Questions about AP cages and RHPs.

[Twisted_Angel]

Thanks for all the replies. I have been reading other threads about RHPs because I am getting ready to place my order, but most of them keep repeating that Radiant Heat Panels do not raise the ambient temperature.

In the winter, the temperatures in the room they must stay in after quarantine can drop below the low 60s. Heating the room is not an option for multiple reasons. Considering the amount of money I am about to drop on these two enclosures, I want everything to work year-round, automatically, without any fuss. If RHPs cannot raise the ambient temperatures in the PVC cages 20+ degrees (if necessary), I need to go with something else. I don't like CHEs for multiple reasons but if I need that instead to deal with the ambient temps, I will have them put in the screen cutouts and find a way to deal with safety/humidity issues. Does anyone have any input?

Again, heating the room is not an option and the ambient temperature in the cages may at times have to be 20+ degrees higher than the rest of the room.

[chrid16371]

Rhp heats objects like substrate, hides, decor, your snake etc and does heat the ambient some. Rhp is actually the best choice in your situation. My house stays around 60-65 all year round, I heat 2 of my snakes with rhp (soon to be 3) and one snake a uth on each side. They all eat good and are healthy. The 2 cages I have rhps in and the 1 cage I've been testing for the new addition I'm getting this week run a 90 degree hot spot with a 79 cool when it's the coldest in my house and 81.6 when its the warmest, one of the cages stays between 81-83 on the cool side. Rhp will work great in your situation like it does mine.

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[Sauzo]

Just set up my T11 a few weeks ago... still waiting on my first shed since moving my two BP's into the divided habitat. I ordered it around the 1st of the year.. it Arrived near the end of April. It is located on a custom built/stained entertainment center that we ordered with other furniture in late 2015 so the "stand" matches the rest of the suite's furniture. Glass sliding doors. Lock. No basking shelf. Ordered the LED strip in Red. I have the divider in the middle, two 40 watt Pro Products RHP's, one in each "inside" corner. Heat and humidity monitored/controlled by a Herpstat 4. The T11 is 18Hx24Dx48W... its partitioned into two 18x24x24 cages, each with two to three hides and some vertical relief... and big water bowls in one corner. The Herpstat gives me 88 degrees in the hot corner during the day and 80 degrees there at night. Temp probe lays on top of the bedding, directly under the respective RHP's. I installed the RHP's using gorilla glue on the back face of the RHP's and then I through-drilled the Enclosure top via the RHP's mounting hole and used a single pop rivet to ensure the panel doesn't fall. I've never.. EVER.. had a gorilla glue failure, so the pop rivet is simply belt and suspenders. I will get a flexible drill shaft if I want to get up close to the divider and through-drill the other hole.. but its low on my list.

I'm still finding the sweet spot with humidity. I previously had a glass cages with screen tops and basking lamps/UTH for heat. Previously the glass case with screen top required lots of screen being covered, and a mister/humidifier being piped in to keep humidity up, particularly during shed times.. The AP cage with cypress mulch goes to 98% humidity at first.. a month later its just now getting to 75%.. my next bedding will be a little drier, and I will just bump the humidity when shed starts either by spritzing it a bit, or tossing some fresh mulch in. No supplemental humidification used thus far.

My habitats are not complete yet.. and will have some sort of perch arrangement devised that will allow them or their prey to climb in the cage. The glass cages had a vine that my adult was fond of hanging along... I DID have a fake plastic log in the adult's cage that was awesome looking but was just hollow enough for him to go completely INTO but not get out of. We had to cut it apart to get him out as he wasn't appearing able to back out. Will be sealing the hole on the next fake log.

So far: The LED crapped out on day 1 and went from steady on to continuously pulsing. There are no user controls to adjust this. I think it was a faulty power supply. Just haven't gotten around to getting another one yet, but if the replacement craps out I will do my own led lighting install. Holds heat and humidity like a champ. I will need to revise my procedures to adapt to the humidity issues and keep it on target.

If I order another AP enclosure, I will likely not be using the LED lights. I would otherwise do it all the same again: Glass sliders, lock, RHP's

Not an expert.. just a few steps above noob, but sharing what I've done, based on what I learned on this forum myself.

Same here with the LED lights. I ordered 2 T10s and just tonight ordered a 3rd T10 to round out the cages for what I got now. Now I have an extra Proline 48x24x14 which i'm not sure what I will do with it. Might put something else in it or sell it on CL and order another AP cage if needed. I was going to do the LED lights but opted to just order the ones from RBI along with the RHPs. The Proline has a Pro Products PH3 in it now but I want to try the RBI ones. Otherwise I did the same set up, glass sliding doors, locks but I did shelves in all of mine as my BP loves to climb around at night. Are the LEDs that AP mount in there sealed in place? I was thinking the exact thing of "what happens if they fizzle out?" Am I going to have to literally hack the roof of the cage apart to get them out to replace them.

[Sauzo]

Thanks for all the replies. I have been reading other threads about RHPs because I am getting ready to place my order, but most of them keep repeating that Radiant Heat Panels do not raise the ambient temperature.

In the winter, the temperatures in the room they must stay in after quarantine can drop below the low 60s. Heating the room is not an option for multiple reasons. Considering the amount of money I am about to drop on these two enclosures, I want everything to work year-round, automatically, without any fuss. If RHPs cannot raise the ambient temperatures in the PVC cages 20+ degrees (if necessary), I need to go with something else. I don't like CHEs for multiple reasons but if I need that instead to deal with the ambient temps, I will have them put in the screen cutouts and find a way to deal with safety/humidity issues. Does anyone have any input?

