Energy efficient reptile keeping?

[gregmonsta]

My snakes save dont cost much extra ... infact there is less need to turn lights on in my living room now

[GarterGuy]

Putting all your heating elements on timers and thermostats is very helpful, then they're only on when really necessary. I worry about the whole heated room thing, just because it doesn't really allow the herps to thermorgulate much....there's no cool and warm spots. It's proably best to at least try and keep them in a relatively "warmer" area, just so the heating elements aren't running as much. As far as giving supplements rather then lighting...not real sure about that. While you could give them the vit.D3 in the drops, you're still not exposing them to the lights which also have a psychological benefit for them as well. As described by Alan Francis on his site, garters that have full sprectrum lighting usually breed more regularily then those kept in the usual colubrid method of rack systems. Basically if you're really worried about this type of stuff, keep to just herps. that don't need a whole lot of extra heat and such. I don't keep any tropical species of snakes at all. Everything I have is temperate, so they do well with lower temps. All my heating lights and pads are completely shut off at night...which I also think is good for the snakes anyways...gives them a "rest" period like they'd have in nature. I can also brumate them during the winter and basically shut down stuff completely for months on end. Even though we want to be environmentally conscious, we also have to do what is best for our animals and I think this has to be the first consideration when thinking about what can and should be done.

Roy

[Sputnik]

Absolutely, Roy. I wouldn't want to save at the expense of my animals, I just want to make sure that I use whatever equipment is the cheapest/most energy efficient to run.
I do use timers for everything, so I don't have to worry if I ever decide to stay out longer in the evenings or sleep in in the mornings, lol.


The drops I have are these...

T-Rex Solar Drops Liquid UVB

[GarterGuy]

Absolutely, Roy. I wouldn't want to save at the expense of my animals, I just want to make sure that I use whatever equipment is the cheapest/most energy efficient to run.
I do use timers for everything, so I don't have to worry if I ever decide to stay out longer in the evenings or sleep in in the mornings, lol.


The drops I have are these...

T-Rex Solar Drops Liquid UVB

Yeh, they're just basically D3 supplement. The only problem is that herps that need D3 supplementation are ones that actively bask a lot. The D3 isn't the only benefit they get from doing this and if kept in poorly lit conditions they often become depressed, don't feed, don't breed, and have compromised immune systems that open them up to a host of other problems. While the drops are fine if you just don't want to get the expensive UVB bulbs, they really don't totally replace the value of the lights. Better then the lights (and more energy efficient) would be to just expose them to unfiltered direct sunlight, but this isn't always possible or practical.

[tikichick]

I use solar drops on the lizards I rescue that have symptoms of mbd, but as a supplement only. Basking bulbs are usually UVA only and that stimulates appetite, as well as providing heat. UVB light is absolutely necessary for any diurnal (active during the day) critter that requires sunlight to absorb calcium.

Here's an excellent piece on reptile lighting. I especially like knowing how much UV gets through the different housing materials:

Reptile Lighting

[Snaky]

I'm not sure if this would really help you at all, but you can buy heat lamps with dimmers that you can change the flow of electricity with, and you can also manage temeratures better. Just a suggestion.

A dimmer doesn't save you energy. The dimmer itself will consume what normally the lamp consumes and so the lamp will have less electricity flowing in it, hence being less bright. So this is not a solution, it's only good to regulate the temperature.

[Stefan-A]

I'm pretty sure that none of the modern dimmers consume the energy that would otherwise be used by the lamp.

[Snaky]

It's what I've learned at school in my days. Can't say anything about the modern dimmers, don't use them and haven't investigated on it. But I can imagine that a lot of dimmers will still use the same principle, so investigate first

[Stefan-A]

This is the third best site ever (after thamnophis.com and wikipedia), I can't believe I forgot it existed.
Howstuffworks "How Dimmer Switches Work"

[Snaky]

Thanks for the link, interesting to know