Heating lowland terrarium

[adrian]

I have to move my lowlanders to the basement. What is the best heating source? I'm looking for something economical that I can hook up to a thermostat. I'm looking for specific suggestions for the heater itself and the thermostat. My best solution so far is an undertank heater from the pet store, but the thermostats they carry are very expensive.

 

[Taliesin-DS]

The lights and maybe ballast can add a lot of heat, in my 60 gallon tank, 110watts of light adds about 20f.
You could also get an aquarium water heater (has built in thermostat) and put it in a container with water.

 

[adrian]

My lights will help, but they will be off at night, and in the winter, the basement temps get down to the low 60s - not good for lowlanders. I suppose my other option is to trade my lowlanders for highlanders and convert the tank.

 

[Clint]

If you need to heat it, make a false bottom ( you should have one anyway as it really makes watering easier and greatly increases humidity), keep a few inches of water in it, and put two (to evenly heat the tank water for a large terrarium, plus in case one fails youll have a backup) fully submersible aquarium heaters in there. These heat the water and that water heats your tank. This really boosts the humidity, so add a small fan to circulate the warm, humid air to ensure you have no fungi problems.

Dont just put a heater in a jar of water, because that eats up space for a nice big plant (would you rather have a big jar in a corner or a Nepenthes?) Also this more evenly heats the tank, and makes flushing pots easy, increases humidity more, and as long as you water regularly you never have to worry about the water basin under your false bottom going dry. This method also moves your plants four inches or so closer to the light

I like titanium heaters because they are almost unbreakable, but they cost a little extra. They also have temperature probes that you can put above the water where your plants are. This way the heater will keep heating the water until the desired air temperature is reached, although the water below may be five or so degrees warmer. This is also why a small fan to circulate the air and maintain an even air temperature is a good idea.

 

[adrian]

Any suggestions for specific small fans that will work in 90% humidity?

 

[Taliesin-DS]

I got a computer fan hooked up to an old power adapter and it works great so far.