Is this for a Ball or the Boa you mentioned as were in the BP Husbandry Sub Forum?
If this is for a Terrestrial snake I would not go 30” high. My highest PVC enclosures are 24”.
I use 4’x24”x24” and 8’x36”x24”.
The taller/higher the enclosure the harder to heat & keep Humidity unless its a tree snake.
I use all RHP from Pro Products like Dakski mentioned.
The way a RHP works is by heating objects, the snake included. Your ambient temp will come from the objects not the source itself.
Yes you can feel heat coming off of the RHP but the whole point of them is in heating the hides, surfaces etc and in return those creating the temp inside the enclosure. Just like any heat source of course the closer to the radiant heat panel the more heat that object will receive. This is how you get your hotside/coolside.
I suggest using a herpstat proportional thermostat. I also suggest going up one size to a bigger radiant heat panel than the company you go with suggests. For instance Bob at pro panels always recommends 100 to 120 W for me & I go with the 150. For $20 more I’d rather have the extra than not enough in a particular situation. I also keep my house cool year-round and I do not heat the snake room separately for ambient temperatures. I run central air all summer and lower heat in the winter. During the day my house is 68 to 70 max and at night 64. Once you go below 68° a smaller radiant heat panel that is less than 100 Watt has a hard time keeping a cool side above 78 to 80 even though the hot side will stay 90. Example, at night my Hotside would go down from 91 to 88.8 - 90 which is fine but the coolside would go from 79 to 75 and I do not like that. All my radiant heat panels and the probes are installed on the hot side. Some do the probe on the cool side but because I keep my rooms cooler that was creating a problem on the hot side.
When I first install them I do have to play with the power percentage on the herpstat because sometimes your hot side can be up to temp quickly and shut down but your cool side will not be warm enough. In that case I lower the power percentage on the herpstat to 80%, that way the radiant heat panels run for a longer period of time on lower wattage instead of getting hot so quickly and shutting down fast. In return this helps keep the cool side a bit warmer with the consistent slow heating of the panel. It’s hard to explain but you would figure it out quickly.
I enjoy having such great setups. I have Herpstat 2’s for Tstats.
They have alarms you set, and the % of power you want to run. Ive had one going on 10 years without a hiccup. They are a wonderful investment. I do not recommend the cheap herpstat models like the EZ. If funds are an issue just get a herpstat 1. Which is $135 i believe. The Hepstat 2 I get on sale and pay $175. Normally $195. However it’s a lot cheaper to buy that then two herpstat 1’s. I use the 2’s because I have more than one heat source in my 8 foot enclosure and I heat both of my 4 foot enclosures with one herpstat 2.
I hang my probes down the back wall where my cords for the RHP comes in and they hang 3/4 of the way down. Maybe 5” off the floor.
When I check with a Laser, my Hot Spots are within 2° of what my herpstat’s are set at. Wonderful products.
For my Cool Side temp and humidity I use a sensor push. Those I can read off my iPad or iPhone. They are $50 each and worth every penny. Very accurate also.
If you use the search on top you’ll find several threads on these products that I’m talking about as we have all talked about installs and adjustments. If you have any questions there’s a lot of people here that love to help.
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