Heat panels in tank

[norwegn113]

Roaland, hope this helps some. I'm a professional cage builder , I live in an older house with drafty windows and my house temp stays around 68 -70 in the winter. I built my cages out of 3/4" plywood ( key factor ) I am using sliding glass doors in the front that I use 1/8" rubber bumpers as stops. No other air vents. Doors are not air tight so this provides enough fresh air. My cages are 2'×2'×4' same as what you are wanting. When I built my cage I raised the floor 1" to allow for a UTH on an inlay piece of glass. I am using a PH3 65 watt panel from pro products. ( I believe I paid about close to $100.00 with shipping ) I am running a herp stat 4 as my thermostat. ( I have a triple stack of cages so each cage gets 1 probe and the last output I use to control my led lights. ) for a single cage a herp stat 2 would work fine ( leave you an output to play with ) my set ups have been working flawlessly for past 2 years with just the RHP. I did not need to add the uth. Here are a few key points when using RHP..... things happen very slowly with them. Don't expect to plug them in and get immediate results. It takes days for the Temps to stabilize and to bring the 3/4" cage material up to even temps. Be patient! Also invest in a quality panel. Remember this is an investment and good panels are a one time buy. They will last 50 years or so. Plus if you are used to running ceramic heaters on full ( 100 watts × 24 hours ) you will see a HUGE saving on electric bill with 65 watt panel on proportional setting on your thermostat. ( probably paying for the panel with the saving in a year or two ) mounting the thermostat probe is controversial but can be mounted the way KMG did or closer to the floor. Both ways work the same in reality it's just a matter of what Temps you want to see on your display. ( dialing in temps can be tricky and is another topic ) ask and most members can help with that. So what you seek to do is possible it's just a matter of "taking the leap " so to say. Also humidity stays much better in this style cage vs open glass "fish tanks " I spray once a day or so to stay in the 50-60 % range.

[roaland]

That's very helpful! It will be my first enclosure so I'm just not sure what to expect out of it lol. Those panels last that long? Did not know that lol. The UTH I was looking at was from exotera, it's low watts so would I have to hook that up to the thermostat also? Also when cleaning out my current glass tank I lose temps like crazy and I wait to put my girl back in till it normalizes. How long do those things take to get the tank back to safe temps after a cleaning? Thanks a lot for the info! Elated a lot of my fears lol.

[norwegn113]

Roaland, yes I was told that the panels I bought were designed to have a 50 life expectancy. They are warrantied for 10 years so that in itself says something. If you do end up using an uth it is always good practice to put heating devices on a thermostat. What I like about the herpstat brand that some people dont know is that they are designed to turn off in a failsafe mode if they malfunction. Peace of mind that your animal will never suffer a burn. Ok as for losing temps quickly,remember things happen very slowly . Yes when you open the doors you will let cold temp in and temps will fall, however because of the 3/4 materials are acclimated your recovery will happen much faster than with 1/4" glass.

[roaland]

Ah yes that makes sense, thanks a ton! I'll prolly get a UTH even if I don't end up using it just to have something extra for a just in case moment. Maybe throw some heat tape insulation around the edges of the glass inlay to help hold the heat better. Thanks a million guys, really helped me ease my mind a little. Note I just gotta save up for this stuff haha

[Ari918]

im fairly new to owning snakes. ive had a few in the past, but i hadnt done the research. i was young and only looked at the basics. but im looking forward to purchasing a spider in the next year or so, have been doing research like crazy the past few days. i have a 20 gallon tank at home, and an under tank heating pad with an over head light. my question is, if i have both the heating pad, and a heat lamp, should i put them both on the same side of the tank? mind you i still have to purchase everything, which is why im giving myself a year minimum, but i want the absolute best for my potential new baby. within budget of course. doing the best with what i have if you will. thanks in advance for any advice.

[roaland]

You definitely want then both on the same side for the basking spot. Using both though if watch your temps to make sure they don't get to high. What I did was get a temp gun to use along with your thermometers to make your your surface temp isn't higher then your probes are telling you and with using both you may find during certain times of the year you may not even need the UTH. Just watch your surface temps and you'll be fine

[Sauzo]

Honestly, if you are getting the Proline cage, you wont need a UTH. Like I said, im using a 48x23x14 Proline and I got the PH3 65 watt Pro Product RHP with a Herpstat 1 and I can get the inside temps to 92 degrees if I want and that's not even putting a 1 inch insulation sheet down between the cage and the table its on since Bob told me being in a finished basement even with cement flooring with carpet on it, the heat can still travel through the bottom of the cage and to the floor. So I bet if I used the insulation on the flooring of the cage, I could hit even higher temps(not that I want to) but my boa likes it set to 87f. And that's with a house set at 70f in Washington state. So personally I wouldn't worry about anything except a RHP and thermostat to control it obviously.

[Sauzo]

im fairly new to owning snakes. ive had a few in the past, but i hadnt done the research. i was young and only looked at the basics. but im looking forward to purchasing a spider in the next year or so, have been doing research like crazy the past few days. i have a 20 gallon tank at home, and an under tank heating pad with an over head light. my question is, if i have both the heating pad, and a heat lamp, should i put them both on the same side of the tank? mind you i still have to purchase everything, which is why im giving myself a year minimum, but i want the absolute best for my potential new baby. within budget of course. doing the best with what i have if you will. thanks in advance for any advice.

For my bp, I put a ceramic heat emitter in the middle of my 30 gallon with the UTH on 1 side. The CHE is just to heat the air a bit to keep at least 78f on the coolest corner. The UTH is for the heat more or less. Best thing is look for the sticky in "basic husbandry" section which shows a step by step to setting up a 20 gallon.

[roaland]

Honestly, if you are getting the Proline cage, you wont need a UTH. Like I said, im using a 48x23x14 Proline and I got the PH3 65 watt Pro Product RHP with a Herpstat 1 and I can get the inside temps to 92 degrees if I want and that's not even putting a 1 inch insulation sheet down between the cage and the table its on since Bob told me being in a finished basement even with cement flooring with carpet on it, the heat can still travel through the bottom of the cage and to the floor. So I bet if I used the insulation on the flooring of the cage, I could hit even higher temps(not that I want to) but my boa likes it set to 87f. And that's with a house set at 70f in Washington state. So personally I wouldn't worry about anything except a RHP and thermostat to control it obviously.

I was gonna build a cage, 3/4" melamine. Guess I could just leave the bottom alone and dial the panels in while it's still cold outside. If need be I could just cut out a whole and lay some glass just caulk it down if I really needed the extra push. I wanna run the enclosure without the snake in it for a few weeks anyway to make sure I know what I'm doing since I've never used a thermostat for reptiles before.

I never even thought about insulation on the bottom. That's a great idea. I want a 2" gap anyway, that'd be perfect for stapling some down. Great idea sauzo

[roaland]

What kinda boa you got Sauzo?