i need experienced keepers' opinions

[Coleslaw007]

I feel like heating the whole room would cost MORE than an extra strip or even a few strips of heat tape...?

It's plenty *possible* to keep snakes successfully in a heated room, yes, but in this case I feel like it's kind of defeatist.

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[Trackstrong83]

Yeah I've figured I'm just gonna add the extra heat tape.

Sorry when i typed this I had just been giving the deal and hadn't really thought it through lol and I just remembered that heat tape only uses 20watts. Soooo I know what I'm doing now. Thanks everyone!

[MarkS]

I've had snakes die on me after eating when I didn't notice that their heat tape was off even though my snake room is plenty warm. In my opinion they DO need that hot spot.

[Mike41793]

I've had snakes die on me after eating when I didn't notice that their heat tape was off even though my snake room is plenty warm. In my opinion they DO need that hot spot.

What type of snake, how big of a meal, and how warm was the room?

(Not arguing, i believe you, i just like to know for my own personal knowledge.)

[Pythonfriend]

Not to mention the room being just plain uncomfortable to be in. That would mean keeping a full room at 80* minimum, and while some people's reptile rooms are thermoregulated that way, it's always with HVAC ducting and ventilation, not a space heater pushing stagnant air around.

Overall, it would cause more problems.

you know snakebytes TV, the youtube show from BHB reptiles?

now you know why they always run around in t-shirt or topless.

it can be done. of course you need to have the air circulating. maybe use a ceiling fan, or some smaller ones in the right places, use the tempgun to check that its the right temperature everywhere, from the lowest tub to the highest.

about the energy consumption: with all devices hooked to a thermostat it depends on how much heat is lost and how hard the heaters have to work to keep the temps where they should be. In a cool room heat tape can consume quite a lot of energy. If the room is just slightly below the optimum, the heat tape will require almost no energy because most of the time it isnt heating.

but still, if you go from electric tub heating to electric room heating, energy consumption will of course go up. when it comes to turning electricity into heat, there really is no "more effective" or "less effective". the electricity consumed is equal to the heat produced, unless something else like light is produced alongside. Heating the room means heating all the air, the walls, and not just the tubs.

When it comes to energy costs, there is only one reason why heating the whole room is more effective: You dont use electricity. You use oil or natural gas or hot water delivered via pipe from a nearby powerstation or wood pellets or geothermal, whatever is most effective given the infrastructure on site. If you take that out of the equation, and consider heating the room using electricity, it would only save some maintenance, and the cost to buy heat tape, things like that, but the electricity bill will go up.

I've had snakes die on me after eating when I didn't notice that their heat tape was off even though my snake room is plenty warm. In my opinion they DO need that hot spot.

BHB reptiles is the biggest breeder in the american continents and doesnt use heat tape or hotspots or anything. they have their giant ball python room at one temp, their giant coloubrid room at a different temp, their incubator room at incubator temps, and some smaller rooms that have the right temps for some other species. Do it right and it works.

[PitOnTheProwl]

I've had snakes die on me after eating when I didn't notice that their heat tape was off even though my snake room is plenty warm. In my opinion they DO need that hot spot.

That is a whole different debate.
Was it the meal, the lack of heat, OR something else??

[MarkS]

What type of snake, how big of a meal, and how warm was the room?

(Not arguing, i believe you, i just like to know for my own personal knowledge.)

It's actually happened to me several times. My room is typically around the high 70's to low 80's (degrees farenheit), rarely dropping below the mid 70's One was a subadult female hypo who ate a small rat, the GFI on the outlet had been tripped. Another time was an adult male albino who also ate a small rat. The Ranco thermostat had stopped working. (I've actually lost a few other snakes due to ranco thermostats that quit working, which is why I'll never buy another ranco thermostat) Both snakes meals were pretty typical for them and they had eaten meals that size before with no problems. Other snakes in the rack did not appear to have any problems digesting their meals. I'm not sure why some snakes would die and the rest were fine, but the only thing I was able to find that was different then usual was that the heat had been off.

[Coleslaw007]

It's actually happened to me several times. My room is typically around the high 70's to low 80's (degrees farenheit), rarely dropping below the mid 70's One was a subadult female hypo who ate a small rat, the GFI on the outlet had been tripped. Another time was an adult male albino who also ate a small rat. The Ranco thermostat had stopped working. (I've actually lost a few other snakes due to ranco thermostats that quit working, which is why I'll never buy another ranco thermostat) Both snakes meals were pretty typical for them and they had eaten meals that size before with no problems. Other snakes in the rack did not appear to have any problems digesting their meals. I'm not sure why some snakes would die and the rest were fine, but the only thing I was able to find that was different then usual was that the heat had been off.

That sucks. I've taken to keeping a probed Accurite in at *least* the lowest and highest tubs of my racks, I always know at a glance what my hotspot is at, this story makes me glad I got I that practice. Scary.

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[Trackstrong83]

Coleslaw, I'm paranoid about my temps too. I have an acurite in my top and bottom rack, along with a temp gun AND my herpstat lol

[Coleslaw007]

Haha same.

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