plexiglass tank - heating options?

[AccidentalHerps]

a friend of mine is giving me a 55 gallon plexiglass tank that her mom used to keep hermit crabs in. I hate to say no to a free 55 gallon! I am trying to think what sort of heating options I have for it. I'm fairly certain a heat lamp will melt the plexiglass, but if I have the heat lamps on a metal lid on the TOP, maybe it will be ok?

I would love for my blue tongue skink to have this set up.

comments, suggestions?

thanks

Sasha

[snakewrangler]

I would try a ceramic heat emitter on a thermostat. A thermostat will keep it from getting hot enough to melt the plexi.

[rwagoner]

Welcome to the forum! :wave:

You could put ceramic tile on the bottom of the tank to distribute the heat from the heat lamp. Maybe even put some sort of insulation below the ceramic tile. You could also use a rheostat to dim down the heat lamp to the desired temp.

[Quig]

Sasha, welcome to the forum, first of all ;D

From experience I can say that enough heat to warm the substrate in a tank to proper temp will most likely be more than the plexi lid can handle. You might have better luck just using a UTH on a thermostat. Just a thought.

Quig

[rwagoner]

I'm confused now. Does the tank have a metal top or plexiglass top. You mentioned placing the heat lamp on metal.

[AccidentalHerps]

the top is metal, the rest of the tank is plexiglass.
so i'm thinking i can put the heat lamps on the top.

has anyone here had a plexi set up?

how do they do with UTHs? I like to use those for night heat.

thanks,

Sasha

[Quig]

Ahhhh, I can see clearly now ;D Yes the lamps can go on the top lid. and for night heat you could use a red light bulb in one of lamps. The UTH was just a passing thought. I'm not real sure the plex will hold up against the heat.

Quig

[prism_wolf]

Since the BTS needs a basking area with low-wattage bright heat light and UVB - this will sit nicely on the screen depending on your UVB style. Tubes can lay across the top while allowing him to get within 6"-8" of the tube - or clip on a merc vapor to the edge leaving the top open (unless you have a curious cat... :o) that sits 18" away from the basking area. I use merc vapors as a general rule and on the plated lizard it clips to the edge of the 75 gal. tank along with the bright heat light. This makes for aiming both UVB and the low-wattage heat light at the basking area easier and more direct. If you use the UVB/heat combo - use the lowest wattage available.

[AccidentalHerps]

I have *many* cats. they love to watch the crickets and lounge near the heating lamps. anything i have has to be clamped on somehow or otherwise firmly attached.
But, I think my question has been answered. metal top, heat & UVB through the top and we'll be ok. :)

I just HATE to turn down a free 55 gallon! I figured there had to be some way to make it work.

thanks for all the info. :)

Sasha

[prism_wolf]

LOL...ya...always have to add the cats. We don't have any now, but the last one we had we were kitty-sitting for LOVED watching the gerbils up against the glass. Even though the gerbils can't get out - we locked it so the cat couldn't get in.

I wouldn't turn down a free 55 gal. either...but I'm a cage/tank whore... ;D. We have an old 40' school bus - no motor - that holds most of my surplus until I need it for whatever reason... :D

[AccidentalHerps]

I checked out your website, very nice.
I"m glad to see you give a "idiots guide" to why iggies aren't for anyone!
You are a bit far from me or I'd see about adopting that plated! No wonder you horde tanks, you probably always have use for them!

nice 'meeting' you!

Sasha

[prism_wolf]

Thanks for the good words! I do love these guys. I love that I can help them. Some are permanent residents and some are part of the educational programs who will stay for that. LB, however...I think he has totally stolen my heart. I feed him iggy salad everyday and he's surprised me in that. He prefers that to bugs...so everyday he gets the salad w/supers supplemented every couple of days which he totally attacks! Every night I have water in a syringe and let it dribble down his nose and he will start lapping at it. The last two nights he lifted his head in anticipation of the water and started lapping at the air before I lowered the syringe. So - who has who trained here?? ::) ;D

[AccidentalHerps]

i love the way my lizards all look up when they hear the top of the tank opening.
i mde the mistake of getting some used to eating from my hands..then i ended up with a leo dangling from my thumb when i went to give him water. oops.
this particular one seems to like jumping, i saw him jump (and catch) a moth once.

glad to her that LB is spoiled :) I have a 3 legged yellow lined plated. when i worked at Psetsmart i took home th ereptiles that couldn't be sold (because of defects of some kind or other). she doesn't miss it at all. she doesn't have much interest in greens, i keep offereing them anyway and every now and then she surprises me.

i just took in a rescue BTS, the one that will go in the 55 gal. I was told the poor thing was found in a tank which was also being used as an ashtray. the lady who took the BTS home got her healthy and started looking for a home. I've been wanting a BTS for a long time and figured that eventually I would come across one needing a home, same way I got my Uromastyx. Bluey doesn' t like to handled, but I don' t ask much of my reptiles except they eat well and seem happy.

