Energy efficient reptile keeping?

[olive oil]

Yeah, there's nothing snakes like more than the smell of wood burning.

Believe it or not it doesn't smell that bad at all. The door stays shut and the smell goes up the chimney.

[Stefan-A]

Believe it or not it doesn't smell that bad at all. The door stays shut and the smell goes up the chimney.

Oh, I didn't mean that it would smell bad, I just meant that the smell of something burning would probably be interpreted as a sign of danger.

[olive oil]

Oh, I never thought of that.

[Loren]

Oh, I didn't mean that it would smell bad, I just meant that the smell of something burning would probably be interpreted as a sign of danger.

Possibly at first, but I think they would get used to it after a while. When I lived on our dairy, I didnt think it smelled. Its gotten a bit stronger now that I'm not around it all the time.

[infernalis]

Oh, I didn't mean that it would smell bad, I just meant that the smell of something burning would probably be interpreted as a sign of danger.

In my own weird way, That was what I implied here...

http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/encl...html#post98300

One should assume ALL wildlife would panic at the smell of smoke.

[Stefan-A]

In my own weird way, That was what I implied here...

You don't say.

Well, yeah. I doubt they're going to get that it's a controlled fire.

[infernalis]

You don't say.

Well, yeah. I doubt they're going to get that it's a controlled fire.

They will understand, as quickly as they fall in love with their owners

[ProXimuS]

*Bump*

I've been thinking about this lately, after realizing all the electricity I've got going in my room(two heat lamps, a fish tank filter, and light for fish tank). Any other methods any one uses? Maybe ways of heating/lighting multiple tanks with one source?


I've also been wondering, if you have something like the picture below, are you using the same amount of power as if you were to plug multiple things into multiple plugs?

9060_200wh.jpg

[-MARWOLAETH-]

I'm going to use this guys method of heating for my marcianus' adult viv and it should work out more energy efficient and beneficial for the snake.

"The method I have been using for keeping many of my snakes and lizards, particularly small species and those from fairly temperate environments like Europe, North Africa, North America and cooler regions of Asia is one I've experimented with for some time and has yielded very good results for me.

I use wooden Vivexotic vivs, and I found that when the bank of fluorescents I use (usually a Repti-Glo 10.0 for UV and a Hagen Life-Glo 2 for full spectrum "white" light, doubled up to four fluorescents for lizards) were combined with a spotlight or other heating source, the vivs very quickly overheated and I lost that valuable thermal gradient that is so important for most species.

You see, I don't go by the "specific number" way of heating a viv... many care guides state "such and such a snake needs a temperature of 30C"... this is ridiculous. Even in hot climates, reptiles find ways of escaping the heat, and they do not spend ALL their time in areas of their optimum temperature. They wake up, they move to a hot area to bask, then they start moving around to hunt, moving back into the warmth at periods to "top up" their body heat. When it gets too hot for them, they retire.

All too often I see snakes kept in vivs that are too hot, such that they are usually either to be found curled up in the water bowl or pressed against the far corner trying to escape the heat.

The way I have always heated reptiles is by providing them a gradient - they might have a hot spot higher than their preffered temperature, but this doesn't matter, because they also always have a cool side to move to, and they are free to choose the temperature they wish to bask at by simply moving backwards and forwards and finding a middle ground.

(This gradient can be hard to reproduce in RUBs which is one of the reasons I don't use them any more).

So I decided to try a little experiment with a few of my temperate snakes (some Garters and Natrix, followed by Russian Rat Snakes, Japanese Rat Snakes, Dione's Rat Snakes, small lacertid lizards and other reptiles that don't require a hot spot more than about 30C). What if I relied on the fluorescent lights in the enclosure to provide the heat as well as the light? Would that be enough for the reptiles?

As it turns out, yes.

Now before I go on, I am going to state here and now - this system ONLY works in wooden terraria, it ONLY works for temperate species that don't require high hot spots (it WILL NOT be suitable for Bearded Dragons and most agamids or iguanids, Royal Pythons, most boids... in short, anything that needs a high hot spot). Let's get this straight right here so there is no confusion later on!

What the following method WILL work for are various rat and king snakes and all sorts of other colubrids, small lizards that don't require hot spots higher than 30C (there may be some leeway here as smaller reptiles find it easier to heat up than larger ones) and many other temperate species or those from montane or otherwise relatively cool areas.

That little disclaimer out of the way, I will continue.

What I found was that, as long as the fluorescent lights were about as long as the terrarium (I use 18" tubes for 24" vivexotics, 30" tubes for 36" vivexotics and 42" tubes for 48" vivexotics) then the ambient temperature in my setups while they were on remained at about 23-25C, with the areas within 3" of the tube reaching a steady 29-31C.

What this meant was that as long as the snakes were able to get their bodies close enough to the fluorescent lights, they could make use of this heat as a "hot spot" while the rest of the setup wasn't too hot for them. Obviously this means that branches have to be used to let the snakes climb up to the light... ORRRRR.... I could give all of them a rock wall, which not only would allow the snakes to get close enough to the bulbs to utilies their gentle heat, but also modulate the temperature they basked at by allowing them to bask at different heights and levels throughout the day.

As I have posted elsewhere, I have been using this method for around two years now and am keeping and breeding a whole range of species very successfully.

It should also be noted that if the setups are stacked as mine are, then the lights from the terrarium underneath will go some way to gently warm the floor of the cage above in a manner similar to (but not as extreme as) a heat mat. This should be taken into account when providing cool areas, and was another reason for providing a rock wall - so the animals could get off the floor of the viv if they wanted to and still remain close to the bottom where the temps didn't reach more than about 23C.

This way, the animals get the full benefits of the fluorescent tubes producing both UV and bright white "sunlight" - which has the added benefit of them tending to "colour up" quite a bit) and a nice thermal gradient.

So, about eighteen months ago, I made the decision to switch over almost all of my collection to Vivexotic vivs (all except those which require a humid environment, for which I prefer to use glass setups like Exoterra). In the process, I would provide every vivarium with a natty rock wall"

[gregmonsta]

Well, I think most set-ups can be energy efficient with proper planning. All my lighting is LED based now, using 3watt LED bulbs.

My own homebuild is still heated by a single, statted 12m, 100 watt heatcable which provides heat for 4 standard, sizeable wooden enclosures (approx 4.5'/1'/1.5') and covers a third of each enclosure.

My procages (approx 4'/2'/1.5') are heated by 56 watt heatplates and these have proven very efficient. These are all lined with polystyrene backgrounds which add extra heat-retention. I also have a rocky area under each heatpanel which stores heat and this is where the probe for each thermostat is placed. This also appears to be an additional way to reduce the amount of electricity consumed. A quick glance at the moment shows several snakes using the rocky basking area with the temps at 29C and the thermostats currently switched off.

I can see how the above method could prove very efficient, but I am worried that, with the snakes having to get so close to the bulb on a regular basis, the potential for causing blindness could become a real issue.