Insulating a reptile enclosure, need to keep the temp up

MrMiata

I'm building a reptile enclosure in my garage, it'll be for a snake.

It's not going to be huge - probably 4ftx2ftx2ft at max.

The garage is attached to the house and it has double glazed windows.
It's not heated, the garage door lets out a lot of heat and the concrete floors are not fun to walk around on barefoot.

I'm looking at building a wooden enclosure and insulating the top, bottom, back and sides.
The front will be glass, It'll probably have to be a set of doors with glass inserts, hopefully double glazed, or else I'll have to put another insulated door on it that I can close to keep the heat in.

The snake will have a heat pad but I'll probably need to keep up the ambient temperature too so I'll need a heat lamp in there too.

Any ideas on how to go about this?

I've an ever growing (but always tiny) budget, so I'll do anything short of insulating the whole garage.
I've seen other forums where people have put a wardrobe in the garage, insulated it and put the enclosure in there..
Thoughts?

Basically - It needs to be insulated with ventilation.

Stigura

Any of the bog standard insulation sheets. 'Jabalite' polystyrene is probably cheapest. 'Kingspan' is more pricey. But so much nicer to work with. Just encase the box.

'Copydex' glues poly'. Kingspan? Just suite yeself.

As ye te be using wood ~ I did most of my stuff in glass, as I kept amphibians ~ vents are very easy to install. Holes covered with plastic vent screens.

Ever win the lottery? Treat yeself to a Habistat Dimming Stat and a blue light bulb :cool:

Lumen

Multi-wall polycarbonate sheet worth considering. Cheap, strong, easy to work with and decent insulation.

I made a bike box out of it a few years ago.

Then glass or acrylic on the front.

MrMiata

Stigura wrote: »

Any of the bog standard insulation sheets. 'Jabalite' polystyrene is probably cheapest. 'Kingspan' is more pricey. But so much nicer to work with. Just encase the box.

'Copydex' glues poly'. Kingspan? Just suite yeself.

As ye te be using wood ~ I did most of my stuff in glass, as I kept amphibians ~ vents are very easy to install. Holes covered with plastic vent screens.

Ever win the lottery? Treat yeself to a Habistat Dimming Stat and a blue light bulb :cool:

Lovely stuff!

I'll have a look at one of those habistats.
With those lights, would I need to have it high above the enclosure so I don't overheat the spot underneath it?

What would be the best job for the front of the enclosure?
I'm worried about heat loss and condensation.

Stigura

Habistat gear is like The Sopranos / The Wire boxed sets: Never been cheap. Held their price for years. Well worth it!

What ever heat source ye use, lamp wise (Frankly? I Never got on board with heat mats. To me, they're like 'Ultrasonic Pest Repellents' or god) Ceramic or incandescent, with a snake? It'll need caging in, obviously.

Equally obviously, there's absolutely no point in slapping a Habi on a Ceramic.

In my day, I had floor to ceiling tanks around the entire room. All heated ones run by one Habi and heated with blue, incandescent bulbs. At night, it was another world in there!

The bubbling of the filters. The calling of various creatures. The glimpses of things creeping and crawling. All bathed in this ethereal, diffuse blue glow

This is what I'm hinting at, for you. Get a Habi, a blue bulb, an arm chair and a parka. That garage will become your sanctuary from all the schit in the world.

Snake needs water, of course. Why not get a micro filter to sit in it? It'd keep the water pure but, more importantly, add that quiet bubbling sound to the ambiance.

What sort of snake we talking?

Don't s'pose for a minute ye within striking distance of Leitrim?

Stigura

MrMiata wrote: »

With those lights, would I need to have it high above the enclosure so I don't overheat the spot underneath it?

What would be the best job for the front of the enclosure?
I'm worried about heat loss and condensation.

Sorry! I completely lost myself there, in memories!

Light doesn't have to be high at all. Just caged in with a scrap of welded mesh, so el snakeo can't break it or wrap round it.

Put the bulb at one end. Put the probe of the Habi closer to mid way. It'll keep the lamp end at the set temp. Allowing a gradual drop off toward ambient, at the other end. Snake will move across to " Thermoregulate " itself. Much like in nature, where it would bask, or bury itself.

Front should be glass. Nothing better. If ye could scrounge up a sealed unit, made to the wrong size? Happy days, eh? Either way, scrounging glass is Good. New glass is absolutely brutal! :eek: Talk to builders and double glazing shops.

Ventilation? Never had a problem, with snakes. They generally like dry. Use fabric 'plants' and there'll be precious little to make condensation. Door/s in the end/s of the box saves opening the lid and letting a wave of heat out. Little, round air vent covers (2 or 3"?) low and high, either end. Should be great