Heating a 6ft enclsoure

[Harry1]

Hi all,

I've got a 6ft enclosure which is 60cm high.

I'm struggling to keep it heated overnight in a few of the last cold nights. Trying to get this right before I move my snake in to his new home.

I've got two ceramic light cages and I bought a URS Radiant Infrared Heat Globe 100W (and the place only sent one instead of the 2 by accident - so have been using my spare Get Your Pet Right Radiant 75w globe for now). However, after one night of testing I woke up to a bad smell and the URS Radiant Infrared Heat Globe 100W now no longer works. I think it may of been burnt out as I assume it was struggling to get up to the temperature overnight I had set of 30 degrees. I have the blue INKBIRD thermostat so both ceramic fittings are in the one thermostat.

My questions:
- Is there a better setup? I see a lot of people recommend the red infrared globes but I'm worried about conflicting research of the light emitted and messing up snakes day/night cycles as it will be run 24/7.
- Is URS a crap brand and is it normal for the Radiant Infrared Globes to burn out/die?
- Any other advice would be amazing!

Thank you very much.

 

[Herpetology]

you're using 2 different brand & wattage and type globes on the same thermostat and don't see the issue?

you only need 1 or the other. Temps dont need to be 30c+ overnight, if you're living in an area where its getting to low single digits, then you'd only want the enclosure to be around 10-20max over night. This can be achieved with no heating in the enclosure, and running a room heater externally. Or using a ceramic heat emitter overnight only on a VERY low setting.


If its a young snake, keep it in a simple click clack set up until its bigger.

 

[Harry1]

you're using 2 different brand & wattage and type globes on the same thermostat and don't see the issue?

you only need 1 or the other. Temps dont need to be 30c+ overnight, if you're living in an area where its getting to low single digits, then you'd only want the enclosure to be around 10-20max over night. This can be achieved with no heating in the enclosure, and running a room heater externally. Or using a ceramic heat emitter overnight only on a VERY low setting.


If its a young snake, keep it in a simple click clack set up until its bigger.

Thanks for the reply. They're the same type of globe, but yes was different wattage/brand. I've now rectified this.

OK interesting. INKBIRD lets me set a timer so I will try turning them off overnight. The ambient temperature overnight is 14~.

He's a little over year old BHP - I've had him in a 4ft which he has now outgrown.

 

[saltyballs]

I suggest getting Arcadia lights, they are good quality and they last longer in my experience. Since the enclosure is pretty short you shouldn't have any trouble heating with a single quality bulb. Unless it's glass. I have a 50w halogen for day and 50w deep heat for night if it drops to low both one the hot end and the temps stay steady the way they are set but i use a smart thermostat with 3 separate channels that can run literally anything in any way i program it, honestly 50w is overkill for that size. I would just get better bulbs and I wouldn't run 2 on one thermostat unless it has multiple channels and is designed for multiple heating lights or emitters. It's probably not a good idea to overload one channel.

Colored globes are crap.

Your thermostat should be fine just get better bulbs.

Also what are you keeping in there? That's obviously comes into play when choosing lights

 

[Harry1]

I suggest getting Arcadia lights, they are good quality and they last longer in my experience. Since the enclosure is pretty short you shouldn't have any trouble heating with a single quality bulb. Unless it's glass. I have a 50w halogen for day and 50w deep heat for night if it drops to low both one the hot end and the temps stay steady the way they are set but i use a smart thermostat with 3 separate channels that can run literally anything in any way i program it, honestly 50w is overkill for that size. I would just get better bulbs and I wouldn't run 2 on one thermostat unless it has multiple channels and is designed for multiple heating lights or emitters. It's probably not a good idea to overload one channel.

Colored globes are crap.

Your thermostat should be fine just get better bulbs.

Also what are you keeping in there? That's obviously comes into play when choosing lights

Thanks for the reply. I have a black-headed python in there. I was able to maintain temps perfectly in his 4ft enclosure fine using a 75w Infrared Radiant Globe from Get Your Pet Right. But yea, not so lucky with the winter temps and the new 6ft.

From the original reply from Herpetology I'm going to trial using the timer mode on the INKBIRD Thermostat (which has 2 power slots for heating rated up to 250w). I now have it set so that from 7pm-7am it won't try heat and I am monitoring ambient temps, which don't drop below 15'. Thermostat also has a helpful temperature graph so I will be able to use that to keep an eye on things.

OK, noted re colored globes being no good. I ducked down to the pet store earlier today and picked up 2x Exo Terra 100wa Infrareds. Thanks for the advice; I will order in some Arcadia lights and trial just using one globe during the day.

Appreciate the advice.

