So many options. Drop @retic666 a PM - He was selling a range of thin ceramic type rectangular heat panels that he uses in his large vivs for his retics. Or you could use a tube heater low down to give the ambient background temperature of around 26-28c and then use a spot lamp for the daytime hot spot. The drawback with this is you need two thermostats, there are no suitable commercial guards for the tube heater so a DIY approach is needed, and the combined wattage may make it expensive to run.

My Boa's viv has a 150w trough ceramic, reflector and custom guard. Again, whilst sourcing the CHE is easy, finding a company to make the guard is going to be difficult. I think it's easy to get in the mindset that a larger viv needs bigger higher power heaters, it doesn't. You could place a shelf 18" above the substrate at one end and fit a 100w slimline CHE in a commercial guard. You may need to double up the thickness of the shelf to prevent the rearward heat making the surface too hot, but it would give you two options. One a localised hotspot under the heater, and secondly, a warm surface should the snake want to take advantage of belly heat. I did something similar decades back with a 150w trough CHE, and boxed it in on three sides, and covered the base and front in a wire mesh. The CHE was on a pulse stat and the residual heat that got passed the reflector made the top surface around 34-38c. But my snakes often too advantage of this as can be seen below

With the surface reading 35 (IR Laser thermometer) I measured the snake temperatures, which were all within what we deem as being "ideal" for a Royal

Granted the DIY boxes didn't win any awards, but they were functional. If you or someone you know has better crafting skills then I'm sure you could do better

 

So many options. Drop @retic666 a PM - He was selling a range of thin ceramic type rectangular heat panels that he uses in his large vivs for his retics. Or you could use a tube heater low down to give the ambient background temperature of around 26-28c and then use a spot lamp for the daytime hot spot. The drawback with this is you need two thermostats, there are no suitable commercial guards for the tube heater so a DIY approach is needed, and the combined wattage may make it expensive to run.

My Boa's viv has a 150w trough ceramic, reflector and custom guard. Again, whilst sourcing the CHE is easy, finding a company to make the guard is going to be difficult. I think it's easy to get in the mindset that a larger viv needs bigger higher power heaters, it doesn't. You could place a shelf 18" above the substrate at one end and fit a 100w slimline CHE in a commercial guard. You may need to double up the thickness of the shelf to prevent the rearward heat making the surface too hot, but it would give you two options. One a localised hotspot under the heater, and secondly, a warm surface should the snake want to take advantage of belly heat. I did something similar decades back with a 150w trough CHE, and boxed it in on three sides, and covered the base and front in a wire mesh. The CHE was on a pulse stat and the residual heat that got passed the reflector made the top surface around 34-38c. But my snakes often too advantage of this as can be seen below

So many options. Drop @retic666 a PM - He was selling a range of thin ceramic type rectangular heat panels that he uses in his large vivs for his retics. Or you could use a tube heater low down to give the ambient background temperature of around 26-28c and then use a spot lamp for the daytime hot spot. The drawback with this is you need two thermostats, there are no suitable commercial guards for the tube heater so a DIY approach is needed, and the combined wattage may make it expensive to run.

My Boa's viv has a 150w trough ceramic, reflector and custom guard. Again, whilst sourcing the CHE is easy, finding a company to make the guard is going to be difficult. I think it's easy to get in the mindset that a larger viv needs bigger higher power heaters, it doesn't. You could place a shelf 18" above the substrate at one end and fit a 100w slimline CHE in a commercial guard. You may need to double up the thickness of the shelf to prevent the rearward heat making the surface too hot, but it would give you two options. One a localised hotspot under the heater, and secondly, a warm surface should the snake want to take advantage of belly heat. I did something similar decades back with a 150w trough CHE, and boxed it in on three sides, and covered the base and front in a wire mesh. The CHE was on a pulse stat and the residual heat that got passed the reflector made the top surface around 34-38c. But my snakes often too advantage of this as can be seen below

With the surface reading 35 (IR Laser thermometer) I measured the snake temperatures, which were all within what we deem as being "ideal" for a Royal

Granted the DIY boxes didn't win any awards, but they were functional. If you or someone you


With the surface reading 35 (IR Laser thermometer) I measured the snake temperatures, which were all within what we deem as being "ideal" for a Royal

Granted the DIY boxes didn't win any awards, but they were functional. If you or someone you know has better crafting skills then I'm sure you could do better

I'm having a new viv made for my Royal and it will be W 63in, D 31.5in and H 36in. Yes, measurements sound odd, but being made to sit on piece of furniture.

