Oil heater=crazy power bill!

[joefer13]

Guys I can't believe this hardly. Use to seeing my power bill in the 100-140 range! But my room drops to around 70 ambient wise and obviously too cold for my snakies. So I've been using an oil heater, not sure it's age, to keep it in the low 80s. Just got my power ill and it's almost 300$ now!!! I need advice and help. Obviously I'm going to have to eat this power and like it but I need help figuring something out for in the future! Thanks in advance!

[The Serpent Merchant]

You might have to switch to a type of cage that isn't dependent on room temps. I really like by PVC enclosures from Animal Plastics because They can be easily maintained even when the room temperature drops below 70 degrees.

Heating a 4 x 2 x 1 foot cage takes a lot less power than heating an entire room.

[joefer13]

Well see I am using a RBI PVC enclosure now and my temps can still dip to 71 without the heater on which worries me lol. Sorry I don't have a picture of my enclosure atm. Maybe I should check with my temp gun in case my accurate is faulty

[joefer13]

Any suggestions on a way to just heat the ambient of my RBI dual cage and not the room

[TheSnakeEye]

Idk how great this works, but someone just posted this and claimed it works great. It also uses less than half the power an oil heater uses.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...er-Alternative

[The Serpent Merchant]

You can use fluorescent lights if you only need to increase the air temperature a few degrees, or if you need to increase the air temps a little more the combination of a fluorescent tube and a radiant heat panel (which doesn't directly increase the air temperature inside the cage but will increase the air temperature a few degrees) can boost the air temps 5-10 degrees. There is no reason to heat a whole room for plastic reptile cages. Worst case you can cut a hole in the top and screen it off and use a heat lamp/CHE.

[barbie.dragon]

Heat lamps are good but they kill humidity fast. You should get those energy efficient heaters. They do quite well. They look like a fan but they're not. I used to use waters like this in Asia and they worked quite well Irish the winter and it gets very cold in South Korea. I use this now in my room (I'm in California) and it works nicely. Also insulate your room! Put the weird door sleeve to fill the crack underneath it helps a lot. And you can always try insulating the cage by putting a blanket over ir
Like this: http://reviews.costco.com/2070/11333...tm?sort=rating

[Pyrate81]

A few possibilities:

-Electric space heater for just the snake room.

-Insulate the enclosures. Foam board, put a piece of plexiglass on part of the screen top(although this may be more for humidity), etc.

-Use a CHE or heat lamp. For my ball, I use a 40w infrared in the cold months to keep the ambient/cool side temps at 78-82.

[The Serpent Merchant]

Guys there is absolutely no reason to heat an entire room when using these types of enclosures. The amount of power it takes to heat a plastic cage is so much less than it is to heat even the most insulated room with an efficient heater.

A radiant heat panel and fluorescent tube mounted inside the cage is the best option by far.

[3skulls]

This is my first year with my new snake room and my bill went up
It's not even cold yet.
I also added a deep freezer.

I insulated the walls I built, under the floor in the crawl space, the door into the room.

A few things that can help. Have a humidifier in the room and have a small fan to circulate the air. Oil filled heaters set on high pull 1500w

I'm thinking snakes are just a cool way to drain your bank account