What would you do about my heating problem?

chinoanoah · #1 (**permalink**) 03-21-2010, 11:27 PM

This is my room.

I live in Bowling Green, KY, where it gets quite cold in the winters. Currently it is only 53 but it got down into the teens in recent months. The room was an addition at some point and is very poorly insulated. The brick wall is the original house, and the door on the left is to the outside. The house is shared with 4 other guys and to keep costs low (i may be wrong in this thinking) I have an additional heater in my room from Wal-Mart mainly for the frogs. Compared to the rest of the house its sweltering in there, but the ceiling is only about 76 degrees.

What would you guys do to keep them warmer?

Turn up the heat?

Insulate the closet I have and devote it to frogs?

Raise them up higher?

SmackoftheGods · #2 (**permalink**) 03-22-2010, 03:42 AM

Central air is amazing.

This seems to be the issue with many hobbyists who are in their undergrad years in college. They do everything they possibly can to keep expenses as low as they can. I've got some friends (not hobbyists, but friends nonetheless) who refuse to use their heater during the winter. The resort to using blankets. It gets down to 35 in their apartment during the winter. I know it would be impossible for me to keep my frogs in such conditions.

I know I have central air in my house, but even then we like to try to conserve energy where we can so we keep the central air around 72 or so. My solution to my frog room is to shut the door when I'm not using it and have a ceramic heater in the middle of the room on the floor. Since heat rises and the heater is on the floor it heats all of my tanks and even the low tanks are around 75 with the high tanks being closer to 78-79....

The ideal situation would be to find an apartment where you can utilize the environmental controls the way you want. Either find roommates who are willing to use the heater or get your own place.... Short of that I would find the smallest room in the house and use your additional heater there. The smaller the room is the less air that needs to be heated.... Just make sure that in your attempt to keep your animals warm you don't overheat them. Keep in mind also that your overhead lights will provide an additional two or three degrees heat in comparison to the external temperature. The warmer you want your tanks the closer you need to get your overheads to the vivs.

Eric Walker · #3 (**permalink**) 03-22-2010, 04:47 AM

what about small undertank heaters. I wouldn't go with the larger size at first. if they get to hot you could either use a proportional thermostat or wire a rheostat so you can turn them down.

tachikoma · #4 (**permalink**) 03-22-2010, 05:21 AM

you could also consider a euro style way of heating. Either have water flowing into your tank that's on a closed system and a heater in the reservoir, or just put a water heater in the false bottom of your tanks.

hexentanz · #5 (**permalink**) 03-22-2010, 07:22 AM

Why not use heat cables?

Jason · #6 (**permalink**) 03-22-2010, 08:09 AM

Weather striping the door and put plastic over the windows. I would also try and move the tanks away from the windows not only due to the cold, but the sun can heat them up too much if they are in direct contact. Remember the sun is changing now in the sky.

If the ceiling is 76, I would bet the tanks are warmer than that with the lights on them. You should find out EXACTLY what the temps are in the tanks over a 24 hour period. Feel free to drop your heater down at night. 70 in your room would be just fine for them and I bet the tanks will hold overnight at about 72 ish. Seeing the temp drop at night is ok for the frogs and may induce breeding.

One other thing I would recommend is to make your bed.

chinoanoah · #7 (**permalink**) 03-22-2010, 08:00 PM

What are heat cables?

highfyre · #8 (**permalink**) 03-22-2010, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason

Weather striping the door and put plastic over the windows. I would also try and move the tanks away from the windows not only due to the cold, but the sun can heat them up too much if they are in direct contact. Remember the sun is changing now in the sky.

If the ceiling is 76, I would bet the tanks are warmer than that with the lights on them. You should find out EXACTLY what the temps are in the tanks over a 24 hour period. Feel free to drop your heater down at night. 70 in your room would be just fine for them and I bet the tanks will hold overnight at about 72 ish. Seeing the temp drop at night is ok for the frogs and may induce breeding.

One other thing I would recommend is to make your bed.

LOL!!!!

I just installed a submersable heater yesterday in my water under my false bottom to help boost the temps in my tank. I will let you know how it works!

highfyre · #9 (**permalink**) 03-22-2010, 09:36 PM

Does that window go to the outside? Is it old and drafty? If it is, start with that.

chinoanoah · #10 (**permalink**) 03-22-2010, 11:42 PM

All the windows other than the one on the brick wall (So the one behind the vert, and along the far left side is 3 big windows not shown) lead outside and I'm sure could be insulated better. Also the far left door leads outside and it is straight up, NOT insulated. I can see outside through the cracks.

What does Jason mean by putting 'plastic' over the windows? That's too vague for me! :P

And I'd rather not make my bed, all the fruit flies don't deserve such treatment. LOL