Does anyone know where to get a radiant heat panel in Australia?

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Wynona_Jane

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I want to heat my spotted python enclosure with a radiant heat panel but can't seem to find any! 40w is the ideal one
 
It would be cheaper and easier to heat from underneath with heat cord or a heat mat run through a thermostat. You can provide lighting on a timer for aditional daytime heat. That is all i use.
 
I worry that a heat mat/cord wont be able to get to 32C on the hot end in the enclosure, I'm probably going to be getting a PVC enclosure and it'll be 90x45x60. It's really just personal preference with the RHP, but thank you very much anyway :)
 
Thats Ok. Just FYI, I use a 50 watt heat cord run through a light dimmer switch and the enclosure is the same size as yours ( though well insulated as it gets real cold were i live ) and it will go over 38c no problem, if i let it . I have not used radiant heat panels before, but im dead sure heating from underneath using heat cord would be much more efficient and cheaper to run.
 
I actually started looking into heat cords after you mentioned it despite saying I preferred RHP, I think the reason why is because I can't figure out how to install it.
I have a few questions if that's okay;
Do I put a heat cord under the enclosure? If so, do I need to put anything under the heat cord so it doesn't burn anything? How's yours installed?
What meterial is your enclosure? Just for reference
I'm in Melbourne so it gets pretty darn cold here, that's why I'm nervous about a heat mat because I'm not sure if it'd get warm enough, is heat rope much hotter?
Also, will substrate block the heat if its under the enclosure?
Cheers!
 
Happy to help if i can. Firstly, I use aluminium tape (from any hardware store) to attach it directly to the under side of the floor in my enclosures. The floors in my enclosures are removable 6mm thick glass panels, so i lay the cord in rows about 3cm apart , covering slightly less than 1/2 of the floor area. This gives the snake a hot and a cold end in order to thermoregulate. I would not recomend using any type of sticky tape inside the enclosure were the snake can come into contact with it. Secondly , I run the heat cord through an ordinary incandecent light dimmer switch so i can adjust the temperature manualy, but a good thermostat would be even better. I also have just an ordinary incandecent light set up on a timer in each enclosure , mainly to provide a day, night cycle but it also provides aditional heat during the day. They are also run through a dimmer switch so i can adjust how much heat they emit. I have found that using dimmers on the lights , the bulbs last longer as i never need to run them on full power . Hope that is of some use to you, Good luck.
[doublepost=1595166591,1595165536][/doublepost]To much substrate might stop all the heat from getting through , depends on how deep , what wattage heat cord, how well insulated your enclosure is. When you decide what setup to get , experiment with it in order to find what works best before you move your snake into it.
 
It probably won't be too much substrate, like 3-4cm of coconut coir. Would a 90Lx45Dx60T(cm) wooden melamine enclosure work? If I use a 50w heat cord, will it heat the enclosure but would it burn the wood under the heat cord? Also, for the 6mm removable floor, could I get this cut anywhere? Or ddi it come with the enclosure? I think I'll get a nice thermomiter, I would love to dim the light and dim the heat like in winter and stuff. That'd be awesome.

I think I'll do an artificial expanding foam background with fake plants like pothos and ivy to make that look nice. Then I'll get some cool driftwood and hanging fake branches, and some fake plants. The hides I'll probably put some moss on, and maybe grow moss on the driftwood.

Cheers
 
You should be able to get 6mm glass cut to what ever size you like at any glazier. I design and build my own enclosures. As previously stated , it can get down to -8C or -10C overnight in winter were i live, and i wanted well insulated enclosures because im a shift worker who dose 12 hour shifts and did not want to be heating the whole house 24/7. All the commercialy made enclosures i looked at were in my opinion , not suitable, so i make my own. Personaly , i don't like melamine, so i used marine grade plywood , sealed with Cabots water based coating. The heat cord would probably not get hot enough to start a fire, but you should be very carefull anyway. You could put a layer or 2 of aluminium tape between the heat cord and whatever surface you tape it to just as a precaution if you like. If you get a good thermostat to control it , and use a bit of common sense, im sure it would be quite safe.
 
Yeah I'm not a massive fan of melamine either, I think I want to make the investment for it to be pvc instead!
That's so cold! I can't imagine it being that cold. Sweet I think ill go with the glass and heat cord to heat it, that seems good.
[doublepost=1595185331,1595185275][/doublepost]
I just cover my heat cord with a .5cm thick wooden board with silicone around the edges to stop water leaking in

50w cord as mentioned can get up into the mid-high 30s on a cold winter day

View attachment 329586

Sweet, heat cord it is then. I was honestly just worried it wouldn't heat the enclosure up enough
 
Looks like you've got this sorted but i will just slot my heat cord method too.
I used exo teras and because the glass sucks for transfering heat i run my cord inside under a ceramic tile.
I dont use any thermostat on it but instead lay it in rows till the ideal temp is reached (checked with thermo gun) which involves trail and error but works great for a hotspot.
Also i use gap filler to make waterproof.20200720_064506.jpg
 
I started this a couple of days ago, but then got interrupted. Sorry if it seems to ignore other posts…

In nature Antaresia pythons obtain their warmth through contact rather than basking, such as within a rock ledge or underneath sheets of rock that have been warmed by the sun. A heating tile inside the enclosure is therefore an excellent alternative. It is basically a heat cord sandwiched between a wooden base and a stone or ceramic tile on top. A 20 cm square heat tile using all the heating element of a15W heat cord gets to a stable temperature of 34 - 35oC when the ambient air temperature is in the low to mid-twenties.

