Racks in Colder Climates

[Purkinje]

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

[dr del]

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

[JD Constriction]

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

[Argentra]

Indeed. Add some blue foam insulation board to the outside back and sides of the cages and you might see some better results. I had a 4x2 RBI cage that wouldn't really hold the heat either since I keep my home rather cool as well, but insulating it really helped. (Sold that cage after I decided to build a rack)

I used to keep my winter temps at 68...but made the "sacrifice" when I got snakes and raised that to 72. All my enclosures, from tubs to tanks, have insulation around them and I have an oil-filled space heater that runs near the enclosures during winter. It's one of the few things about keeping snakes that my (rather skinny) BF likes.

As for racks, you might be able to boost efficiency if you wrapped the outside of the rack with insulation and covered the front with a blanket or something similar at night. Just some off the top ideas.

[Purkinje]

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

[Argentra]

Hmm... 1- BPs don't 'bask' per say, they stay in one hide or the other depending on their temp desires.
2- I wouldn't go lower then 90 for the warm side temps. 80's are for the cool side.

As for 'sideways' I assume you mean long instead of deep. Well, that's how I built mine:



Saves space IMO and is easier to maintain a gradient. Also lets you see more . For heating, I used UTHs - 30gal size for warm sides for better coverage and 10gal size for cool sides. That's just how I do it, tho.

[West Coast Jungle]

I use a ranco with an oil filled heater in the room with snakes to control temps.

[dsirkle]

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

[Kara]

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~

[Argentra]

Aww... thank you! Coming from you, Kara, that is a HUGE compliment that made my month!