Light Cage Size?

[Nexiel]

Hey all,

A few days ago I got a new wooden vivarium for my Carpet Python. She was previously housed in a glass vivarium with a heat mat, but in this new vivarium I am using a ceramic heat emitter and it's doing a great job heating the enclosure so far.

However, I am concerned that the light cage I have is getting too hot and could burn the poor snake if she decides to slither on to it. The ceramic bulb is 150 watts and I believe I have one of the largest light cages available without it being a pre-wired one.

I have the thermostat set to 31 degrees and it sits about 200cms underneath the heat emitter. I also have the probe from a probe thermometer at roughly the same location (give or take a few cm's) and it reads 30 - 33 degrees.

Is there a rule of thumb as to how large a light cage needs to be in correlation to the wattage of the heat emitter/bulb?

I will post pictures later if need be. Don't have time right now, going to be late for uni lol.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.

 

[proreptiles]

personally i only use ceramic heat emitters for my dragons not in my closed in enclosures as a find them too hot and expensive i use infarred for night heating.but that is just my personal choice

 

[cement]

I would also like to add that I have found ceramics produce an "aggressive " heat. It gets so hot that they create to much convection which in turn dries out the enclosure to much for me.

Infra red bulbs are better, a more "gentle" heat.

Your snake could definatly burn itself if pressed up hard against the cage and I have seen this happen.

 

[Snakelove]

I suggest you take it off first before its too late. Get on herp shop and order a light cage from them. The mediums suits the ceramic heat emitter really well and it also has a hinge on the bottom of it so its easy for you to take the ceramic heat out and replace it with a new one. But if you wanted to make it yourself then ill take a measurement of mine at home tonight and tell you. but seriously 150 watt is so hot itd probably melt your snake. mine is only 100 watt and is definitely enough and im heating a 4x2x2 long enclosure. i set my thermostat on 26-28 and it gets up to 33degrees on the floor (for a woma). imagine if i didnt use a thermostat. also, get a probe thermometer so you know exactly how hot it is where the snake is. good luck! hopefully your snake isnt so curious about the emitter lol

 

[wokka]

I suggest you take it off first before its too late. Get on herp shop and order a light cage from them. The mediums suits the ceramic heat emitter really well and it also has a hinge on the bottom of it so its easy for you to take the ceramic heat out and replace it with a new one. But if you wanted to make it yourself then ill take a measurement of mine at home tonight and tell you. but seriously 150 watt is so hot itd probably melt your snake. mine is only 100 watt and is definitely enough and im heating a 4x2x2 long enclosure. i set my thermostat on 26-28 and it gets up to 33degrees on the floor (for a woma). imagine if i didnt use a thermostat. also, get a probe thermometer so you know exactly how hot it is where the snake is. good luck! hopefully your snake isnt so curious about the emitter lol

Imagine if the thermostat broke so that the ceramic stuck on!

 

[Snakelove]

Imagine if the thermostat broke so that the ceramic stuck on!

Imagine that! thats why i dont think i wanna risk getting higher than 100 watt. i have a 75 watt that i wanna test out and see if thats hot enough. I wanna be able to heat without a thermostat and not overheat. a cold snake is better then a overheated one! what temps do you think a 75 watt ceramic will get up to without a thermostat?

 

[Nexiel]

Thanks for all the replies.

I tried a 100 watt heat emitter but it was only heating up the basking area to about 25 degrees at the most.

The light cages on the herpshop look great. I'll order one of those first and if that doesn't work out I'll get a red IR globe.

Thanks.

 

[wokka]

Iused to use a 15 watt incandescent globe which achieved 32C at about 25cm below the globe. I got sick of replacing globes and so now use 13 watt heatmats with no thermostats to break. My cages are designed to achieve the correct temperatures without thermostats. When I used globes I used lamp shades instead of light cages.

 

[Snakelove]

View attachment 157532Iused to use a 15 watt incandescent globe which achieved 32C at about 25cm below the globe. I got sick of replacing globes and so now use 13 watt heatmats with no thermostats to break. My cages are designed to achieve the correct temperatures without thermostats. When I used globes I used lamp shades instead of light cages.

hahaha that looks so funny. im gonna try with this new enclosure i got coming. hopefully itll work!

 

[Snakelove]

Thanks for all the replies.

I tried a 100 watt heat emitter but it was only heating up the basking area to about 25 degrees at the most.

The light cages on the herpshop look great. I'll order one of those first and if that doesn't work out I'll get a red IR globe.

Thanks.

How big is the cage?

 

[Nexiel]

How big is the cage?

About 1200x600x500.

 

[Snakelove]

About 1200x600x500.

is it 1200 high or long? coz i have a 1200x600x500 long enclosure and i use a 100watt ceramic and that in my opinion is a little too hot. im about to go down to 75watt. im confused as to how a 150watt is only heating up to 25 degrees?

 

[Nexiel]

is it 1200 high or long? coz i have a 1200x600x500 long enclosure and i use a 100watt ceramic and that in my opinion is a little too hot. im about to go down to 75watt. im confused as to how a 150watt is only heating up to 25 degrees?

It's 1200mm long and 600mm high. It was the 100 watt one that was only reaching about 25 degrees, the 150 watt one easily reaches 32 while limited by a thermostat.

I might try using the heat mat from the old enclosure instead and see if that does the job. I just hope it's big enough... it's one of the smallest heat mats available at my local pet store lol.

 

[Snakelove]

It's 1200mm long and 600mm high. It was the 100 watt one that was only reaching about 25 degrees, the 150 watt one easily reaches 32 while limited by a thermostat.

I might try using the heat mat from the old enclosure instead and see if that does the job. I just hope it's big enough... it's one of the smallest heat mats available at my local pet store lol.

Hmm that's weird. Mine reaches to 33-35 with a thermostat. lol I wonder why yours only reached 25? Maybe it's a dud? lol for me i just use 1 type of heating and not both. but each to their own. i never really liked heat mats, too many stories of them failing and burning up. where as heat cords on the other hand almost never fails! =P