might end up spending a ton on electric.

What tanks do you have and how cold does it get where you are?

My finished basement, where my reptile tanks are, can get to 65-66F in the winter, but my boaphiles, which are really well insulated and properly fitted with heating elements (both 4X2' tanks and 6X2' tanks have heat tape on the cool side and RHP and heat tape on the warm side, and the 3X2' tanks only have RHP and heat tape on the hot side) barely run in the summer, but get the job done in winter.

If you are talking 50F range or even below 60F, I would be concerned regardless of what you put in there. What about when you remove the animals for cleaning etc. Where do they go? That's a big shock. Also, humidity has got to be terrible in a cold basement.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but IMO, unless it's fairly warm down there, and a space heater won't touch 1,500 SQ FT, it's probably not a great idea for the Boas.

Spend under $500 an finish part of the basement till you can do it all. I could build a 10x10 room under $300 cheaper if you use surplus an Craigs list. You could do a temp room in a day with R-Max or foam panels. IIRC fartec sells curtains an other stuff to heat or make temp work spaces.

Look around here:
https://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies/home

Good luck!

I live in Georgia and my basement gets into the low 60s/high 50s on cold nights, but sits mostly in the 60s. The cages are by Tall Grass.
I don’t really have anywhere to keep them on the main level that won’t upset the wife.
There is an unfinished bathroom area in the basement with three walls that I forgot about. The open wall is to the main large space, but I might try using a oil heater in that area and see what it does with temps.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Soundcity

I live in Georgia and my basement gets into the low 60s/high 50s on cold nights, but sits mostly in the 60s. The cages are by Tall Grass.
I don’t really have anywhere to keep them on the main level that won’t upset the wife.
There is an unfinished bathroom area in the basement with three walls that I forgot about. The open wall is to the main large space, but I might try using a oil heater in that area and see what it does with temps.

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You could create a fourth "wall" by hanging a large blanket across the opening to the main space. Just suspend a sturdy curtain rod from the rafters.

I’d say make an insulated door/wall of sorts for the 4th side of the bathroom area and heat it with an oil radiator like you mentioned. Can then set the radiator for your necessary ambient temps in the enclosures and use belly heat for the hot spots.

Edit to add: bcr posted a second before I finished typing. Also a very good suggestion.


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I ran a digital thermometer over night in the basement area and the temp dropped from 66 to 61 in the basement over night while the outside temps were in the high 30s.
Let me know if this plan works or if there are better ideas.
I can get an oil filled heater and set it to keep the ambient temp around 70. I can then use the radiant heat panel on the cool side of the cage to raise it to 80 on the cool side opposite of the belly heat.

The temp only dropped down to 64 over night. I have a company coming over tomorrow to give me a quote to put up a false wall to enclose the area. Hopefully this along with the heater will allow me to get the temperate more manageable.
Does this all sound like I am headed in the right direction?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Soundcity

The temp only dropped down to 64 over night. I have a company coming over tomorrow to give me a quote to put up a false wall to enclose the area. Hopefully this along with the heater will allow me to get the temperate more manageable.
Does this all sound like I am headed in the right direction?

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it does. Although what does the enclosed area look like? Can you get a pic? Sounds like it could be much simpler (and cheaper) to just put up a temporary wall using the styrofoam insulation board.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Soundcity

The temp only dropped down to 64 over night. I have a company coming over tomorrow to give me a quote to put up a false wall to enclose the area. Hopefully this along with the heater will allow me to get the temperate more manageable.
Does this all sound like I am headed in the right direction?

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I sent you a private message as well.