Please help! Bhp & stein enclosure

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Mortevicar

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Hi all

Stein are currently building me an enclosure for my 11 month old BHP from Dens; I will have the enclosure for about 2 weeks before the snake arrives. She is approximately 1 metre long.

The dimensions of the enclosure are 5ft L x 4ft H x 2ft deep. Stein do not use heat globes; they have created a very thick, low incline artificial tree branch that leads to a very large basking shelf at the top of the enclosure, which will have 6 halogen lights. I have also purchased a large URS radiating rock (30 cms in diameter) with an internal thermosat (temperature range 28-30C) that will sit at the bottom of the enclosure. the remaining areas will be at ambient temperature.

I have been told that this is enough for her as although not aboreal, with such a low incline branch that has lots of grip she can climb to the top to bask (or on the radiating rock if she prefers). I spoke to quite a few breeders as I was worried about the aboreal issue; everyone has told me "a BHP will climb".

So, after all of my babbling I have a few questions I was hoping the forum could help me on:

1. Is this enough heat for a BHP?
2. If it is, do I leave them on at night, or just the radiating rock? Or nothing at all at night?
3. On a warm day, do I leave everything off until I get home and get the lounge room temperature down then switch on the lights?

If anyone could be of any assistance that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Morris
 
Hi mate, you need to have your lights hooked up to a thermostat to control temps inside your enclosure and would assume this would be the same with the heat rock? Not 100% on the rock as I have never used one but the lights should also be on a timer to give day night hours
 
Hi mate, you need to have your lights hooked up to a thermostat to control temps inside your enclosure and would assume this would be the same with the heat rock? Not 100% on the rock as I have never used one but the lights should also be on a timer to give day night hours

thanks for the reply mate! With the URS radiating rock, it has an internal thermostat - it heats up to 30C, then switches off until it reaches 28C, then switches back on and heats up to 30C etc.

In regards to heating, this is what is stated on Steins website:

"After continuous dissappointments with conventional reptile heat lamps and thermostats, we investigated a better way. Now we utilise halogen downlights for our lighting ,heating and UV. The reason we don’t need thermos is that we have broken off the whole idea of warm areas and cool areas and instead worked right back to the fundamentals of what they actually require in the wild. Which is why we have a built in basking shelf on your back wall which has one or more of the halogen spotlights focused on it to create a warm basking area which lets them sit somewhere to warm up as they would in the wild sitting on a warm rock in the sun. When they have absorbed enough heat they move off it. We use the number of halogens and the distance of the shelf from them to set a desired temperature . The ambient temperature has little effect and consequence on this setup as we keep the ambient temp of the enclosure near the temp of the room because we are not attempting to raise the temp of the enclosure just creating a concentrated hotspot.

The reasons why we do this:


  • Thermos and reptile heat lamps are expensive and unreliable
  • The halogen bulbs are cheap and easy to replace
  • They give a more appealing light
  • This setup is more accurate to real life (in my opinion)
  • We also have the 12 V downlights in infra red and UV if that is what you require."
 
Bhp do climp but they are the most retarded climbers in the snake world. Mine fall off their hide boxes and they are only 4 inches high lol.
Halogen spotlight heat spot sounds good and probably work awesome but they are a massive user of power and u could achieve a better outcome with a heat cord with a tile on it or heat mat with a sheet glass over it for about a half of the power usage. .
I heat 4 bhp cages for the same usage of you one cage and my hotspots are all on 35 at the moment.
Just something to think about.
 
Bhp do climp but they are the most retarded climbers in the snake world. Mine fall off their hide boxes and they are only 4 inches high lol.
Halogen spotlight heat spot sounds good and probably work awesome but they are a massive user of power and u could achieve a better outcome with a heat cord with a tile on it or heat mat with a sheet glass over it for about a half of the power usage. .
I heat 4 bhp cages for the same usage of you one cage and my hotspots are all on 35 at the moment.
Just something to think about.

Tell me about it - I am thinking my power bill is going to be MASSIVE!!!!!!! :p

- - - Updated - - -

Bhp do climp but they are the most retarded climbers in the snake world. Mine fall off their hide boxes and they are only 4 inches high lol.
Halogen spotlight heat spot sounds good and probably work awesome but they are a massive user of power and u could achieve a better outcome with a heat cord with a tile on it or heat mat with a sheet glass over it for about a half of the power usage. .
I heat 4 bhp cages for the same usage of you one cage and my hotspots are all on 35 at the moment.
Just something to think about.

Thanks for the reply - so do you switch off the lights at night?
 
I think you'll find the heat rock is unnecessary. A basking site with 6 halogen globes will be enough. Where are you located?
 
