Heating Ideas appreciated!

[Tortoise]

Hi
We are finally underway with a small tortoise/reptile room in the basement.
My husband is asking what I need for a heat source for the room.
We have no furnace in our home. We could use a base board heater or fan heaters(drafty?), what else could we do?
We have a portable infra red unit too on wheels.
Any ideas or inspiration for us.
The floor is concrete , the walls are dry walled aside from the one we are building currently.
We need to fill in the ceiling too, to help conserve heat in this room.
Its not a very big room but this will help, the size of the room is 9 feet by 10 ft 6 inches

Thanks!

 

[wellington]

You could I stall a under the floor heat if you wanted to lay a flooring down over the cement. Would give heat from the floor up. Search the Internet about it, there are all kinds out there. You could also use mvb and che or spot heat lights. heat each individually as you would if they were in a cage, tote. Even with a whole room heater, they will each (species of reptile) will need uvb lighting and a hotter basking spot. Also, Don't forget pics when it's finished.

 

[Rover15]

I'm with wellington floor heaters are great in bacement might cost a bit but for that size shouldn't be too much. And if you have a uvb or MVB on all the tanks it should increase the room temp just insalate well in between the drywal and walls good luck

 

[acrantophis]

If you plan on letting the animals roam on the floor. I would attach several lamps around the room. Clamp type Lamps Would probably be best. Maybe 24" off the ground. But make it so they could be adjusted. Use CHEs and full spectrum lights in alternate lamps. In a small room it will get very hot. So a thermostat is essential. make sure it has a probe attached that can reach the floor.
I would line the floor with a large waterproof tarp. Staple it to the wall so it stays put.
I did this to a 20x15' room for an iguana rescue I ran back in the late 80's and 90's. You could put potted plants on the floor near the lights to keep them growing or hang plants near windows for a tropical effect or on shelves. Make sure to use visual barriers in enclosures containing multiple tortoises. It cuts down on a
Lot of aggression and It gives them something to walk around while doing their laps.

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

Drywall as a barrier means nothing to burrowing tortoises. If you've not already planned on it, plan on a replaceable barrier perhaps 12" up the wall from the floor such as plywood. Infrared heaters on thermostats suspended would be good for heat. If free roaming, make sure cords are up, away from roaming torts.
If its a reptile type room with individual enclosures, an oil filled electric space heater may be your best bet. Heat zones in each enclosure with MVB's would also help raise your temps overall.

 

[Tortoise]

Thanks to you all for the suggestions.
There will be multiple enclosures in this room so the floor will likely not be used as a pen unless I take on something unexpectedly
We have the infra red heater on wheels too and wonder how that will do in a small room. It may be more than enough but the problem is when the power goes out the heater stays off as it does not reset itself when the power returns.
I also plan on using the CHE and MVB bulbs as I do now.
We wonder about a sub floor although all of the pens will be off the floor.
It is plain concrete at the moment.We can lay vinyl down too the type that does not need sticking and can be washed and hosed clean etc.

Thanks for the suggestions , its good to hear how others have done their reptile rooms.
Our basement is cold and the Winter long so this needs to be a big consideration.

 

[Rover15]

I believe you can lay down vapor barrier sheets then ply wood then your vinyl on top should creat an insalated floor to reduce the cold dampness from the ground might help. This is what was suggested when I looked in to finishing my fathers bacement

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

Tom has been using radiant heat panels on thermostats. That may help. You gotta love those safety shut offs. Back when I used human heating pads for snakes, I had to buy old ones at garage sales in that the new ones have a 4 hour auto shut off. I've seen outlets that have built in thermometers in them, but that would work the same as a zoomed type thermometer. Interrupt the power and the device would still not come back on.

 

[yagyujubei]

I use an oil filled radiator. I have 2" rigid foam over the concrete on the floor. I also have no heat in basement. If you insulate the room well, it's not hard to keep it warm. A couple of CHE's and lights are almost enough. My room never goes below about 70. I use the floor, and have a 30" wide shelf on two walls.

 

[Tortoise]

Thanks for the ideas on flooring and heat.
We are still constructing the wall and ready to start the electrics and some dry walling.
I hope none of the species I have will wreck the drywall.I won't have anything on the floor out of a built enclosure at this time but yes if I ended up with a leopard or sulcatta-it may need reinforcement from the ground up-thanks for mentioning that.