PCV advise

[whispersinmyhead]

Well i have had my ball for half a year now and I have the itch for more. I built a large cabinet and enclosure with tons of help from a number of members here and it is fantastic. Only one problem It is a 4x2x2 cage with a 3 foot high cabinet. It looks great and fun to keep decorated. Now the problem is I need more ballz and maybe a boa. I say need because the Toronto reptile expo was like offering a drug addict a needle. I barely escaped.

My neighbour came and he bought a 2x2x1 PVC cage and a heat pad. I am waiting to hear how the ambient temps are. His hot spot is good but I have a cooler house. 68-74 is about our room temp most of the time. Winter can be chilli at 68-70. I want to get a couple 4x2x1 PVC cages for a couple more balls and start to build a small collection. I want to be able to stack them if I go this route. I am don't want to go this way if I am going to fight with ambient temps though. I have perfect temps right now. I like the idea of having enclosures that I can see in, and add appeal to our living room. I realize now ball pythons don't come out much (unless that changes with age). PVC looks like a great addition but if I have to use heat lamps it defeats the purpose for me. I don't have a room I can dedicate to snakes unfortunately. If I can't find a suitable alternative to my current enclosure I will have to look at other species I fear.

Any experiences from those of you who have cooler rooms is most appreciated.

Thanks
Jim

[The Serpent Merchant]

Kitedemon is the guy to talk to, but PVC cages, espicially the ones made from 1/2" thick PVC hold heat in very well. 68-70 should be fine

[whispersinmyhead]

Yeah it seems like they will be a good option. I saw them at the expo and they are so light! If I can get away with a heatpad or flex watt I will go for it. Herpstat 4 and 3-4 cages. In stages as finances allow of course.

[el8ch]

I use Powerhouse Display PVC's in my quarantine room now. Before I had a dedicated room for them they were in the basement, I ran 11 inch heat tape at the back of each display and stacked them. The risidual heat from the stacked PVC's maintained an ambient airtemp of 78 degrees when the hot spots were set at 90. The room temperature in the basement was 70.

When you stack the PVCs you will most likely have to run the different levels off of different thermostats to keep a consistent hot spot. I learned this the hard way, initially I I had 3 stacks of PVCs on the same thermostat with the probe on the bottom row. There was too much variance between the 3 levels. Ended up adding a second herpstat that monitored the top 2 rows, while the original monitored the bottom row.

Now, Herpstat 4's run everything. Setups are perfect.

This is what worked for me, it can be done.

[kitedemon]

el8ch has a elegant solution. My set up is a bit more complex, I have a draft old place and my winter temps are often low 60s brutal to heat. The hot spot is easy I don't like flexwatt on PVC as it sags and I can't afford to loose much to a sag, I use peel and stick (the other reason is Canadian law. I run a business and electrical wiring, by law, in commercial space needs an electrician to do the installation. My office in my house counts.) I have no issue with the hot spot. I run a second pad on the rest of the enclosure (this is a bit sketchy as heating 100% of the floor in the event of a Tstat failure can be fatal.) I run a fail safe of the t-stat and the secondary pad is a low wattage ultratherm in my room it actually will not heat even to 90º so it increases the safe margin. This provides cool end temps. I have full control over cool and warm surface temps this way. The gain in ambient is low only 2-5º over the room... not enough. I found adding insulation (blue or pink foam) to top back sides gains me 4-7º more degrees. High sixties in my case this maybe enough depending on the room temps. However Like yourself I enjoy looking at my set ups (snake in hides or not it doesn't matter) I use a fluorescent light mounted on the inside of the enclosure (this is the way my first PVC enclosure arrived) I found that the light was 100ºF wile on and added 8-10º ambient temps. That brings me to high 70s low 80s. Perfect until after dark. I then added a blue (deep blue) waterproof (aquarium) string of LED lights. LED should not add much to temps but I was surprised to find they run about 90ºF I asked a electrician and was told that the 110 set up needed step down voltage and this is what is generating the heat.

I run white daylight 8-8 and blue 7-9 this holds temps well when we get a particularly cool stretch I leave the LEDs on 24/7 to add some extra and during the summer I switch the timer to daylight 9-11 4-7 and the blue to 12am-4am as I don't need a kick to the temps as badly. During a hot time I just power the whole works off.

My surface temps are 100% stable due to Tstats (2 probes) the ambient temps run lowest about 76º and gain through the day to max at 85º it is quite gradual and natural. This is what I found works for my situation. My enclosures are in my office, dining room, bedroom, living room and reptile room. Stacking is a great method and would help a fair bit (I also run a rack very similar and el8ch multiple probe over levels I do with the rack too. The top and bottom are separate zones) I just choose not to. My snakes are special to me and part of my family and I keep them where I can enjoy them as long as that does not compromise their well being.

[whispersinmyhead]

Wow thanks! Kitedemon it sounds like you are way worse off than I am. I also use blue LED lights in my current setup and love them. I think if I have to I will add a fluorescent fixture in there for daylight to help the ambient. I didn't even think about adding one inside PVC I was just going to use LED. At least if I fin I need a few degrees more the move from daylight LED's to fluorescent will help.


El8ch I think you have a closer situation to mine. Thanks for posting. I planned in using a Herpstat 4 to run 3-4 cages so each one was controlled separately. Thanks for reinforcing my thought process.

I am a ways off of getting this setup because I am moving to Nothern Ontario (Timmins area) in a course months. The room temps will be about the same though. It is a well heated home. I just didn't want to buy a PVC enclosure and have to resort to using CHE's or headlamps. That defeats the purpose of PVC for me. I will also have cages up and running well in advance of a snake purchase.

Thanks again everyone.