Electricity bills and heating

[Snake-dad]

Hi everyone-
My son purchased a red-tail boa baby last month. I have had no complaint with how he is taking care of it, and how he's acting about buying everything he needs to keep it healthy. (Heaters, large cage, thermomaters, water bowls, etc.) My big complaint is when the electricity bill came. Having a 100 watt Ceramic heater on 27/7 (even with a rheostat) is sapping a LOT of electricity. Would it be possible for my son to attatch a timer to the Heat emitter so it would go on/off every other hour without having derimental effects on his snake?
Thanks very much,
Rick

[Frank]

Re: Electricity bills and heating

well the light doesn't need to stay on 24/7, 12 hours on 12 hours off is good, but at night you have to make sure that the temps don't drop below 75-80 degrees, and if they do, then yes you will need to find a cheaper way, maybe a bulb on for 12 hours and then a heat pad at night for 12 hours, you'll figure somethin out that will be cheaper than it is now......
good luck,
FC

[Peanut]

Re: Electricity bills and heating

There are a few great products out there that will reduce your heating cost considerably. These items will not be cheap, but they will help you out. I have a 6 foot vision cage. For heating on top I use a heat panel made by Pro Heat go to http://www.pro-products.com and for bottom heat you can use Kane mats. Both these items tend not to over heat and make a very nice atmosphere without drying the air. I have been using these 2 for the past 2yrs and I am very happy with the results. The best thing to do is to do your homework. Look up sites and reptile magazines. Contact the retailer, ask them questions. More than likely they will be happy to help. They rather sell you something that you need than to sell you something you will be unhappy with.

Personally, I don't like incandescent bulbs. They get too hot, zap moisture and are dangerous. It's your call.

good luck!!!!!!

[SaKSTa]

Re: Electricity bills and heating

The best thing I can say is if your gona have a snake. lizard, any animal, its not going to be free. Everything cost money. I run only 4 CHE and it gets pretty expensive, but hey its worth it, i have great healthy animals.

[ClayEnglish]

Re: Electricity bills and heating

Actually the most economical way to heat cages is probably by using heat tape or Flex Watt. This heat tape can be purchased in either 20 watts per foot or 10 watts per foot in special orders.

I use a 6 foot strip of 11" wide flex watt to heat an entire rack of cages. So I heat 10 individual cages for 120 watts total.

Heat tape lasts dang near forever, provides a great heat source, but does take a little bit of installation knowledge.

This item and its accessories can be purchased from BigAppleHerp.com

[SaKSTa]

Re: Electricity bills and heating

Its all about CHE's

[howell8303]

Re: Electricity bills and heating

sorry to say I had the same problem.I went to the lilco and asked what I could do.The lady there told me anything that heats or cools is gonna make the bill go up. Love cost money.

[Ryan]

Re: Electricity bills and heating

hey Saksta, che's are good but if you really want something great you should get an rhp. they are expensive, but well worth it, and with a five year guarantee you cant go wrong.

[Doug]

Re: Electricity bills and heating

hi,
 you may want to look at a post concerning fish tanks as cages and some of the fixes. Problems with a tank 40 Critter
[ftp]http://www.redtailboas.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=board7;action=display;num=1038532033[/ftp]
 I was able to reduce the amount of heat required to heat my cage by making a few simple modifications.
  doug

[Jacy]

Re: Electricity bills and heating

I have a heat panel from pro-products as well and I haven't noticed a rise in my bill. My cage is 6' x 2' x 2' and glass so I had to really work to find something that would maintain the correct temps and these work great.