Tell me about it - I am thinking my power bill is going to be MASSIVE!!!!!!! :p

- - - Updated - - -



Thanks for the reply - so do you switch off the lights at night?
Reptiles need to have a photoperiod of 12/12. 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. They need to be heated at night so I usually do not use any heat source that gives off visual light. I use radiant heat panels and ceramic heat emitters.
 
If you have gone to the trouble of ordering one of the excellent enclosures Stein make why are you second guessing their setup? They have been in the game long enough and enough of their enclosures are in use that I personally would trust their build.
 
If you have gone to the trouble of ordering one of the excellent enclosures Stein make why are you second guessing their setup? They have been in the game long enough and enough of their enclosures are in use that I personally would trust their build.

I was concerned due to the height of the enclosure and some people telling me an enclosure that high is not appropriate for a BHP.
 
thanks for the reply mate! With the URS radiating rock, it has an internal thermostat - it heats up to 30C, then switches off until it reaches 28C, then switches back on and heats up to 30C etc.

In regards to heating, this is what is stated on Steins website:

"After continuous dissappointments with conventional reptile heat lamps and thermostats, we investigated a better way. Now we utilise halogen downlights for our lighting ,heating and UV. The reason we don’t need thermos is that we have broken off the whole idea of warm areas and cool areas and instead worked right back to the fundamentals of what they actually require in the wild. Which is why we have a built in basking shelf on your back wall which has one or more of the halogen spotlights focused on it to create a warm basking area which lets them sit somewhere to warm up as they would in the wild sitting on a warm rock in the sun. When they have absorbed enough heat they move off it. We use the number of halogens and the distance of the shelf from them to set a desired temperature . The ambient temperature has little effect and consequence on this setup as we keep the ambient temp of the enclosure near the temp of the room because we are not attempting to raise the temp of the enclosure just creating a concentrated hotspot.

The reasons why we do this:


  • Thermos and reptile heat lamps are expensive and unreliable
  • The halogen bulbs are cheap and easy to replace
  • They give a more appealing light
  • This setup is more accurate to real life (in my opinion)
  • We also have the 12 V downlights in infra red and UV if that is what you require."

just be aware that under the down lights will get to 45+ degrees i was just lucky to have had mine for a few months before i got my snake so i had done lots of testing and found this out.

cheers dave
 
I would say the height is not inappropriate more not neccesary.Stein build awesome stuff i would suggest you keep you bhp in it until you buy an arboreal snake and then get them to build you a shorter enclosure..nice albino or gtp lol
I keep all my bhp in 1800 long x 600 wide by 400high.
 
I use the long cage size with a low height also,they heat up one end and cool off the other.
 
Hi, I am located in Melbourne. Will it be ok as the basking site is 3.5ft off the bottom of the enclosure?


It will be perfectly fine without the rock! If the animal wants to increase it's body heat it will sit underneath the basking lights, if it wishes to cool down it will move away from them to the bottom... simple ;) The whole enclosure doesn't have to be at a certain set of temperatures. The snake knows what it wants and will move accordingly between warmer and cooler areas.
 
It will be perfectly fine without the rock! If the animal wants to increase it's body heat it will sit underneath the basking lights, if it wishes to cool down it will move away from them to the bottom... simple ;) The whole enclosure doesn't have to be at a certain set of temperatures. The snake knows what it wants and will move accordingly between warmer and cooler areas.

thanks matey :); I was just worried she may stuggle to climb up the branch to get to it. So do I switch off the lights at night to maintain the 12/12 day/night photoperiod?
 
You should try and supply a basking spot of at least 35C.
Much better off not using a tall enclosure for them especially if the basking spot is up high as they do prefer to be on the ground.
They are really not very good climbers and should not be encouraged to do so as they will fall and could injure themselves.
 
I have a stein enclosure and have only had to swap around globes bewteen winter and summer. 50watt globes are too hot in summer so my basking one I change out to a 35watt. The other 2 in my enclosure are LEDs during summer and I cahnge one LED out near the hot spot for a halogen during winter.

Remembering that in the natural environment (the desert) the temp gets very low even during summer overnight. An winter it can be below 0! I have had my Bredli in his for 9 months and have had no issues apart from not wanting food in june as he was brumating. I would think maybe a jungle or GTP might need extra heating at night as their habitat is quite warm throughout the night.
 
if your worried about night heating they do a night heating option on there enclosures, you wont the radiating rock and the snake will be fine to climb and stretch out if it desires to do so... You wont need a thermo just unplug some of the basking lights if it gets too hot... You wont need 6 of them at 50watts... Just get one or two and the rest leds... the basking space holds heat really well...
 
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