Large Habitat Assistance

[ztgbrawler3]

Hi all,

I recently completed a rather large over-wintering habitat in the garage for a pair of Redfoots. It's 12 ft x 5 ft x 4 ft tall, allowing me to climb in there as well as hang plants. The walls, ceiling and floor are all insulated with 1.5" foam board, so it keeps heat rather well. I used Pond Shield epoxy pond paint over the plywood inside ( I had fiberglassed the bottom and seams first), and that holds in the moisture very well.

I have a pair of vent holes, with one being fed by a computer fan attached to a humidistat. That works pretty well to keep the humidity where I need it. Add in some light strips and a basking bulb, and it's going pretty good.

The one issue i currently have is heat sources. I have 3 CHEs, attached to an Inkbird on/off thermostat, that pump out a combined 600 watts of heat at any time needed. I had a CHE stop working last week, and pulled it out to find that the contact at the base was basically melted.

A bit of research tells me that maybe I should look into a proportional thermostat, as maybe that would cycle the heat source more often than a simple on/off thermostat.

I hadn't heard of them before that. Does anyone use these successfully with CHEs, and if so, which brands are best? Also, I've seen the Radiant Heat Panels out there, such as the ones made by reptile basics. Anyone out there with bigger habitats use those? Can they be mounted on the side walls instead of overhead? Thanks.

 

[vladimir]

Looks awesome! My understanding is the RHPs are intended to be mounted from the top. I built a little frame out of 2x4s that I could mount to the roof of the enclosure, then mounted the panel at the bottom of that to bring it closer to the tortoise. One of Tom's night box threads does something similar.

Overall I am much happier with the RHP than using a CHE

 

[vladimir]

This is the picture from Tom's thread that gave me the idea. In my case I had to lower it about 6 inches, you may need to lower it further

 

[baldegale]

i know people in the snake community tend to mount to the sides of enclosures.

 

[SULCY]

I also have a large enclosure and I like the oil filled radiator on a zilla controller works good for me. You can use a regular sized one since your enclosure is tall.https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mainstay...5&wl11=local&wl12=681622973&wl13=2503&veh=sem

 

[ztgbrawler3]

@vladimir how close to the tortoises do I have to get the RHPs? I still have a 90 watt basking bulb in there as well. @SULCY, an oil-filled radiator is definitely an interesting idea. I could probably build a little platform to keep in away from contact with the torts. I wonder how it would hold up with all the humidity in there.

 

[vladimir]

You'll need to use a temp probe to determine the exact height that works for your enclosure.

Reptile basics FAQ says

Do not mount the panel in such a way that the lens is closer than 6 inches from a cage surface

 

[ztgbrawler3]

If they throw out heat from the lens a similar distance as a similarly rated CHE, I would probably have to figure out a way to hang it from the ceiling of the enclosure with chains, just like hanging a CHE. Not impossible, but something I was hoping to avoid. I'll check it out.

 

[vladimir]

The thing I liked was that even when running on full it doesn't burn you if you hold your hand against the heated surface.

You may be able to figure out a better mounting method. Overall I'm pleased with the RHP as an alternative to CHEs, as the CHE was starting to dry out Vlad's carapace

 

[Yvonne G]

My "night box" isn't nearly as big as yours, but my RHPs are mounted on the walls, rather than on the lid:

 

[ztgbrawler3]

Looking good @Yvonne G! Are those the Reptile Basics RHPs? Have you had any troubles with tortoises rubbing up against them and damaging them or anything? The RB rep that I traded emails with insinuated that this would be a problem.

 

[Yvonne G]

No. They've been in use now for two winters. The tortoises don't get close enough to them to cause any damage. On days when the sun is shining, because the night box is in the greenhouse, I can open their door and allow them into the greenhouse, but on overcast days when the sun isn't there to warm up the greenhouse, I have to leave them locked inside the night box (there's a UVB tube in the section by the door) and they've made it through two winters just fine so far. The biggest of the three tortoises that over winter in there is about 11 pounds.

