Reptile One Fan Heaters

[silatman]

Has or does anybody use these low voltage heaters for their snakes?
I am setting up an enclosure for our SWCP and was after some feedback.
They seem like they will fit the bill perfectly but that is just trusting the marketing hype they print.
Do they provide enough basking light and does it actually create a temp gradient or does it just fill the enclosure with the same warm air at all levels?
Can they be hooked up to a thermostat?
They seem to have a built in cage too but is it really effective or should I isolate it further?
How many vents do they need to operate at peak performance?

Any help is appreciated as I don't like the idea of replacing normal heat globes at the frequency that i am lead to believe they blow at.
Cheers.

 

[Misha]

Hey mate,

I use one of these fan heaters and I have not had a problem with it. They provide a good basking radius and gradient.
They cannot be hooked up to a thermostat. I have mine attached to an independant 12 hour timer to simulate the sun (obviously shorter in winter)
The cage is great. I have put my hands around it while it has been running for 5 hours and it is luke warm. Not nearly hot enough to burn your snake if it was to wrap around the cage.
My tank has 3 rear vents. L-15cm, H-5cm.

Hope this helps.

 

[Scleropages]

I brought 6 of them a year or so ago , they diden't really heat up a spot ( I was going to use them for dragons) I stuffed around with using them for snakes but they diden't really do the trick and the sound of 6 fans going kinda got painfull after a wile.

A downlight without the fan seems to work Much better.

All six fan lights now live in a box with other herp stuff I have brought and dosn't really work.

I am sure they have there place... just can't think of what for

 

[JAS101]

Scleropages - they might be good for incubators ?

 

[Pythoninfinite]

These things are probably one of the biggest gimmicks to hit the market in recent years, and are designed to look good in theory, but in practice there is nothing good to say about them. They reduce the potential for a good heat gradient by pumping warm, dry air all around the enclosure, and they dry the air so much that snakes often experience shedding problems.

By using a fan, they make heating far more complicated than it needs to be, and less effective.

No good for incubators either if you can't use them with a thermostat.

A gimmick to relieve novices of their hard-earned money.

Jamie.

 

[Misha]

Woah alright so that is why my Bredli took so long to shed last time...Stupid fan!!

Python, or anyone else, what do you recommend I replace the fan heater with?

 

[liney]

I agree with the unit doing nothing more than pumping dry air around an enclosure and reducing an effective thermal gradient. And the shedding problems too - experienced by a friend who parted with the cash assuming this was "the bees knees" and you needed to have one lol.

 

[silatman]

Cheers guys that is now going to the not gunna buy pile.
Think I will stick with an infra red on a dimmer unless there is anyone going to talk me out of it?
Anyone?

 

[Bushfire]

I have used two of these units and haven't had any of those issues those above are talking about. I have also found alot of people make comment on them that have never used them going off assumptions and rumours. The air it moves around would only at best be described as only slight, nothing like being pumped around. So slight this movement that it would hardly effect your thermal gradient much if at all in most cages. When I tested it against other halogens I found no measureable change in temps on the cool side. A benefit this product had over other halogens was that it achieved a higher basking spot than the others for the same wattage used. Another advantage is this product also produces UV wave lengths more than other unmodified standard halogens, but I wouldn't go as far as replacing UV lights. For product performance I would say it is good, it achieved the expectations I had of it but the downside to them is that they are expensive and the similar results can be achieved via using other cheaper products. Meaning that for me the price didn't justify the only slight benefits it achieves.

 

[eipper]

We have about 10 in operation here on 12 hr timers....6 months in and no shed problems and as bushfire said they still provide a temp gradient. If anything they encourage a bit of air exchange with the enclosure (a good thing) but I have had no shedding problems with them.

Cheers,
Scott

 

[silatman]

When out to a professional set up today and saw that they have just got a single 150W infra red globes with no other heat source for their outside enclosures and they kept swcp, stimi's and olives.

These snakes seemed very healthly although the olive looked very snappy!

Is this then on a dimmer set up the way to go? Ours will be inside of course.