Cheap/homemade heat for BTS at night

[MissMeg]

I decided to pick up a temp gun (as I mentiond before)

And Ive relised that it gets to cold in Ruckus' tank at night.
The way my house is, is that the basement its litterally a hole dug out of dirt so in the winter time the floors get pretty cold. The floors have no insulation and are just hardwood planks (And not to mention my bfs dad never turns the furnace on.) In the room Ruckus is in he has a carpet under his tank to stop the cold from comming up and we have a radiator next to his tank. This works well. The room is an average of 20C or 68C at night. For some reason his tank gets a few degrees cooler than that. Im not sure why that is.
SO what could I do to heat up his cage. I dont want to buy heat mats because I worry they will malfunction and I also have a huge tank (3" wide X 6" long)
**Edit**--Im in the process of making this smaller. It might be better humidty wise and heat wise
I can get some later on if thats the best thing. Right now moneys a tiny bit tight.
Im pretty sure Ive got a ceramic heater somewhere in this house.
Ive also heard about a hot water bottle. My only concern with that is once it gets cold, it would dramaticly drop the blueys temperature aswell.
My boyfriend suggested a heating blanket. Eithor tucked under his tank or used to line his cage (I dont think I would want to line it though.. kinda gross to clean) Maybe if I put it under his tank then any coldness seeping threw the carpet will be eliminated...
What do you guys think?
His daytime temps are a tiney bit cold but not like his nigth time.
Basking was 98 - Which he never basks in
Warm gradient 84 - which he always basks in
Cool gradient 75
I am workin on upin the temps a bit. Im just worried about this nigth time temp
**Another Edit** - he doesnt sleep on the gound. He sleeps up in one of his little condos so hes not directly on the gound (Making it a bit warmer possibly?)

[Fatal_S]

I would go for the ceramic heat emitter (or radiant heat panel) placed over the condos personally. Otherwise I'd go for heat cable/a heat mat under the warm side (attached to outside of tank with airflow on the other side so it doesn't overheat).

I wouldn't use the heated blanket because it's inside the tank and not designed to be reptile-safe. I also think that warm water bottles would be pointless since they only give heat for a short time.

You can also raise the tank off the ground or add some insulation (foam) under and around the tank.

[MissMeg]

ATM I wont beable to lift it off the ground due to the fact that its 4 foot high and weights alot, BUT when I make it smaller I will definatly do that. I also have some insulatuion left over from a reno by bf did so ill use that under the tank.

Yea I thought the blanket idea was a bad idea, but I had to ask. Now I gotta find that ceramic bulb. :S

[MissMeg]

Now this may sound stupid, but what if I got him a pillow.. to sleep on (I dont even know if he would even sleep on it) and It would only be temporary.
(this is only if I cant find the ceramic light, and until I get paid thursday)

[Fatal_S]

You can give him the pillow, but it won't change the heat.

If he's been okay this long I wouldn't worry about changing anything before Thursday (unless it's dropping into the low 60s). If the floor is the coldest thing, get a cheap piece of foam or wood and stick it under the tank.

Safest heating options (IMO) are radiant heat panels, heat cable (I love this stuff), and reptile heat mats (with proper airflow). Bulbs that cannot be touched are quite safe too. Unsafe options are things not designed for reptiles, things tampered with, electric heat rocks, and unregulated heat tape.

[Susann]

When we had our snake's tank next to an outside wall, we put a big, thick sheet of Styrofoam between the tank and the wall. That really helped stabilize the temperatures in the tank in the winter.

I really wouldn't use anything that wasn't made to be heating a reptile tank, not without constant supervision. Any heating device is able to malfunction, but most heating blankets or heating pads are only meant/manufactured for occasional use, for a few hours at most at a time. Using them more than that can easily raise the risk of malfunctioning.

Reptile heating mats are made to be on 24/7, and applied correctly with airflow around the mat as instructed, would be far safer than "fashioning" something.
But if the reptile heat mats scare you too much then a good option would be the ceramic heat emitter.

[MissMeg]

Tell me a bit about the heat cables. Ive seen them at the stores but never really knew what to do with them. Do you just wrap it around his logs?