Again, heating the room is not an option and the ambient temperature in the cages may at times have to be 20+ degrees higher than the rest of the room.

An RHP should do fine. You will probably want to go with a higher wattage one though to play it safe. A RHP is basically a "touch safe" CHE in panel form. If your room gets that cold in winter, you might want to think about a space heater for that room. I use RHPs in my cages now and will be using RHPs in the 3 AP T10s I just ordered as well but I keep my house around 75F so in my quarantine/glass tanks, I just run heat tape on one side and just ambient room temps. Of course its all controlled with Herpstats.

Also you might want to place a flat rock like a piece of slate or flagstone under the RHP off to the side a little to act as a heater too.

RHPs do heat the air, that is their main function really. They heat whatever is under them which in turn heats the air and they also heat the air itself just from their warmth. Generally with my RHPs, I just set the Herpstat probe on the cool side of the cage and set it for 80F/ Then let the warm side get to whatever, which is usually around 86F. Never had a problem in over 3 years. You don't have to give a hot spot of 90F as long as your ambient is around 86F. I'm not really sure where the whole 90F hotspot idea came from as both my boas pretty much hate anything over 88F and my BP only sits on her 88F for a few hours after eating. Rest of the time she spends in her cool side hide.

[chrid16371]

RHPs do heat the air, that is their main function really. They heat whatever is under them which in turn heats the air and they also heat the air itself just from their warmth. Generally with my RHPs, I just set the Herpstat probe on the cool side of the cage and set it for 80F/ Then let the warm side get to whatever, which is usually around 86F. Never had a problem in over 3 years. You don't have to give a hot spot of 90F as long as your ambient is around 86F. I'm not really sure where the whole 90F hotspot idea came from as both my boas pretty much hate anything over 88F and my BP only sits on her 88F for a few hours after eating. Rest of the time she spends in her cool side hide.

Im not sure of the 90 degree hot spot either but I think the point of the hotspot is to give a 10 degree gradient so the bp can choose where it wants to be rather than guess at the temp. As an owner you need to monitor your snakes behavior (like yours not liking anything over 88) and adjust accordingly. Two of mine love there hot 90 degree side and another spends most of the cool side and after eliminating everything else I have now dropped the temp a few degrees and seeing if that changes anything. The 90 degree is a good starting point to figure out what temp your snakes feel comfortable at and it usually works for a lot of people. I personally put my thermostat probe on the hot side so it will maintain one temp and being that my house maintains a pretty consistent temp my cool side stays in the appropriate range and only fluctuates a couple of degrees now and then.

The best option to make sure you get a rhp that will heat your cages right is to call pro-products and they will ask you some information of species, cage, room temperature, etc and will tell you what rhp to order. I would order from them bc they will give you one that is the appropriate dimensions for your cage and watts for your room temp. I own a couple of reptile basics rhp but you may need more power than the 80w but the 120w is a little to big measurement wise to put in 48in ap cage IMO. Pro-products is your best bet so you know everything will be right when you get it instead of being stuck with one that doesn't work for you and you can't send it back since it will be used once you figure out it doesn't heat correctly. I love reptile basics and even though they are cheaper I don't want you to end up having to buy a different one if one from them doesn't work.

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[Doggtyred]

Thanks for all the replies. I have been reading other threads about RHPs because I am getting ready to place my order, but most of them keep repeating that Radiant Heat Panels do not raise the ambient temperature.

In the winter, the temperatures in the room they must stay in after quarantine can drop below the low 60s. Heating the room is not an option for multiple reasons. Considering the amount of money I am about to drop on these two enclosures, I want everything to work year-round, automatically, without any fuss. If RHPs cannot raise the ambient temperatures in the PVC cages 20+ degrees (if necessary), I need to go with something else. I don't like CHEs for multiple reasons but if I need that instead to deal with the ambient temps, I will have them put in the screen cutouts and find a way to deal with safety/humidity issues. Does anyone have any input?

Again, heating the room is not an option and the ambient temperature in the cages may at times have to be 20+ degrees higher than the rest of the room.

In my T-11 the RHP's keep the enclosure plenty warm. The Under Tank Heaters provide belly heat but nothing of substance to warming the enclosure. Perhaps you are confusing the two?

Both of my snake's primary hides are fake stone (compressed mineral, not plastic) so they absorb and radiate heat, helping warm the air. The Herpstat probes are on the substrate next to the enclosures

If for some reason the RHP's you get are inadequate, you can always use a room heater or a heat lamp to raise ambient a little higher. To say that room heat is not an option as a backup is taking a very valid option off the table. If these are non-negotiable absolutes, without flexibility, then you might need to honestly look at what you are trying to do, and if its a good idea or not to proceed as planned. No sense setting oneself up for failure.

Talk to whomever is making the RHP's you might want to use, and ask them what they recommend for the size of your enclosure, the composition of your enclosure and the ambient temperature where it will be located. The vendor can help you size appropriately. Pro Products did so for me. I used a 40 watt for each side of my enclosure. They come much bigger than that, 80 - 120 watt.. and I cant imagine one not being up to the task in the setting you are proposing, with the insulating properties of a PVC enclosure.