TrueBlue's Anti-Thermostat Stand

[ravensgait]

Recharge, the thing is that you save quite a bit on your electric bill . If you have a number of animals the pads and panels pay for themselves in what you save on electricity and used with a thermostat you save even more. Here's an option http://www.bigappleherp.com/Big-Apple-Desert-Rays-Radiant-Heat-Panels# I started using some of these a few years back, Not as nice as full up heat panels but they work and work well. Like Pro Heat panels they never get hot enough to burn, you can hold your hand to them when they are on at full power. They can be used in the cage unlike most heat pads..I use them with reflective tape behind them to make them more efficient. the photo below is one of their large ones that is heating two connected 2X2feet by 3 foot cages.

Not knocking yours or anyone else's methods of keeping their animals just pointing out that there are other ways and some might be a bit safer. As time goes by and people learn even more about these critters new methods and materials will appear. I've been into this for almost 30 years(OK over 30 years) and have seen some serious changes in how we keep these animals and the vast majority of changes have been for the better..Randy

TB for someone who doesn't use heat pads you sure seem to torch a bunch of them. You know your wrong but can't admit it so what can I say to you?? Not a thing that will likely matter but I can post an opposing view when you go on your anti Thermostats and now heat panels and pad tirades. Randy

 

[ravensgait]

Randy, the main issue we have here is that we are about 10 years behind with our husbandry techniques here. I am trying to find a source of affordable heat panels if you can point me toward someone willing to export ?
I have started using small low wattage down light for lighting only.
You might as well just show us the Jag photo's anyway, I guess a few people might possibly want to see them ;-)

Here are a few links.. Hard to change when you have people saying that the change will kill your critters.......Randy

http://www.pro-products.com/proheat.html
http://www.bigappleherp.com/Big-Apple-Desert-Rays-Radiant-Heat-Panels#
http://www.beanfarm.com/store/agora.cgi

 

[Retic]

Thanks Randy, I like the look of those Big Apple heat panels. I assume they work in a different way to the more usual heat mats ? I will have to look into those, good price too.

What you need to remember is some of our older members are a bit set in their ways, Rob has only just moved on from heating with acetylene lamps ;-)

 

[Stealth_Raptor]

... Can someone explain what is going on here?

Due to my understanding, a PROPERLY USED thermostat just make sure that the temperature don't exceed or drop too low, rather than being a fixed rate. Not to mention it is designed to be a safety equipment in herptile keeping as well. This is from talking to a few Ball Python breeders in my area.

A lot of the respectable breeders I know use top-end quality dual thermostat to make sure that if one fail, there is backup unit ready to kick in.

The problem with electrical fires is the quality of the product in question and how it is used, rather than than the whole practice itself. There is a reason why heating units are recommended to have air space between the unit and the surfaces that they are heating.

 

[Retic]

No I don't think I can explain what is going on LOL.

I totally agree, a good quality thermostat is a piece of safety equipment and when properly used will give years of peace of mind. Of course they CAN fail but we could also be hit by a bus.
My whole argument has not been the merits or otherwise of the cage design Rob uses as that has been well proven over a lot of years but rather the assertion that a thermostat can endanger a snakes life and even shorten it's life span. A wrongly used thermostat can obviously cause problems but that is a result of poor husbandry not poor equipment.

 

[xycom]

Randy,

where do you buy those heat pads from?
do you buy them direct from Big Apple?
can you put them under things like tubs and stuff?
and how do they compare to heat lights? If I use a 150W IR light what size would be equivelent?



Per

 

[TrueBlue]

ravensgait,-????? dont know what your on about there mate ive never torched a heat pad.??
How do i know im wrong.??? You still havnt explained to me how bulbs are more dangerous than other heat sources.?? Can you do that, or are you all talk.
I asked my neighbour whos a sparky and he also disagrees with that.
The most common cause of house fires are, candles, cooking, and electrical appliances, heat mats, cord and panels all fall into the appliance catagory, light bulbs dont even get a mention.
So could you please explain to me how bulbs are more dangerous, or is it you that is wrong and know it, but cant accept the fact.???

Sorry mate but imo im right on this one.

 

[Stealth_Raptor]

The problem with fires starting with heat sources is that people either put weight on them or don't let the air circulate; which is why bulbs don't normally start fire. Both of these problems are easily solvable.

 

[junglepython2]

I can't see how bulbs could cause so many fires, every house has plenty of them and the only fires I have heard caused by them was due to dodgy home job wiring which can cause fires with any appliance.

 

[Ramsayi]

ravensgait,can you supply some basking temp details at various distances.
Running flat out what does the surface temps of those panels get up to then the temp at say 6 inches,1ft then 2ft.

