Conserve Heat in Terrarium?

I live in Brisbane and it's been raining for two days straight. The temperature has dropped so much that the heat lamp in my spottie's terrarium is only keeping it at around 26-27 degrees on the hot end instead of the normal 30-32 degrees. I can't get him a warmer lamp right now, and I wasn't expecting the temperature to get so low in summer so I thought I'd have more time to purchase a heating pad in preparation for winter. I have a regular glass terrarium (about 1.5ft by 2.5 ft), no heating pad (although I'm planning on one next month when I have more money) and I was wondering if there was anything I can do with things I have at home to help keep the heat in and warm it up more. Thanks in advance.

mdf box around it, I have an exo terra or urs with glass on all sides and full mesh roof I live in melbourne and in autumn had the same issue 150 watt heat lamp on full boar lucky to get to 26.

I built mdf top back and sides, put ventilation holes in top back, as my enclosure has in vent just above substrate at front.

Anyway in the mid of winter with no house heating on (12 degrees in house) cage was at toasty 30-32 degrees with maybe 1/4 power on dimming controller.

use mdf out of preference has probably best material properties for cheapest. If you really want to do it well use industrial fridge panels.

Loss of heat through glass is amazing. I can't believe people still build houses in australia without double glazing. If they think they are saving money they couldn't be more wrong!

I am designing custom enclosures with double glazing on front windows to increase heat retention and fully adjustable vent systems. (If you haven't guessed I'm an engineer)

Before pic



After pic

That temperature range won't do your Spottie any harm. Having a heat tile is a good idea but really it isn't all about keeping a set ambient temp. My girl's enclosure is almost never as hot as you suggest and she is as healthy as all get out. She does have a heat tile that she can go to if she chooses but really in summer she heads for the cooler sections of the enclosure unless she has just eaten and is looking to digest. In my albino Darwin tank (my Mac's old home) I have some black basalt under the heat lamp so it acts as a thermal mass. Snakes don't have constant temperature in the wild but they do have nooks that retain heat (even body heat) or they find surfaces that are warmer than the air temp, so don't get overly stressed about perfect temps but work on giving your snake an environment.

That aside and going back to your actual question, my tank has three sides covered with aquarium background pictures and it sits inside a wall unit with a few inches of gap around it. The 'wallpaper' already makes a big difference to the tank temp and other than MDF you can get 5mm foam sheeting to glue to the wallpaper and add insulation. Even just taping a towel/fabric to three sides will help a lot.

P.S. there are pics of my enclosures on my profile.

Urgh yeah that rain was intense!

If you can, try and find some like, ceramic or terracotta pots. Those heat up very nicely and hold the heat for a while.

Also just for future info, glass is bad at holding any heat whatsoever!

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Oh yeah you can do what the above poster said too and just stick foam onto the outsides of the glass aswell. That willl insulate it better

The terracotta works on the point I was making Beans about hides and 'shelves' that have thermal mass. I hadn't thought of the flower pots but it's a good idea and thinking about it I've seen them used by a few people.

Just to be clear too, I wasn't suggesting that ambient temp isn't important to get right but it isn't as critical as some people make it sound; especially for short periods of time like what Brisbane has had in the last week. When you get the chance I would make a heat mat or heat tile with cord under it a priority, reptiles like/need basking spots.

With the box I built I get a gradient from 34 at the hottest point down to about 22-25 at the coldest.

The trick is getting the drafting right. To take hot stale air out and replace with colder air.

Also I have found the top surface is a nice 20-28 degrees depending on time of day (I have a day night timer for dual temps, I run an approximate 5 degree drop overnight) which is great for my insect collection.

My enclosures vary from 26-32* depending on how hot the sun room and lounge room get, but my big enclosure for the Mac has a heat tile that is constantly in the high 30's on a thermostat, the glass tank has a heat mat under one half and it cycles through 2hr on/off heating periods 24/7 and that helps to maintain the heat in the basalt. In summer the heat lamp comes on three times a day for about 1 1/2hrs in each enclosure and in winter I add a 4th heat cycle. The venting on the tank is all across the front half of the lid so it dissipates stale air without a problem and the TV cabinet has vents in opposing corners that do the same for it.