Anyone using ambient heat only successfully?

[Polyangler]

Well I was just saying theoretically if you could use a rhp to get a constant even temp in the cage

You can. If your RHP is roughly half the size of your enclosure, you can set your T-stat to say 90deg, and everything under that RHP will be +/- a couple degree of 90. The temp on the other side will be something like 10deg cooler. That number will obviously fluctuate with ambient room temps though. To make a long story short, you can definitely maintain proper husbadry with either a RHP, or CHE paired with a T-stat. UTH isn't necessary, but it is nice to offer a hotspot to aid in digestion of heavier prey items.

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[JoshSloane]

Nah you aren't understanding me. I want to keep the room at an even 82 degrees. No hot spots, nothing hotter than 82. I'm asking if anyone who uses RHPs keep the entire enclosure at an appropriate ambient temp, no hot spots.

See what I mean?

[Polyangler]

Nah you aren't understanding me. I want to keep the room at an even 82 degrees. No hot spots, nothing hotter than 82. I'm asking if anyone who uses RHPs keep the entire enclosure at an appropriate ambient temp, no hot spots.

See what I mean?

Gottcha. Could definitely be done with an RHP so long as it was close to the size of your entire enclosure.

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[Sauzo]

With RHP and CHEs I get a hot spot of 90 and the cool side sits anywhere from 80-82 depending how cool the room gets with night and day. I keep the house ambient set at around 73 or so. I do hang the Herpstat probes next to the RHPs and CHEs down about 2" from the floor of the cage. So yes, they work to keep the whole enclosure temps right. And if you really want a hot spot, you can just put down a piece of slate or flat rock close to the RHP or CHE and it will warm up and give that hot spot but you need to adjust its position with a temp gun. I personally don't bother as both of my boas very rarely even sit under the RHP or CHE. They spend a lot of the time over on the cool side or halfway between. Once in a blue moon I catch them actually curled up under the heater.

And so you know, the RHP is a Pro Products PH3, the 65 watt version and it covers maybe 1/3 of the cage. The cage is a Proline 48x24x14 HDPE cage. For my CHEs, I use them in 40 gallon breeders for my BP and my little sunglow atm but will be switching everyone around when I order me up 2x AP T13s this summer but it will still be the same principle of how the heat works.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

To come back to the original question I use ambient heat alone from april to october/november.

First thing I live in the south, second my snake room is right under the roof so it allows me to achieve temps in the mid to high 80's during those month at NO COST.

For me it was a common sense decision really I could have the room on the main AC and have it cooled to 72/75 (temps we keep our house at) and have a hot spot of 86 or work with what I have. The room is sealed of from the AC unit and we let the temp rise and of course this means at this time of the year no hot spot is provided.

During the winter the room is heated with a oil filled heater and kept at 75 degrees while providing a hot spot of 86 degrees.

So basically efficiency wise I run that room at no cost most of the year, I still need to calculate the wattage for the winter and see if I would be better off keeping the room in the mid 80's and no hotspot vs 75 with hot spot, at this time I do not think it would be efficient as only a few racks are running (by that time most hatchling racks empty and off anyway)

I have done this for 6 years now since moving here prior to that the condition were different my animals were in the basement which had to be heated even in the warm month.

Some very successful breeders are doing the same thing on the top of my head the Barkers, and I know there are more.

So the bottom line is it can be done especially if it makes sense.

I believe there are a few thread about this where a few other members mention doing this as well.

[PitOnTheProwl]

Have you ever experimented with using just the oil heater and no heat tape?

I have note, yet. May try in a couple months when we start heating up.
My snake room usually runs an ambient temperature in the low 80s during our summer months. I am thinking all the THG also raises the ambient a degree or two.
I would love to see how much it would lower my electric bill..... Don't think it would be enough to offset the a/c in the shed for the rats.

I am wondering the same things as well as would it be beneficial to have a night drop and what would happen to breeding females when they are in cycle and seeking either hot or cold?

Not going to high jack more than saying its not needed to drop the temperatures.

[DennisM]

I do. I'm in south florida, so for about 8-9 month of the year I just open the snake room windows. It's always python weather. In the winter I go with an oil filled heater on a ve-300 tstat and close the windows.

[Marrissa]

I did for about a year when I lived in an apartment. I had tubs of snakes all over my room before I bought my bigger rack system. So best solution for that time was heating the room. I kept it about 84F. When I get my reptile room I will be going back to only ambient heat again. Just safer to me than lots of racks on heat tape.

[JodanOrNoDan]

I do. I'm in south florida, so for about 8-9 month of the year I just open the snake room windows. It's always python weather. In the winter I go with an oil filled heater on a ve-300 tstat and close the windows.

I am in the same area. I have been doing this the hard way for way to long. Going to block the room off like Deborah said so I can keep the rest of the place under air.

[JoshSloane]

Perfect. Honestly this is exactly what I wanted to hear! I really love the idea of only worrying about one heating source. I think I am going to give this a try.

So what is the optimum ambient temperature to keep the entire room at? Maybe 81-84?