Caring for my snake

[stalk]

I'm planning on getting a red tailed boa, soon. I currently have a 36x24x15 tall wooden enclosure with two glass windows on front and side ventilation.

I will get a bigger cage as it gets older but for now, I need to figure out how to keep it warm in this house. I live in Bay area California. In the summers it's usually the 70's to 80's during the day, not really sure about nights, I'd assume about 60's.

Heating during the spring/summer is not really an issue. The issue is fall/winter. The house has been known to drop to 40 degrees at night, 50 during the day. How do I go about keeping it warm during these times? That's an 50 degree increase. Since it's a wooden enclosure, it should retain heat well relative to outside. Maybe some insulation could be used around the cage on the outside?

When I looked at petco, UTH raises temperature about 10 degrees. The cage's 15 inch height makes it somewhat hard for me to think of ways to heat it up. It doesn't seem like enough space to add much more.

Anyone live in cold houses that can make the temperature work good?

I have a bunch more questions but I'm opting to tackle it one at a time.

	Under Tank Heater Under Tank Heater

[leoares27]

Get some heat tape and put it under the substrate....that should work for the winter...good luck

[Ameivaboy]

under the substrate? I see that being a potential fire hazard, why not just get a porcelin socket from OSH or Home Depot and drill it into the top and add a heat bulb (be sure to get a bulb guard and a rheostat or thermostat), I live in the bay area too, where are you at in the bay?

[Sucuriju]

CHE...Ceramic Heating Element

try to keep the room in the 70's...it will make it easier to heat the enclosure.

[stalk]

I live in Dublin, but the reason it gets so cold is because we have no heater. I can modify the current case to add a CHE, but I'm worried that it will burn the snake. The CHE will stick out of the cage about 3" or more (I've never seen a CHE so I am not sure) which with the substrate, will only give the snake about 10" of head room above the CHE. That seems unsafe. But input would be appreciated.

	Ceramic Heat Emitter Ceramic Heat Emitter: A porcelain heating device that screws into a standard porcelain incandescent socket

[morti]

Personally, I don't like CHE's. I find that they dry out the air really badly.

Do you have a basement or other semi-underground space? Ideally, you want to try to keep the room temperature consistent. It doesn't much matter what it is, so long as it is consistent... then you can devise a heating strategy to overcome the challenges.

If you cannot keep the temperature of the room consistent, then plan B would be to make the cage temperatures dynamic. What I am about to propose is expensive, but if it is your only option, what can you do?

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That is Heat Tape from The Bean Farm. I recommend that you go with the 11" variety because there is less chance of critical failure leading to overheating. For a 3' cage, you will need around 2' of this stuff for what I am planning. Also get from them cords, clips and clip covers to make two panels of heat tape.

Product Listing - Heating

Also beanfarm, you will need two of the 12" X 12" radiant heat panels.

You will also need two good thermostats. Either Helix or Ranco.
Product Listing - Temperature Control
Boaphile Plastics!!! Racks !

What you want to do is, wire up two strips of heat tape, one for the cool end and one for the warm end. affix these to the floor of the enclosure. Cut a piece of plexiglass or PVC plastic to cover the entire floor of the enclosure and seal it down with moisture resistant epoxy. Screw the Radiant heat panels to the ceiling of the enclosure. The reason you need two thermostats is, you want to plug the warm side heat tape AND the warm size RHP into one thermostat, place the probe, and set it to 88. Plug the cool side heat tape and the cool side RHP into the other thermostat and set it to 78. Incidentally, you are correct in that insulating the outside will help hold in the heat.

Volia! Problem solved.

It would probably be cheaper and more energy efficient to figure out some way to heat the whole room though.

-Your Sick Uncle Morti

	Ceramic Heat Emitter Ceramic Heat Emitter: A porcelain heating device that screws into a standard porcelain incandescent socket

[Stargazer]

I am not the heating expert, but seems whatever you use (UTH, CHE, etc.) you may need to put in on a thermostat. That way you can also get a temperature drop at night.

	Ceramic Heat Emitter Ceramic Heat Emitter: A porcelain heating device that screws into a standard porcelain incandescent socket

[Demona]

what kind of material is the top and bottom of the cage made out of?
undertank heaters with a thermostat would be best, if the bottom of the tank will conduct heat. I've gotten at least 30 degrees farinheit increase with a good UTH and a thermostat.

I'd reccoment 2 seperate heating pads (one for hot side and one for cold side) and a thermostat for each, then you don't have to worry about your fluctuating ( and sometiomes dangerously cold) room temp

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