I dont see how they would much radiate heat downwards at all so you might get a warm area directly under them for a short distance but the rest of the cage and indeed the air in the cage would be close to ambient room temps.

Some of the info on them says "Uses up to 80% less electricity than other heating systems, costing only pennies a day to operate." However that claim is very misleading as most dont state how many watts the panels draw.

All our enclosures get heated with 50W globes so as far as economical goes you cant get much better than that.

 

[ravensgait]

LOL guys most bulbs used in a houses or what have you don't have snakes and lizards breaking them, getting water on them ETC ETC. Why not take one of each down to your local fire department and ask them their opinions lol just don't tell them where you live or the name of the company that carries your home insurance.

Boa,XYcom,, I use them much the same as heat panels, I use them in a few different ways, One like in the photo above is just with reflective tape behind it to reflect more heat the way I want it to go. That cage has two more above it and the spot above the heat panel(floor of cage above) is around 78 degrees F (I suck at temp conversions so wont try) The perch right under the panel is right around 88 F. These are set up in my basement which is cool and the panel keeps the bottom cage floor in the low 70s. The other way I use these is to use half inch reflective foam(commonly used for insulation) I use the same reflective tape to tape the pad to a piece of this foam . Helps to keep from losing heat out the back of the panel.

These pads are not designed for under tank use they can be used in the cages and set up where the snake can come into contact with them and not have to worry about burns. I've used them mounted to the inside top of the cage, the sides and even the sides down at the bottom. I've also used them as heat in Racks. I use heat Tape in much the same way as these panels and have started using heat rope in the last year or so and I like how it works as well. Panels like Pro Heat type are better in some ways but you can't do as much with them as you can with these thin panels.

Boa I order right from them, they are easy to deal with. If you want I can get you links to other companies but I think they are the only company that has a thin panel like that... Randy

 

[Ramsayi]

Thanks for that ravensgait.How many watts are they rated at?


Here are the conversions,
The perch directly under the panel gets to around 31C
The floor in the cage above the panel gets to around 25.5C
and the floor in the bottom cage is around 22C (72F)

Based on that info I would think that the animals spend most if not all of their time on the perch directly under the ceiling panel as all the other temps are nowhere near their prefered body temp.

 

[ravensgait]

Ramsayi, I use mostly the larger 23X11 inch panels and they are rated at 56 watts . I usually run them at about half to 3/4 power so say somewhere around 35 to40 watts. No they don't throw heat as well as a regular panel such as pro heat's but the work a lot better than heat tape or a regular heat pad of the same wattage in throwing heat. I don't pretend to understand the difference in these and regular heat pads but there is a pretty big one. They heat objects that are under them some what like sitting in the sun which works well for Carpets and I use them in some of my other Morelia's cages. I think the thing I like best about them is they can be mounted flat IE they are not as thick as normal heat panels and don't stick out..

I've noticed that each snake has a different temp preference . Some like it much cooler and others warmer just like us I guess..Randy

 

[Helikaon]

O DEARY ME!

It seems ive started anopther thermostat debate!! I already did that last year, that wasnt the urpose of this thread. I just wanted to know why males could only produce viable sperm when its cold and what happens to the female when the temps are down so as they make little egg shaped babies :shock::shock::shock:

i'd assume they are the same as any other animal in viable gamete cell production in being that they have a very slight temperature tolerence. take a dog for example who has abdomen retained testicles these are then maintined at 38 degrees and the sperm produced are not viable. maybe it is simply that sperm produced by the male at its usualy summer temperature are denatured and simply not viable for breeding or atleast the viability has been reduced.

 

[PilbaraPythons]

I wonder if I should let true blue know that his entire collection of Green tree pythons are currently housed in enclosures fitted out with heat panels. Relax Rob its all good.

Cheers Dave

 

[Retic]

Dave, I hope they aren't connected to a thermostat, he'll have a heart attack

 

[fishead]

Hey there guys, an electrical engineer told me that a dimming thermostat works by resistance and anything that is running off it will be drawing it's full wattage capacity at all times.
Can anyone confirm that?
Has anybody out there had a microclimate thermostat crap itself?

 

[PilbaraPythons]

Boa ,I would rather keep that bit a secret, I mean I just couldn't be that cruel to him he is messed up enough is our young Robby..

 

[waruikazi]

so obviously you don't live in a place that has below 0 temps eh?
how nice for you, but what about people who do? should they simply not keep reptiles from other areas? seriously, expand your mind a little, we are in different places, with different animals, with different requirements.

My mind is expanded plenty. Read all of my other posts, you will not find me saying that anybody is doing the wrong thing in regards to husbandry. And lots of IMO's

 

[bigguy]

Brian Barnett of the Herp Shop has these heat panels available on his web site. They work really well mounted on the roof or the walls