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Racks in Colder Climates
I'm narrowing down my rack purchase options and am concerned for the cold months (in WI it that's most of them). We keep the house @ 67-68 in the winter but prfer 65 and one rack company said that it would really be pushing it keeping their rack at good BP temps w/ those kind of ambients and the other said no problemo (both racks have belly heat). I have two Boaphile cages sitting here unoccupied because they just can't hold the heat and I don't want to make the same mistake with a rack . Thoughts or more specifically, experiences? I'd love to have a dedicated herp room but that ain't an option; nor is moving at this point...
Best,
Jon
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Re: Racks in Colder Climates
Hi,
Can you add external insulation to the boaphiles in any way?
Might be tricky to get it looking the way you want but it will probably help with the temps.
dr del
Derek
7 adult Royals (2.5), 1.0 COS Pastel, 1.0 Enchi, 1.1 Lesser platty Royal python, 1.1 Black pastel Royal python, 0.1 Blue eyed leucistic ( Super lesser), 0.1 Piebald Royal python, 1.0 Sinaloan milk snake 1.0 crested gecko and 1 bad case of ETS. no wife, no surprise.
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Re: Racks in Colder Climates
I'm in Iowa and luckily have a dedicated herp room currently. But didn't for quite awhile.
What I found is that commercial racks didn't typically have enough heat to support midwest winters. What I usually ended up doing was either placing a space heater within close proximity of the rack and/or adding extra heattape to the enclosure. An added row of 3 or 4 inch heat tape tended to help temps quite a bit.
Something also to remember is that the ambient air temp and the temp in the front of the rack are sometimes not the same because the hot air from the heated keeps it just a bit warmer.
Hope that helps
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Registered User
Re: Racks in Colder Climates
All very helpful, thank you. I'd like to move on from the cages and go with a rack. Can I ask thoughts on a "sideways" rack Vs. a "regular" w/ regard to my lower winter temps in the house? Seems like more flexwatt per inch on the sideways rack. General thoughts about sideways Vs regular?
Also, was just reading my recently purchased Barker book and they were saying (don't quote me) a basking of upper 80's.Best,
-J
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Re: Racks in Colder Climates
I use a ranco with an oil filled heater in the room with snakes to control temps.
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Re: Racks in Colder Climates
I faced the same problem last year. I keep my house temperature at no higher than 68 degrees in the winter and the rack temperature wouldn't keep up. One thing that I did was to buy a reflective sheet that you put in a windshield in a parked car to reflect sunlight to keep a car interior cool in the summer at a Big Lot store for a dollar or two. This is the same material as reflectivex insulation which is much more expensive. I cut a piece to fit the backwall of the backheated rack.That did raise the temperature a few degrees but it didn't quite raise it enough. I ended up putting an electric space heater hooked to a ranco thermostat in the bedroom that I use as a reptile room to solve the problem. But you say that you don't have a dedicated herp room so that may not help you. Casey Hulse of Nature's Spirit offers on his website a rack with extra heat for use in lower than average temperatures. You may want to talk to him. www.nsreptiles.com
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Re: Racks in Colder Climates
Originally Posted by Argentra
Ok, I *really like* this setup. Why? Because it's not a "commercial" rack system, but shows the efforts of a keeper who has taken the needs of her captives into consideration & thus built enclosures to accommodate them.
Snake cages don't have to be state of the art. They DO have to be effective, and this is a great example. I love the fact that as herpers we can be inventive & "think outside the sweater box" when it comes to caging solutions that allow us to really enjoy these animals while meeting their needs as well.
Good stuff. Thanks for sharing!
K~
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