New cages

[Dee474]

Need a bit of help here... I'm nearly finished with a new cage 2.4m(L) x 1.2m (W) x 2.4M (H) , split equally in two horizontal to give me two reasonably large cages. Any suggestions as to the correct heating as it's quite large. Top will be 2 Redtail Boas and bottom 2 Yellow Anaconda's.

Thanx

[Q Ball]

What material did you use for the tanks?
I use the following in my tanks (for you to use as a guide line):
1200x450x450 wooden tank I use one 22w heating pad under astroturf goes up to about 33 deg C. I also have an 75w infra red lamp on the same side making the ambient temp about 30 deg C. The cold spot is roughly 25 deg C.

Hope that helps.

[Dee474]

I used pine and pressed wood... bottom not much of a problem as I pump heated water (32 degrees C) into the Anaconda pool. Some heat of this will filter through to the boas as well. I recon as few (3) 750 Watt infra red lamps per cage and a reasonably big heatpad per cage should do it... any other suggestions ?

[Q Ball]

Ok. please share the pics of these tanks with us when you done coz it sounds interesting.

[Dee474]

no prob,, will do

[froot]

3x750 watt infra red lamps might be a little excessive. Test it before you put the animals in.

[Gary]

Dee just remember, and this was told to me about heat pads for Boas. They are not very good, especially when they get to about 2 metres as their weight on the pad can cause them to burn. I like your idea about the infra red lamps. just make sure the snakes cannot get to them as well.

[WAYNET]

Need a bit of help here... Any suggestions as to the correct heating as it's quite large. Top will be 2 Redtail Boas and bottom 2 Yellow Anaconda's.

I am not sure how you plan to control the heat but try and stay away from fish tank thermostats - the ones with the steel strip that switchs on and off the heating equipment. They last a very short period of time. The contacts tend to 'weld' together after a very short period of time which can cause the deaths of your snakes.

[Dee474]

Thnx ...

Gary as I recall the heatpad issue was discussed at a CRC meeting some time ago .. will try heatingwire... the heatlamps are protected by meshcovers..

Waynet... controlling the temperature will be a problem.. must still get a way round this one.. thnx

[Gary]

That is even better I think you are right I heard it there as well, I have now put in an infra red lamp but it hangs where they are unable to get to. I am not sure of the wattage but it keeps the cage at around 28 to 30 degrees around the hot spot.

[Bushviper]

Thermostats that can have so many watts surging through them are easy to find. Go ask at a decent electrical supply store for a thermostat that they use in a stove which is calibrated to these temperatures. I think it is used in a warming drawer. They can take up to 3000 watts and are not that expensive. They will need a bit of work to build into a box and the copper probe must be positioned properly for this unit to work.

The fish tank ones with the strip in it are meant for far lower wattage and work well on 60 watt globes but not the high wattages mentioned here.