Heated room

[roger]

Presently I have 16 leos that I have in my reptile room.The room is heated at 88-90 deg.I house my leos seperately in a 10 gallon tanks.I have paper substrate on the floor with a dry hide and a humid hide filled with vermiculite.When the entire room is heated to 88 degrees does it affect the leo negatively.i cannot afford a rack with heat tape and all the containers.Any suggestions?

 

[IcedC]

From what I understand from other posts here, is that direct heat to their belly to aid in digestion is more important than consistent air temps... you should look into getting under tank heaters to heat the substrate in part of their tanks to around 90*

 

[acpart]

If you want to provide under tank heating without going the rack and tub route here are some choices:

--Get UTH's for each tank with the Alife thermostats that each accommodate up to 3 UTH's. Check out prices on lllreptile.com and also ebay which will take longer but be cheaper

--invest in some 50' Zoo-med heat cable. Tape it to the bottom of your tanks. One cable that size will attach to quite a few tanks. You will need a thermostat too.

I have12 cages requiring heat (4 that don't) in my living room and dining roomthat I heat this way.

Aliz

 

[roger]

Hey acpart !! I have human heating pads that i used to use.Do the pads plug into the thermostat

 

[acpart]

You have to check the safety situation with those. I think there are people who use them. Maybe someone who's had experience with them will respond.

Aliza

 

[roger]

I've used the human pads for years but when I satrted to get up to 14-16 animals I found I was using too many pads.Thats when I decided to heat the entire room.Right now I have a cheap plastic rack that I am using right now which their tanks slide in and out..If I use the 4" or 11 " heat tape will it melt the plastic?

 

[T-ReXx]

I've used the human pads for years but when I satrted to get up to 14-16 animals I found I was using too many pads.Thats when I decided to heat the entire room.Right now I have a cheap plastic rack that I am using right now which their tanks slide in and out..If I use the 4" or 11 " heat tape will it melt the plastic?

You need to use a thermostat with Heat tape. If you don't it will get way too hot. If you use a thermostat then 4" flexwatt kept at optimal temps(90F) would not melt plastic. The 11" I'm not sure of, never used it, but I have heard that it tends to get a lot hotter and therefore may be more likely to cause damage.

Oh, and don't keep the entire room at 88F, leos need to be able to cool down as well. Room temp should be 72-76F. Keeping the whole room at warm as a "hot spot" will stress your animals.

 

[LizMarie]

The bad thing about heating the entire room is that your not providing a heat gradient so the leos are always hot and have no place to cool down. Your best bet is to find a heating device I would suggest one that is actually meant for reptiles (heat tape/cable, UTH) and bring down the room temperature. You'll be providing the proper heat for digestion while giving them the heat gradient that they need.

 

[acpart]

Unless you're not paying for heat (or if you live near the equator), you're eventually going to spend as much money heating the room as you would getting and running the heaters.

Aliza