switching to plastic

[PJ FF]

okay, it seems that alot of people are switching to plastic for more convenience of space and maintenance. I want to and I have read everything on this page http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&id=40

. So I still have some questions that weren’t answered or possibly did not read good enough. Im going to go with the lamp on top. Will I still need a heat pad under the cage? If so, is there any percostions I should take as of making sure it doesn’t burn the snake or melt the plastic.

Thank you,
PJ

[Shelby]

Just curious why you want a lamp instead of an under tank heater. Lamps suck out valuable humidity and are harder to control temp-wise than a foot of flexwatt and a thermostat.

As long as you have a thermostat, you won't burn the plastic.

[buckdawg]

Just curious why you want a lamp instead of an under tank heater. Lamps suck out valuable humidity and are harder to control temp-wise than a foot of flexwatt and a thermostat.

because UTH's are worthless for ambient temps. Initially I had just an 11" flexwatt for a heat source and constantly struggled with temps. Barely hovering over the 76 -78 degree line on the cool side. Those were belly heat temps too, you can imagine what the ambients were. I was left with little choice but to purchase a lamp. I installed a lamp dimmer and only need the light about halfway lit to supply the heat necessary to achieve safe temps.
Unfortunately, once installed my humidity did take a big hit so now I enjoy misting the cage twice daily. Everything must be OK because he shed last night and I didn't notice anything unusual. However, he also ate yesterday so I can't pick him up to get a good look at him. His eyes are bright and shiny so I assume no eyecaps were left on. Have to wait til Wednesday to check for sure.

[Smulkin]

because UTH's are worthless for ambient temps.

How so? I could maybe see that being the case if the room temp outside the enclosure were cold but all of our little wards do just fine with UTH - none need other heat devices to get their ambient temps where they need to be.

[buckdawg]

How so? I could maybe see that being the case if the room temp outside the enclosure were cold but all of our little wards do just fine with UTH - none need other heat devices to get their ambient temps where they need to be.

You're correct, I wasn't concise enough in my explanation.
The room temp is quite low (even for most human beings ) therefore the ambients inside the cage are low. I needed the lamp to raise the temps to the correct level. I only have the one snake so don't have a room dedicated to herps (yet! ) where I could justify a space heater or other alternate means of heating.

[Smulkin]

Gotcha.

Our basement (where half the collection resides) is in the same boat - we've popped a space heater nearby and wrapped the shelving unit all the bins are in in plastic sheeting leaving the front open. Once the kids sart heading to college we will quickly abscond with their room and convert it muwhahahha. Am sure the girlfriends they bring home with them will be anxious to share THAT room. We'll make sure we truck the tarantulas up there too of course!

[buckdawg]

That is a good solution, I actually might try that. Does your space heater run 24/7 in the basement? I notice that you live in WV and the climate there is probably similar to what ours is here in OH.

I tried to keep him in the basement but man it gets COLD down there!!! I thought about cordoning off a room with some sort of curtain or something so that the space heater wouldn't necessarily need to heat the entire basement, just a fraction of it.

Maybe down the road when we finish the basement I'll reserve a little space especially for him and this won't be a problem. Maybe, just maybe, he'll have a friend by then !

[Smulkin]

Yeah - we're maybe 3hr from Columbus (we are near WVU) - have a lot of friends over that way but havent been in well over a year. We run a bit colder and you guys get the snow before us (usually). Our house is an old 1902 deal - and where it was "repaired" in the past the plaster and lathe gave way to discount drywall and little insulation. There is a gas space heater down there (is a finished basement) but its on the other side of the room - a smaller electric unit sits on the floor and pushes the heat into the corner where the snakes and tarantulas are. It manages to never let the temps over there near the bins drop under 80 and the UTH does the rest in maintaining the in-bin temps.