Winter heating

[Ditto]

So I've had my BP for a little over 2 months and I've been heating his enclosure with a single UTH (hooked up to a thermostat, of course), and until recently it's been working fine for his ambient temps as well as his hotspot. But for the past week or so it's been pretty cold and I've been having some trouble keeping his ambient temps up, so I think I'm going to get a CHE to help with that over the winter.
I know that I would need to use a thermostat with it, and mine has two outlets, so I was wondering if I could use the same thermostat for both heat sources? I'm a bit concerned because it only has one probe
I'm not sure I could afford another thermostat right now, so if I cant use mine with a CHE are there any other methods of extra heating I could try?

[Craiga 01453]

If your ambient room temps aren't staying in the mid 80s you'll need an additional heat source. Your options are CHE, bulbs or a RHP (radiant heat panel). All of which will need to be regulated.

I've never used one, but I know people use rheostats (essentially dimmer switches) that can be bought fairly inexpensively at hardware stores.

[Ditto]

If your ambient room temps aren't staying in the mid 80s you'll need an additional heat source. Your options are CHE, bulbs or a RHP (radiant heat panel). All of which will need to be regulated.

I've never used one, but I know people use rheostats (essentially dimmer switches) that can be bought fairly inexpensively at hardware stores.

Do you know if there's a good way to insulate the tank while I save up a bit for a new thermostat? Would it be better to buy a cheap thermostat sooner or wait until I can buy a better one?

[Craiga 01453]

Do you know if there's a good way to insulate the tank while I save up a bit for a new thermostat? Would it be better to buy a cheap thermostat sooner or wait until I can buy a better one?

I use 1/2" foam board insulation to wrap the back and sides of my glass enclosures. I also use it on the top screen with a hole cut out for the heat lamp. You can buy a 4'x8' sheet for about $15 If I remember correctly. It helps immensely with heat and humidity control. It also helps out with the electric bill since the heating equipment is running more efficiently.

As for a tstat, you're going to need one, no way around it. Since temps are dropping quickly, you'll need one right away, so get what you can. You can always upgrade later.
Hopefully somebody with experience using a rheostat will chime in, I just have never used one.

And just a thought, but it's important to have some money stashed away for emergencies. Equipment fails, emergency vet visits are always a possibility, etc... so once you have your new equipment try to stash a few bucks away when you can (I know, not easy sometimes. Trust me, I get it, I don't make much money in my line of work). But it's important and it would suck if something happened and the snake suffered for financial reasons.

If you need help with the foam board insulation thing let me know. I'm happy to help.

[Ditto]

I use 1/2" foam board insulation to wrap the back and sides of my glass enclosures. I also use it on the top screen with a hole cut out for the heat lamp. You can buy a 4'x8' sheet for about $15 If I remember correctly. It helps immensely with heat and humidity control. It also helps out with the electric bill since the heating equipment is running more efficiently.

As for a tstat, you're going to need one, no way around it. Since temps are dropping quickly, you'll need one right away, so get what you can. You can always upgrade later.
Hopefully somebody with experience using a rheostat will chime in, I just have never used one.

And just a thought, but it's important to have some money stashed away for emergencies. Equipment fails, emergency vet visits are always a possibility, etc... so once you have your new equipment try to stash a few bucks away when you can (I know, not easy sometimes. Trust me, I get it, I don't make much money in my line of work). But it's important and it would suck if something happened and the snake suffered for financial reasons.

If you need help with the foam board insulation thing let me know. I'm happy to help.

Thank you so much for the advice! I think I'm gonna order a CHE & a cheap thermostat (and possibly foam board) now so i should have that within a few days (there's unfortunately no where near me where I can get that stuff)
How do you attach the foam board?
Also, this seems like kind of a dumb question, but I've never used a heat lamp before, will I need a stand or something like that? I know I need thea ctual lamp part + the CHE but can it be placed directly on a screen top or should it be suspended in some way?

[Craiga 01453]

Thank you so much for the advice! I think I'm gonna order a CHE & a cheap thermostat (and possibly foam board) now so i should have that within a few days (there's unfortunately no where near me where I can get that stuff)
How do you attach the foam board?
Also, this seems like kind of a dumb question, but I've never used a heat lamp before, will I need a stand or something like that? I know I need thea ctual lamp part + the CHE but can it be placed directly on a screen top or should it be suspended in some way?

My pleasure, happy to help. And believe me, I work on a pretty tight budget, so I get it.

Honestly, even if you wait a few weeks, the insulation pays for itself in no time. Once you add a CHE you'll see how much it zaps humidity, but the insulation curbs that extremely well. If you want to PM me I'll give you a step by step on how I do the insulation. You can make it simply functional or you can pretty it up, but that's up to you.

As for the lamp, I just rest mine on the screens.