Tips on setting up a herp room?

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shortstuff61

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Hi everyone, I've never had an entire room dedicated to herps/enclosures, etc and I'm finally moving into a much bigger place where (I can slowly expand my collection!) I'll have a room spare just for herps. I have four rooms to choose from. The room I was thinking about is central to the house and has no windows with direct sunlight. Possibly good for security reasons and maybe the electricity bill, but would the lack of natural sunlight be an issue?

The other three rooms have at least one wall on the perimeter of the house, and at least 1-2 windows. Each of the three outer rooms has at least one window facing a different direction to the windows in the other rooms (for example, one has an east window, one has a window facing north, etc...). I've heard that setting up enclosures with sunlight coming through one window and then the glass front of the enclosure can mess with your temperatures, but I've also heard that a natural photoperiod for your animals is benificial.

Any help/suggestions on choosing a room would be great. Also, are there any other traps that you can fall into when setting up a room?
 
we converted our study into a herp room. it has one window which we have closed and a dark blind over to stop heat getting in/out. its working great for power as it helps keep the tanks warmer.
 
id go with a room that has a window , that way u wont need to have any day lights on .
my snake room as a fairly big window [ well 2 opening windows and a section of glass all built into one section] and it allows me not to have any day lights on .
 
if you choose a room with a window and are worried about people seeing in there are alot of places that offer "mirror" tint for house windows now you can see out but all the outside world gets is there refection
 
i picked a room downstairs with only 1 external wall so their room would stay as cool as possible over summer.


it has a window, on super super hot days i draw the curtains to block out the bit of heat that might come thru there, but thats maybe 1 or 2 days a year, other than that the window is their day light (for the snakes and geckos anyway)


make sure it has lots of power points in good places, i have 4 in my room which saves plugging in too many 4 packs into each other,....
 
go the biggest room with a window/curtains.

no need for day lights then as already mentioned. and if it gets a bit warm you can atleast stick a fan in front of the window.

lots of power points is a good idea, i had 8 installed. i also set the room up on its own circuit with a safety switch- if the lights etc for some reason trip the power in the house atleast then i still have cold beer, and all the food in the fridge stays fine :)
 
good choice on the room mate. Have surge protected power board connected to your powerpoints.
Other than this it is really up to you. I would have an oil heater on 247 during the colder months just to bump the temps up of the room a bit. That way your heat matts etc wont have to power on as much (if using pulse thermostat). Perhaps some sort of ventilation into the roof would be good with a wire mesh so that nothing can climb in or out of the roof to the room. I would also try and fit laminate floor or cheap fake wooden stuffincase you drop crickets or powder or dirty muck from the enclosures.
 
Use a window, at least you can open it during winter.

I found in my herp room, I couldn't get the temps down low enough to cool my animals, and if you have no window that makes things even harder.
 
Owww I remember when I started my Herp room.....I went sooo far over buget hahahaha almost hadda sleep in there myself hahahahahaha :D :)
 
Owww I remember when I started my Herp room.....I went sooo far over buget hahahaha almost hadda sleep in there myself hahahahahaha :D :)

LOL It's easy to do mate. I can relate
 
Id go for a room with a window, stale air isnt nice for anyone, including reptiles so when your home you can get a nice fresh air flow with having the window open :) Also, without fresh air, a room full of reptiles will get stinky after a while lol
 
Thanks everyone! Some really good suggestions here, keep them coming!
Does anyone know if there are any particular advantages/disadvantages in having a window that faces a specific way?
 
I'd think you wouldn't want one that faces the sun for too many hours as it would get very warm in summer
 
Yea mate try not to have a north or west facing window cause they will be super hot in summer and heat up your whole room.
 
Thanks Jason.R I will head down there this week and make sure my cousin (that I'm sharing the place with) doesn't take the most suitable room!

if you choose a room with a window and are worried about people seeing in there are alot of places that offer "mirror" tint for house windows now you can see out but all the outside world gets is there refection

Not really an issue as it has really high fences, but that's very cool I wasn't aware of that, thanks for the tip! I'll definately look into that when I eventually buy my own place...
 
I would definatly take the room with the nth facing window.
Oh and try not to become a slave to your collection.
 
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