 

[SULCY]

I have mine in a humid box for 3 years no problem looks as good as new and keeps their outdoor hide at 85 deg when the temps are in the teens outside. I built the box using Toms design. For indoors I use 2 of them one for in their hide box and one for the 8X16 covered enclosure in a unheated basement. Both are run on Zilla Controllers. Since I am in NY they work great just haven't let them stay out yet all winter as long as I can bring them in just feel better having them in but they are out until end of November and 0 deg hit.

 

[ztgbrawler3]

No. They've been in use now for two winters. The tortoises don't get close enough to them to cause any damage. On days when the sun is shining, because the night box is in the greenhouse, I can open their door and allow them into the greenhouse, but on overcast days when the sun isn't there to warm up the greenhouse, I have to leave them locked inside the night box (there's a UVB tube in the section by the door) and they've made it through two winters just fine so far. The biggest of the three tortoises that over winter in there is about 11 pounds.

How do they avoid getting too close? Are the panels hung above their reach?

 

[Tom]

I don't like side mounting RHPs, and at 4' tall, RHPs won't work well on the ceiling of your enclosure. I think the CHE's are best for your application.

What type of fixtures are you using? I've never had that happen. Sounds like it couldn't handle the heat. Changing thermostat won't help with that issues. I use a digital proportional thermostat in my incubator, but not in my enclosures. I don't think it will solve your problem because it will still send full power to the fixtures if the temp drops low enough. Your fixtures need to be able to handle a CHE if they are plugged straight into a wall and running full time.

I don't have any issues with humidity damaging any of my lighting or heating elements inside my closed chambers.

 

[ztgbrawler3]

I don't like side mounting RHPs, and at 4' tall, RHPs won't work well on the ceiling of your enclosure. I think the CHE's are best for your application.

What type of fixtures are you using? I've never had that happen. Sounds like it couldn't handle the heat. Changing thermostat won't help with that issues. I use a digital proportional thermostat in my incubator, but not in my enclosures. I don't think it will solve your problem because it will still send full power to the fixtures if the temp drops low enough. Your fixtures need to be able to handle a CHE if they are plugged straight into a wall and running full time.

I don't have any issues with humidity damaging any of my lighting or heating elements inside my closed chambers.

Hey Tom, I don't think it's a humidity issue either. I use the standard-size ceramic socket dome lights. The lamp as a whole is rated for up to 300 watts. The socket itself is rated for something like 600 watts. If I had to guess, I would say that a few weeks ago when the temperatures outside were around 0, and around the freezing level in my garage, the CHEs were probably on just about constantly to keep the enclosure at an appropriate temperature. The dome light may have captured too much heat from the larger CHEs and overheated them. Best guess. I think maybe a wire cage dome light would have prevented that. I took a drill and drill several holes through my dome light housings to see if that helps enough heat escape outward and prevents it from happening again.

Another theory of mine is that they were cheap CHEs. They put out good heat, but they were the cheap ones you get on the big jungle website and sold from China. Maybe the materials were just cheap.

I don't have a proportional thermostat, so you'll have to correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding was that they help prevent thermal runaway because even when they're "on" constantly, they're actually not. I read somewhere that one in particular will kick on for 1 second, off for 2-3 seconds, then repeat. I thought that would be helpful in running heat lamps 24/7.

I agree with you about using the CHEs though. I'll continue to research the RHPs, and if I could figure out a way to mount them properly lower, I may give it a shot, but as is, not a good solution to mount them close to 4 feet above the Red Foots. Thanks for the advice.

 

[SULCY]

I just used some 2x4 as a barrier so they can't get right up to the heater one on the floor and another a few inches higher, Just make sure they can't crawl over the 2x4 and you should have no problem.

 

[ztgbrawler3]

I just used some 2x4 as a barrier so they can't get right up to the heater one on the floor and another a few inches higher, Just make sure they can't crawl over the 2x4 and you should have no problem.

That's for the oil-filled radiator?

 

[SULCY]

yes its just a barrier to keep them from knocking it over or sitting right next to it hope this make sense

 

[ztgbrawler3]

yes its just a barrier to keep them from knocking it over or sitting right next to it hope this make sense

I believe it does, thank you. I just have to figure out where I could do that in the pen if I choose to go that route. Thanks.