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.
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