So, what is your opinion on monitors? it drove me nuts that Petco sold them when I was there, I was very picky about who got to buy one! I'm no longer with any petstore, the managers drove me nuts. i kep twanting to answer people's questions and help them :/
Sasha

[prism_wolf]

I don' t ask much of my reptiles except they eat well and seem happy.

Same here with some of mine. It just means one less I feel like I need to do hands-on...although most are exactly that way. The male cham and the mourning dove with two broken wings are the only ones I really can't handle without stressing them too bad.

So, what is your opinion on monitors?....the managers drove me nuts. i kep twanting to answer people's questions and help them :/


You mean the sale of monitors at chain stores or the keeping of them? As for the sale - as long as the management is as picky as it sounds like you were - I don't see a problem with it, but as we all know...big chains are there strictly for profit and should not be allowed to sell anything with strict care requirements...or they should at least have staff with full knowledge of the animals they sell. As for the keeping of them...like any exotic animal...as long as you know what you're in for and understand the specific care required...they can actually make outstanding home companions in the right setting. I've never kept one, but I have talked to quite a few over the years and many of those have pretty personable monitors.

As for answering questions...lol...I would be fired, too, I'm sure. As it is I often linger in the reptile area if I see someone interested and politely butt in... ;)

[rwagoner]

I don't see a problem with it, but as we all know...big chains are there strictly for profit and should not be allowed to sell anything with strict care requirements...or they should at least have staff with full knowledge of the animals they sell.


Yeah the problem is that for $7-8 an hour your going to have a hard time finding someone knowledgeable or someone who is going to want to learn everything about all the reptiles. Same thing goes for the saltwater fish in Petco. Nobody has any knowledge. Stacey and I talked these girls out of getting "Nemo" just because they liked the coloring. They had no idea of what goes into taking care of a saltwater tank.

[prism_wolf]

Yeah the problem is that for $7-8 an hour your going to have a hard time finding someone knowledgeable or someone who is going to want to learn everything about all the reptiles.


Exactly. And most of us know this. This makes the first option of not selling them at all the best option.

[rwagoner]

Exactly. And most of us know this. This makes the first option of not selling them at all the best option.


Too bad we won't see that happen. Stacey always has a fit when she goes in and the temperatures are wrong, etc. Last time they had leopard geckos labeled babies and large. Makes me wonder who's going to buy one thinking the babies don't get as big as the "large" one. Adult would've been the better word.

I apologize for taking this off topic. I just can't help but put my 2 cents in even though I'm the admin. ;D

[snakewrangler]

I had to talk a guy out of buying a mated pair of clownfish two weeks ago. He had a 10-gallon tank with no rock and a Penguin Bio-Wheel. He thought he was ready to go because it had been running for two weeks.

He also wanted to cure some live rock in the tank. After he added the fish. This kind of thing just floors me. People are so adverse to picking up a decent book, or at least asking someone who has done it before.

Once I asked a customer if he tested his ph, and what it was. He told me it was "good" and that he "had ph."

[AccidentalHerps]

i have no prob taking it off topic. working in petstores opened my eyes to how incredibly stupid people can be, the things that they thought would work! argh!
i talked someone out of keeping a betta in with a clownfish in a bowl on the wall.
aaargh!!!!!!

when i was at petsmart the manager of the animal section at least respected my knowlge and let me pick (mostly) what to order and how to keep them. i found that the manager really makes the store. a chain is never going to be a good thing unless it has a really good manager, and those are few and far between.
i was not only allowed to deny sales, but encouraged to do so because the manager actually gave a d*mm about what would happen.

i had to laugh once i went in for an urgent care visit for a back injury. the dr looked at me and said "hey! i know you! you're the girl that won't let me have a bala shark."
and i said "in that little 20 gallon? heck no."

he has enough trouble keeping zebra danios alive in the office tank...

most of the customers really liked me and i really liked them, i do miss that. i enjoye dhelping people with their critters and helpng them to figure out which critter would do well with them.

ack, you got me on my soapbox.

pick up a book? hah?
hahahaha
oh, that is a good one.
i coudln't even get most people to look at a care sheet - but then many of the caresheets didn't have correct info on them anyway. sighs.

Sasha