 

[dragonlover1]

I suggest getting Arcadia lights, they are good quality and they last longer in my experience. Since the enclosure is pretty short you shouldn't have any trouble heating with a single quality bulb. Unless it's glass. I have a 50w halogen for day and 50w deep heat for night if it drops to low both one the hot end and the temps stay steady the way they are set but i use a smart thermostat with 3 separate channels that can run literally anything in any way i program it, honestly 50w is overkill for that size. I would just get better bulbs and I wouldn't run 2 on one thermostat unless it has multiple channels and is designed for multiple heating lights or emitters. It's probably not a good idea to overload one channel.

Colored globes are crap.

Your thermostat should be fine just get better bulbs.

Also what are you keeping in there? That's obviously comes into play when choosing lights

Harry said it's 6 foot long (nearly 2 metres) that's hardly a short tank. I reckon it would be hard to heat something of that size. I have a tank of similar dimensions, 2 x 1 metre glass tanks with a tunnel to join them. 1 side has a 125W MVB and the other has a 3' UV tube and a 75W heat lamp for my central netted dragons. They constantly move from 1 to the other.
For a 1800x600 I think it needs high heat at 1 end with a couple of smaller lamps decreasing in heat as they move down the enclosure to a cool end. Obviously temps depend on what critter lives there. Personally I wouldn't touch GYPR or URS, they're both rubbish. you're better off financially using spot lamps from the hardware store. Philips don't exist anymore so Osram have stepped up,these are available in 60,75 and 100 W for $8.50 a pair

 

[saltyballs]

Harry said it's 6 foot long (2 metres) that's hardly a short tank. I reckon it would be hard to heat something of that size. I have a tank of similar dimensions, 2 x 1 metre glass tanks with a tunnel to join them. 1 side has a 125W MVB and the other has a 3' UV tube and a 75W heat lamp for my central netted dragons. They constantly move from 1 to the other.
For a 1800x600 I think it needs high heat at 1 end with a couple of smaller lamps decreasing in heat as they move down the enclosure to a cool end. Obviously temps depend on what critter lives there. Personally I wouldn't touch GYPR or URS, you're better off financially using spot lamps from the hardware store. Philips don't exist anymore so Osram have stepped up,these are available in 60,75 and 100 W for $8.50 a pair

Short in hight dude

 

[dragonlover1]

Short in hight dude

Harry hasn't said what snake is going in there, it might be a woma,ground dweller, or an arboreal ?

 

[saltyballs]

Harry hasn't said what snake is going in there, it might be a woma,ground dweller, or an arboreal ?

Yeah that's why I asked what's going in there

Also Harry try moving the probe around a bit, sometimes if you to far or to close it won't work the way you need it to

Thanks for the reply. I have a black-headed python in there. I was able to maintain temps perfectly in his 4ft enclosure fine using a 75w Infrared Radiant Globe from Get Your Pet Right. But yea, not so lucky with the winter temps and the new 6ft.

From the original reply from Herpetology I'm going to trial using the timer mode on the INKBIRD Thermostat (which has 2 power slots for heating rated up to 250w). I now have it set so that from 7pm-7am it won't try heat and I am monitoring ambient temps, which don't drop below 15'. Thermostat also has a helpful temperature graph so I will be able to use that to keep an eye on things.

OK, noted re colored globes being no good. I ducked down to the pet store earlier today and picked up 2x Exo Terra 100wa Infrareds. Thanks for the advice; I will order in some Arcadia lights and trial just using one globe during the day.

Appreciate the advice.

Yeah worth a shot man, it can take some Trial and error setting up. I have a few spare bulbs from getting stuff to high or low haha, just if you order Arcadia jump on there website and take note of temps at different distance from the bulb, each bulb should also have written on the box what the temp will be at roughly 200mm 300mm and so on, that can help out figuring out the wattage your looking for. That's one reason I use those ones. I'll take some pics and post em so you know what to look for

Yeah worth a shot man, it can take some Trial and error setting up. I have a few spare bulbs from getting stuff to high or low haha, just if you order Arcadia jump on there website and take note of temps at different distance from the bulb, each bulb should also have written on the box what the temp will be at roughly 200mm 300mm and so on, that can help out figuring out the wattage your looking for. That's one reason I use those ones. I'll take some pics and post em so you know what to look for

That pic is the deap heat projector and an 80w just as an example, but the halogen ones don't have the distance thing unfortunately

 

[Sdaji]

Unless you love wasting money and making life difficult, just use floor heat at night (a heat mat or rig something up with a cord), and a visible spotlight to use during the day (I wouldn't bother with this at all for Black-headeds, but you seem keen on going all out). A visible spotlight is dirt cheap (don't use a reptile brand one, just a spotlight) and you can see when it's on. Heat cords and mats are cheap, very reliable, and provide the best type of night heat - there is no hot object in the sky at night, that thing only comes out during the day and it puts out light. At night the ground is warm and the sky doesn't provide heat, so ceramics, infrareds etc are just expensive ways to provide unreliable, unnatural and less than ideal alternatives to the cheap, reliable, effective options.

 

[Harry1]

Thanks for the replies all. You've given me lots of helpful info which I will take away and trial. I was replying but I think my comments held for moderation due to being a new account. Just to re-clarify it is for a BHP.

