Heating my "large" enclosure

[Z Trip]

Hey everyone, right now I am planning ahead and want to make sure the snake I have now will be fine in a cage for life before I get my new one. I have its enclosure, all I need to do is build doors for it(easy... I hope) and find a way to heat it. Now the cage is about 1 cubic meter (around 29 cubic feet) and I'm not sure the best way to heat it. I have never heated a cage sucsessfully before and want to make it perfect for my Macklots. I would like to heat the cage using heat pads, if thats possible. Recently I have been looking around on sites for the best ones and I have came to a couple of conclusions.

I can't use the Exo Terra mats I'm used to, supposedly they are to cold

I would like to use a Kane heat pad, they look promissing, but I can't find anybody who sells them in Canada because their not CSA approved...

I found a site selling T Rex heat pads and it sais they stay at 100degrees F. Now isn't that to hot?

Can anyone gve me some advice on the best way to heat the cage? I want whats best for the snake here.

Thanks

 

[ExoticEctotherms]

What is the enclosure made of?

If a heating pad is too hot, put it on a $10 rheostat from Home Depot or even better a quality thermostat.

I like Radiant Heat Panels personally as they do a good job heating the ambient air temp as well as surface temps.

 

[Z Trip]

The heating device would be on a liminared wood serface. I am most defenatly buying a rehostat, I dont want to take any chances here.

Thanks

 

[Louie]

I use the Cobra heat pads and love them. Yes they stay at constant 100 but its not hot at all just warm to the touch and you can easily hold one while its on.

I got rid of my zoo meds and stuck with Cobras only.

I have no idea how they work on wood as use mine on glass and pvc .

Have you considered http://www.pro-products.com/proheat.html

They are great as they heat up the air not just the bottom of the enclosure.

 

[dde1878]

heres two pics of my big cage, it took me lots of $ to figure out how to heat this one. i didn't go with heat panels like everyone suggested cause of the cost. i finally got it right with a 250 watt heat bulb in the top of the enclosure. its on a timer, on 12 hours of 12 hours.

 

[Z Trip]

Big light bulb does the trick eh? Well this is what I'm going to do. Im going to buy 2 of the Cobra heat pads and leave them in the cage. Then i will see how hot it gets in their. Hopefully that works and i won't need any additional heat. But if I do, i will need to cut a hole in the side of the cage(top is glass) to add a light buld or cerramic heat emmitter.

The heat pannel sounds OK, but they arn't CSA listed and you need that here in Canada.

Thanks everybody

 

[dde1878]

the only prob with the light bulb is that it really dries out the air.

 

[Z Trip]

the only prob with the light bulb is that it really dries out the air.

I figured that

 

[VinceC_69]

the only prob with the light bulb is that it really dries out the air.

i don't know anything about snakes, they don't like the air dry? I always figured they'd be like my dragon and need dry air.

 

[dde1878]

dry air is good to help fight respiratory infections but the snakes need humidity to.