[MissMeg]

The only thing I worry about heat mats is that they would have to be put under his tank floor which is 1cm thick. Im not sure if that would work out to well. And also its closed off under there So I couldent keep an Eye on it.
I will definatly but foam under there though

[Susann]

The thickness of the bottom of the tank is not something that will affect the heat from still radiating in to the tank if the heat mat is attached to the glass as instructed. Most reptile heat mats come with "bumpers" that are made to raise the tank so air can flow under the attached heat mat. In that case it would be more important that the tank is on a hard surface, not on carpet.

[Fatal_S]

I love heat cable because I've been able to bundle it into a tiny ball and still not have it hot enough to hurt me. I don't believe in putting it in the tank (even though it's designed to be safe and waterproof), I tape it to the underside/side/back of the tank. I use ducktape and space it like they do on the instructions.


I did have it inside my monkey tail tank, but the humidity caused the ducttape to fall apart -.-' so this is what it was, but it's gone for now until I can fix it:


I covered the whole thing with ducttape to try to keep the humidity out, but that just made it fall apart faster (added weight).

If you add heat mats/cable under the tank, I suggest putting wood blocks under the corners to add lots of airflow. If you have a sheet of foam, put the blocks on top of that. If you did that I would consider it very safe even left on 24/7

[MissMeg]

Ill take a pic of my cage and post it, but its made out of wood. There is about a foot of void under the cage, but there is no access under it. The mat would have to heat the wood. I dont know you can paint a picture with what I said, but Ill post a pic in the morning. That just gives you a bit of an idea with what im working with.

[Fatal_S]

I am pretty sure heat mats are not meant to be used on wood. In that case I would go with the heat cable for an under-tank source. The CME or RHP over the tank can also be used. If you have a cat or anything that might touch it, go with the RHP (more expensive) since it's safe to touch.

[Susann]

It doesn't have to be attached to the bottom. It would work the best on the bottom, but you can just as well attach it to the side or back.

[critterguy]

I've heard that the wattage heat cable comes in frequently is too hot. Afterall-its original purpose was to wrap water pipes to prevent freezing.

It is difficult to make suggestions for safest and most appropriate heating source as everyone works with different ambient temps. Personally, I think heating padss(on a rheo/thermostat) are the best bet. Their are some brands such as the Ultratherm that claim to be safe w/o a thermo/rheostat due to low wattage density.

[Susann]

I've heard that the wattage heat cable comes in frequently is too hot. Afterall-its original purpose was to wrap water pipes to prevent freezing.

That's different cable. The heat cable discussed here is the stuff manufactured for reptiles, to go inside or outside reptile vivariums. Don't want anyone to think they can go get some heating cable at Lowe's to heat their reptiles. TOTALLY DIFFERENT STUFF.

[MissMeg]

Okay this pic is embarassing on all aspects.
The white part of the bottom there is acually the void under the tank (note the two tiney air holes)
This is emarassing because you can see my Bfs hack job at cutting the door, weve taped the door half a foot up because Ruckus kept trying to get out and we thought this would help for him not to get out. Didnt work. Weve used a knive jammed into the wood to make sure his door stays shut LOL
This used to be my late Iguanas cage so we had to modify it a bit for Ruckus. Our Iguana never needed it locked cuz he was cage trained and it was a foot and a half bigger then, so the door didnt need to be cut out.
OH and the finger in the pic totaly adds to the embarassment LOL


Im going to see how much money I get next paycheque. I want to make his cage smaller and lift it off the ground. Once I do that then I can get at that void underneaith I like those cables, Ill have to price them out, but they are a perfect idea for what Ive got. I looked for the Ceramic last night and couldent find it, I may have packed it but ill look again today.

[Susann]

I think I may be even more embarrassed, cause I have no clue what I'm looking at or what you're describing!
None the less, I seems to me that the easiest thing to solve your problem right now would be the ceramic heater. If that works with whatever lamp/fixture situation you have going in there...? If you can't find the one you're looking for, depending on how cold it gets there at night, you may just want to go buy a new one as soon as you can, and then use the other one (that you then WILL find, right after you buy the new one ) as a back-up.

[MissMeg]

Lol sounds good i get my paystubb today so i can budget a new light/tank renew.