Unless you love wasting money and making life difficult, just use floor heat at night (a heat mat or rig something up with a cord), and a visible spotlight to use during the day (I wouldn't bother with this at all for Black-headeds, but you seem keen on going all out). A visible spotlight is dirt cheap (don't use a reptile brand one, just a spotlight) and you can see when it's on. Heat cords and mats are cheap, very reliable, and provide the best type of night heat - there is no hot object in the sky at night, that thing only comes out during the day and it puts out light. At night the ground is warm and the sky doesn't provide heat, so ceramics, infrareds etc are just expensive ways to provide unreliable, unnatural and less than ideal alternatives to the cheap, reliable, effective options.

I don't mind spending some coin to make the little fella as comfortable as possible. It's my only snake so thankfully costs are quite minimal really. Not necessarily looking for the cheapest option; more-so the most effective. In this setup you've described would the floor heat be on a thermostat or just the lowest possible heat emitting option on a timer?

May I also get some thermostat recommendations? Ideally one thermostat that would do it "all" rather than multiple options (for the sake of keeping the setup clean).

Thanks again all.

 

[Sdaji]

Thanks for the replies all. You've given me lots of helpful info which I will take away and trial. I was replying but I think my comments held for moderation due to being a new account. Just to re-clarify it is for a BHP.


I don't mind spending some coin to make the little fella as comfortable as possible. It's my only snake so thankfully costs are quite minimal really. Not necessarily looking for the cheapest option; more-so the most effective. In this setup you've described would the floor heat be on a thermostat or just the lowest possible heat emitting option on a timer?

May I also get some thermostat recommendations? Ideally one thermostat that would do it "all" rather than multiple options (for the sake of keeping the setup clean).

Thanks again all.

Even if you enjoy wasting money, I'd still go for the best and most reliable option. Spending more money doesn't always get you better items. Give me a trillion dollars and ask me to keep a hundred different species of lizards and snakes and I wouldn't ever consider using ceramics or infrareds - they're trash, it's weird anyone even came up with the concepts of making them.

For floor heat I'd go for a thermostat. In some situations if you know exactly what you're doing, no thermostat is ideal, sometimes you'll get away with it, but generally it's best to use one.

There's plenty of variety of thermostats out there, for floor heat you can use either a pulse proportional or a dimming one (makes no difference).

For a spotlight I wouldn't use a thermostat - it should only be used for a localised heat spot, not to heat up the entire enclosure. If you are going to use a thermostat for a spotlight, the only way which makes sense is to put the probe down at the cool end use it as an emergency cut off, so if the cool end becomes too hot (like on a very hot day) the spotlight will switch off. If you are going to use a thermostat on a spotlight, don't use a pulse proportional thermostat or you'll destroy the globe (these will also destroy infrareds and ceramics). I'd only use an on-off thermostat for a spotlight (might be difficult to find these days). I guess you could use a dimming thermostat if you can't find an on-off one.

 

[dcarew]

I suggest getting Arcadia lights, they are good quality and they last longer in my experience. Since the enclosure is pretty short you shouldn't have any trouble heating with a single quality bulb. Unless it's glass. I have a 50w halogen for day and 50w deep heat for night if it drops to low both one the hot end and the temps stay steady the way they are set but i use a smart thermostat with 3 separate channels that can run literally anything in any way i program it, honestly 50w is overkill for that size. I would just get better bulbs and I wouldn't run 2 on one thermostat unless it has multiple channels and is designed for multiple heating lights or emitters. It's probably not a good idea to overload one channel.

Colored globes are crap.

Your thermostat should be fine just get better bulbs.

Also what are you keeping in there? That's obviously comes into play when choosing lights

What thermostat do you have that has a multiple channels that heat independently and at different times? Only one I’ve sourced that can do that is a herpstat and that is designed to run on 120v US power setups not what we have here in AUS

 

[saltyballs]

What thermostat do you have that has a multiple channels that heat independently and at different times? Only one I’ve sourced that can do that is a herpstat and that is designed to run on 120v US power setups not what we have here in AUS

One of the microclimate ones, I got it as a gift there fing expensive.

You can get them a some pet shops though

 

[Colonel]

G'day.

I've got a 2.5 year old BHP just over 2 m long. I also moved him from a 120cm tank to a 2.2 m that I custom made about 6 months ago. Glass base and front with wood sides, back and top. I use desert red sand for substrate and course bedding down the cool end. I run an echo tech thermostat/timer for 2 X 20 watt under tank heating mats set to 34° during the day and 26° overnight. The probe sits under the sand beneath his hide. The heating and UV lamps in the centre are set for daytime and turn off at night. He spends a lot of time in his hide but is still active during winter. (I live in Melbourne) I just open 1 of the 4 lids when I get home from work and he'll climb out and wonder around the house for a while, then climb back in when he gets too cold.