So I'm in the process of building my own enclosures and got kinda stuck on heating... VE RHP's are out of my budget at the moment. Since I know it's going to be suggested, so are DHP's (OK the bulbs themselves aren't... The dimming thermostats to keep them from burning out quickly are, the ones I have in mind are analog (simple on/off) which would cause DHP's to burn out rather quickly). My current solution was to add 2x CHE's internally to each enclosure with a wire mesh installed to keep the snake from coming into direct contact with it (Which would work... But would make changing bulbs a PITA)



A post on reddit from a guy in Germany who couldn't get VE heat panels linked a chicken coop panel and it got me thinking... So I checked amazon, and sure enough there's a 200w chicken coop heater for ~ half the price of an 80w VE panel. I could easily build a mounting system for it (PVC for the walls, screen for the face) to keep the snake from coming into direct contact or hitting the power button. Assuming I used it with a thermostat (since 200w is way too powerful), would this work? Does anyone see any glaring issues as to why I shouldn't do this?