The current viv is 3ft x 2ft x 2ft and is heated via a ceramic heater and I also use a uva/uvb bulb, though it's not the type that provides much heat. I'm wondering if I need to be looking at a different heating system for the new viv? This will be Fluffys forever home and I want to get the set up right before transferring them to it.

Might be worth mentioning it is being made with 6in bottom front panel to allow deeper substrate, will have 2 sets of doors and 4 vents. I plan to put a basking shelf/rock under the uva/ uvb lamp to ensure correct distance for best affect.

TIA

Best heat source in my opinion would be a 75 watt halogen on a dimming stat and a timer at one end for you your hot spot, a 7% UV Shade dweller next to it for your UV and then a 150 watt ceramic towards the cool end on a pulse stat.
The halogen provides the best heat/light mix imo for royals and they don’t blow as often as standard bulbs either. The ceramic will provide the ambient air as and when required.

 

Thanks @Malc I'll drop @retic666 a message. Keeping energy costs down is something I definitely want to do. I have a spare thermostat, so can double up on those. I've been concerned about using wood for heat housing, so good to hear it's OK to do.

@StuG I'm currently using a compact uva/uvb bulb in Royal viv, as don't need the heat.
(In my corn viv I use mercury ones, as they also provide enough heat for them). I'm not keen on the light being the main heat source for the hot end, I prefer to do day/night cycles. Those halogen bulbs are certainly cheap though.

 

Thanks @Malc I'll drop @retic666 a message. Keeping energy costs down is something I definitely want to do. I have a spare thermostat, so can double up on those. I've been concerned about using wood for heat housing, so good to hear it's OK to do.

@StuG I'm currently using a compact uva/uvb bulb in Royal viv, as don't need the heat.
(In my corn viv I use mercury ones, as they also provide enough heat for them). I'm not keen on the light being the main heat source for the hot end, I prefer to do day/night cycles. Those halogen bulbs are certainly cheap though.

From my understanding Compact UV bulbs are quite for provision of UV for snakes and reptiles in general, although I’m sure others can add more evidence to that.
The whole point of having a Halogen on a timer and a dimming stat is that it gives you a day night cycle-the ceramic at the other end will kick in if the night time temps drop too low.

 

This guy is based in the tropics and recently done a video on the thermal regulation based on his observations of the royals in his collection.... Raises some interesting points.... maybe we're getting too hung up on the values hot and cool sides need to be

 

I’ve only got 30 seconds into the video but already quite a few inaccuracies.
Firstly, after feeding is the only time that a snake can generate its own heat through the digestion process.
Keeping them at an ambient temperature is denying them the ability to thermoregulate and forcing them to perform a behaviour in order to seek cooler temperatures.
VPI and many large scale breeders of royals have rooms set up at 82’ without a hotspot for their animals. It is an optimum temperature for digestion etc but as with everything in terms of husbandry it boils down to your motivation. Do you want to battery farm royal Python eggs or do you want to enjoy an animal exhibiting as many natural behaviours as possible?

 

Halogen spot lamp on a dimmer stat for the day time. For 6 foot vivs I use 100W Philips PAR38 IR lamps
If required can add a back up heat source for night time, a ceramic on a lower setting for example.

 

I want my light source to be uva/uvb and then a heat source.

 

Good choice I like those radiators.

 

They do sound great and I like the fact it means I only need the one heat source, plus no guard needed.

That's another pack of doughnuts in commission he owes me 😉

If it's as good as it sounds, I'll throw another pack in 😜🤣