Ambient heat, only?

[ringorock]

Has anyone successfully kept and bred on ambient heat alone? I am converting a small room with no windows to my snake room and was curious to see if I can get away with just heating the room and not having to buy flexheat for every rack slot.

Just curious.

[DennisM]

yes. all that matters is that the temp in the enclosure is in the required range. How that temp is achieved is irrelevant to the snake.

In 20+ years of keeping pythons, I've never heated an individual enclosure. If you have the luxury of a snake room and a collection of reptiles this will work with, I think ambient is the only way to go.

[ringorock]

Thanks! That's what I thought.

[JodanOrNoDan]

I am on 100% ambient. It makes life soooooo much easier. Just make sure you get the air in the room circulating. There can be a big difference in temp between the top and bottom of the rack.

[ringorock]

I am on 100% ambient. It makes life soooooo much easier. Just make sure you get the air in the room circulating. There can be a big difference in temp between the top and bottom of the rack.

The room is 6x6x8. It's one of my walk-in closets. I bought an oscillating ceramic heater with a digital thermostat and controls. I plan on putting it on another thermostat for fail safe purposes. I think that should be adequate for a room that small, right?

What is everyone's ideal temp for ambient only heating?

[OhhWatALoser]

I just switched to ambient this year, 1 clutch has hatched so far and I have 10-15 females that looks promising to drop eggs, so I'll see what happens. I did 82 dec-april, and just bumped it up to 86 for the rest of the year.

[JodanOrNoDan]

The room is 6x6x8. It's one of my walk-in closets. I bought an oscillating ceramic heater with a digital thermostat and controls. I plan on putting it on another thermostat for fail safe purposes. I think that should be adequate for a room that small, right?

What is everyone's ideal temp for ambient only heating?

I use an oil filled radiator with a ceiling fan moving the air. I have a backup oscillating heater for when the oil filled cannot keep up. I have to make sure the oscillating on is blowing away from the racks otherwise some racks get hotter than others. Your area is smaller than mine which may make the issue larger. Buy a couple digital thermometers and place them in tubs at the extremes of the room (all four corners) and do some test runs without animals. It is my guess with a room of that size you might be better off with a radiator if you can keep it far enough away from the tubs. The radiator seems to use less power also. Make sure your thermostat can handle the pull of the heater. It is my belief that the radiators are more reliable also.

[ringorock]

I use an oil filled radiator with a ceiling fan moving the air. I have a backup oscillating heater for when the oil filled cannot keep up. I have to make sure the oscillating on is blowing away from the racks otherwise some racks get hotter than others. Your area is smaller than mine which may make the issue larger. Buy a couple digital thermometers and place them in tubs at the extremes of the room (all four corners) and do some test runs without animals. It is my guess with a room of that size you might be better off with a radiator if you can keep it far enough away from the tubs. The radiator seems to use less power also. Make sure your thermostat can handle the pull of the heater. It is my belief that the radiators are more reliable also.

The ceramic that I bought runs at 900 and 1500 watts, so I think the 1000 watt rated thermostat will be okay if I run it at 900. Being that the room is only a 6x6, I think the 900 will cover for summer and winter. Because it is a closet, the room as no windows and is insulated very well. I'll also pick up a radiated heater as a backup or vice versa.

[OhhWatALoser]

The ceramic that I bought runs at 900 and 1500 watts, so I think the 1000 watt rated thermostat will be okay if I run it at 900. Being that the room is only a 6x6, I think the 900 will cover for summer and winter. Because it is a closet, the room as no windows and is insulated very well. I'll also pick up a radiated heater as a backup or vice versa.

Herpstat sells a 1500watt thermostat made for spacer heaters and such, it's on/off type but has all the other bells and whistles of herpstat, I think it's called the herpstat hp.

As long as it's insulated well, you could probably heat that room with much less, my 1500watt heater does a 10 x 20 without issue