Jonno from ERD
Very Well-Known Member
G'day guys,
I am in the process of setting up all new enclosures for the ERD collection. One of the biggest (and most obvious) stumbling blocks we have hit, is how we are going to provide sufficient heat to our snakes in a cost effective way.
As nearly everyone knows, the energy inefficient incandescent globes are almost a thing of the past. The means no more 25/40/60 watt blue party globes. This is how we were planning on heating our enclosures - it costs less than $10 per enclosure to set up (1 x power lead, 1 x light fitting, 1 x bulb), and when connected to a dimming thermostat, you may only need to replace individual globes a maximum of 4 times a year.
The options we are now limited to are commercial globes (including ceramics), which are way too expensive, or using different styles of heating such as heat panels or heat cord.
I use heat cord to heat everything housed in racks, but it's incredibly labour intensive to heat conventional enclosures with it. You'd need to route a grove into the base of the enclosure, lay the heat cord, cover it with something like Masonite or Hardiflex, seal it and then coat it with Estapol. This would also render the enclosures unusable for atleast a few days.
Heat panels are a great idea, except it costs at least $100 per enclosure to set up...but after that, there are no ongoing costs except the electricity they use.
Has anyone looked into importing mass amounts of coloured party bulbs from overseas? Will it be illegal to do so? What other ideas have people come up with to heat large collections? What about goanna's and dragons?
I am in the process of setting up all new enclosures for the ERD collection. One of the biggest (and most obvious) stumbling blocks we have hit, is how we are going to provide sufficient heat to our snakes in a cost effective way.
As nearly everyone knows, the energy inefficient incandescent globes are almost a thing of the past. The means no more 25/40/60 watt blue party globes. This is how we were planning on heating our enclosures - it costs less than $10 per enclosure to set up (1 x power lead, 1 x light fitting, 1 x bulb), and when connected to a dimming thermostat, you may only need to replace individual globes a maximum of 4 times a year.
The options we are now limited to are commercial globes (including ceramics), which are way too expensive, or using different styles of heating such as heat panels or heat cord.
I use heat cord to heat everything housed in racks, but it's incredibly labour intensive to heat conventional enclosures with it. You'd need to route a grove into the base of the enclosure, lay the heat cord, cover it with something like Masonite or Hardiflex, seal it and then coat it with Estapol. This would also render the enclosures unusable for atleast a few days.
Heat panels are a great idea, except it costs at least $100 per enclosure to set up...but after that, there are no ongoing costs except the electricity they use.
Has anyone looked into importing mass amounts of coloured party bulbs from overseas? Will it be illegal to do so? What other ideas have people come up with to heat large collections? What about goanna's and dragons?