The wood base, say 16 mm MDF, has saw cuts along and across to form furrows in which the heat cord sits. How much heating element is threaded into the base can be then be altered to drop the temperature if desired. Thin wooden edging attached to the base (or something like Blu tack) are used to hold the top in place but allow it to be readily removed when required.

Wood is a good insulator and greatly reduces loss of heat through the base. Stone and ceramic tiles are reasonable conductors and so absorb the heat and spread it to form an even temperature at the surface. The tiles are also good at storing heat. This means that if a cold reptile plonks its body on them, the tiles will be able to heat up the reptile’s body without dropping greatly in temperature themselves. Due to their heat storage the tiles do take a little while fully warm up, but are also slower to cool down. With basalt, granite, slate, limestone and sandstone to choose from, stone tiles can usually be matched into most naturalistic landscapes.

Instead of a 30 cm square heat tile, you might want a 20 cm x 45 cm one. No problem. Just cut the base to those dimensions and add the edging. Then get two tiles cut to fit (one 20 cm x 20 cm and the other 20 cm x 15 cm) and pop them in place side by side. Note that both base shapes are 90 cm2 in area and so equally suitable for a 15W heat cord.

All wooden parts will need to be sealed so they are waterproof.
 
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Hey Bluetongue1 how far apart do you run the heat cord? I routed one 5 cm apart and it doesn't seem to get hot enough. I have a 10 mm stone tile over it and gets to max high 20s. Cheers
 
I started this a couple of days ago, but then got interrupted. Sorry if it seems to ignore other posts…

In nature Antaresia pythons obtain their warmth through contact rather than basking, such as within a rock ledge or underneath sheets of rock that have been warmed by the sun. A heating tile inside the enclosure is therefore an excellent alternative. It is basically a heat cord sandwiched between a wooden base and a stone or ceramic tile on top. A 30 cm square heat tile using all the heating element of a15W heat cord gets to a stable temperature of 34 - 35oC when the ambient air temperature is in the low to mid-twenties.

The wood base, say 16 mm MDF, has saw cuts along and across to form furrows in which the heat cord sits. How much heating element is threaded into the base can be then be altered to drop the temperature if desired. Thin wooden edging attached to the base (or something like Blu tack) are used to hold the top in place but allow it to be readily removed when required.

Wood is a good insulator and greatly reduces loss of heat through the base. Stone and ceramic tiles are reasonable conductors and so absorb the heat and spread it to form an even temperature at the surface. The tiles are also good at storing heat. This means that if a cold reptile plonks its body on them, the tiles will be able to heat up the reptile’s body without dropping greatly in temperature themselves. Due to their heat storage the tiles do take a little while fully warm up, but are also slower to cool down. With basalt, granite, slate, limestone and sandstone to choose from, stone tiles can usually be matched into most naturalistic landscapes.

Instead of a 30 cm square heat tile, you might want a 20 cm x 45 cm one. No problem. Just cut the base to those dimensions and add the edging. Then get two tiles cut to fit (one 20 cm x 20 cm and the other 20 cm x 15 cm) and pop them in place side by side. Note that both base shapes are 90 cm2 in area and so equally suitable for a 15W heat cord.

All wooden parts will need to be sealed so they are waterproof.
Any time , best of luck.

Sorry I'm not too sure if this worked, but I've tried to reply to both as I have a few other questions and didn't want to start a new thread. So I've kept planning out the enclosure, and think I want to go with a bioactive enclosure so that I can grow a lush snake enclosure, but that means that the substrate is made up of several layers and ends up being very thick. Therefore, the heat cord heating method probably wouldn't work. How would go for heating the enclosure now if I can't do UTH? Well heat panels are impossible to find, CHE maybe? But personally, I find them quite ugly as they hang down low, that's why I prefer the look of the RHP. Any ideas? Cheers!
 
Personaly , i would stick to artificial plants , as stated previously, the humidity inside the enclosure with live plants would most likley end up being detrimental to the health of your spotted python. As they have slower metabolizm than mamals , they tend to take longer to recover from illness, and vets are expensive , so not worth the risk in my opinion. You probably will not find a more efficient way of heating your enclosure than heat mat or heat cord. But if you do , please let me know ?
 
Personaly , i would stick to artificial plants , as stated previously, the humidity inside the enclosure with live plants would most likley end up being detrimental to the health of your spotted python. As they have slower metabolizm than mamals , they tend to take longer to recover from illness, and vets are expensive , so not worth the risk in my opinion. You probably will not find a more efficient way of heating your enclosure than heat mat or heat cord. But if you do , please let me know ?
Definitely a worry I have, but I've seen lots of people do it for ball pythons, whilst they need a higher humidity I could tweek this and only have plants that don't need to be damp (eg. Moss). If I was to do it, I'd have it up and running for a month before hand at least to monitor heating, humidity ect.
 
Up to you , but personaly , i would never risk the health and welbeing of any of my pets for the sake of asthetics.
 

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