Here are my recommendations for a reptile room setup. You need to monitor your reptile room's temperature and get the right equipment to minimize issues such as overheating, chilling, and power outages. You'll also want to maximize your available space so you have room to grow your collection over time, store supplies, and have room to move about and keep things clean and tidy.
1. Flooring: I would not recommend carpet if you can avoid it. It is difficult to clean and impossible to disinfect. Sticky vinyl tiles are easy to install but leave little crevices for moisture or particles to get in. The fake hardwoods floor are similar but nicer looking and are more sensitive to moisture. You'd want to get on top of any moisture quickly or it can bubble up if you miss any spills. However, I do think both are better than carpet. While it won't win beauty awards, linoleum is quite functional and affordable and this would be my first choice. If you're going to paint your room, I would do that before changing out the flooring in case of any spills.
2. Lighting: If your room already has overhead lighting, great! If not, I would add it. Lamps and lights stuck on walls just don't project the light the way overhead lighting does. I am using the tubular florescent strips because I already had them, but with the wide variety of lighting available today you may find better options. I definitely recommend getting overhead lighting regardless of what choice you decide upon. Sunlight is not a great option because a beam of sunlight can quickly cook your reptiles. A small beam of sunlight in March in New England had one of my AP cages up in the 90! I actually block out most of the natural light to reduce this concern.
3. Heating: If you don't need major heating for your room, I recommend the wall mounted heaters. These take up far less space than space heaters and can go up on a wall out of the way. They produce a fair amount of heat and will raise the temperature a number of degrees in your average household. If you need to raise the temperature a number of degrees or have a large room, I would recommend the 600 Watt Model if you have a small room or only need to raise the temperature say 5 degrees or so, I would consider trying the 400 watt model. Regardless of which model you choose, you're going to need a thermostat to ensure the heater does not cook your reptiles. I actually recommend using two thermostats in tandem so that if one fails, the second can still kill the power. Set the "backup" a few degrees higher and plug the first into the second. You don't want to loose your entire collection because a thermostat failed. My first choice for heating and cooling devices is the Ranco ETC prewired. This model can handle a good amount of power and can control both heating and cooling devices. I have been using these for several years and they have proven very reliable where other cheaper thermostats have failed dangerously in the open position even though the load was within their specifications.
4. Cooling. Reptile rooms can get hot even if you're in the North. If you have central air, the vent might be enough or perhaps adding a zone to the room will work for you. Otherwise, a window mounted AC should do the trick. They can be attached to a ranco thermostat for more precise control as the built in digital thermostats are often a bit off. Another option would be to have a chiller/heater installed through the wall but I do not have first hand experience with those.
5. Shelving: For basking lizards, I like the wire shelving from places like Lowes and Home Deport. It is affordable and adjustable and simply to setup. For feeders, I find the plastic shelves useful as they are generally about the right height between shelves for my bug boxes to fit in. For snakes in tubs, I have also used these plastic shelves but it tends to waste a lot of height so I generally prefer buying or building a rack. Don't forget to include some where to store supplies.
The final touch is to add an alerting system in case you lose power or the temperature gets too high or low. Here is the model I am currently using Lacrosse
1. Flooring: I would not recommend carpet if you can avoid it. It is difficult to clean and impossible to disinfect. Sticky vinyl tiles are easy to install but leave little crevices for moisture or particles to get in. The fake hardwoods floor are similar but nicer looking and are more sensitive to moisture. You'd want to get on top of any moisture quickly or it can bubble up if you miss any spills. However, I do think both are better than carpet. While it won't win beauty awards, linoleum is quite functional and affordable and this would be my first choice. If you're going to paint your room, I would do that before changing out the flooring in case of any spills.
2. Lighting: If your room already has overhead lighting, great! If not, I would add it. Lamps and lights stuck on walls just don't project the light the way overhead lighting does. I am using the tubular florescent strips because I already had them, but with the wide variety of lighting available today you may find better options. I definitely recommend getting overhead lighting regardless of what choice you decide upon. Sunlight is not a great option because a beam of sunlight can quickly cook your reptiles. A small beam of sunlight in March in New England had one of my AP cages up in the 90! I actually block out most of the natural light to reduce this concern.
3. Heating: If you don't need major heating for your room, I recommend the wall mounted heaters. These take up far less space than space heaters and can go up on a wall out of the way. They produce a fair amount of heat and will raise the temperature a number of degrees in your average household. If you need to raise the temperature a number of degrees or have a large room, I would recommend the 600 Watt Model if you have a small room or only need to raise the temperature say 5 degrees or so, I would consider trying the 400 watt model. Regardless of which model you choose, you're going to need a thermostat to ensure the heater does not cook your reptiles. I actually recommend using two thermostats in tandem so that if one fails, the second can still kill the power. Set the "backup" a few degrees higher and plug the first into the second. You don't want to loose your entire collection because a thermostat failed. My first choice for heating and cooling devices is the Ranco ETC prewired. This model can handle a good amount of power and can control both heating and cooling devices. I have been using these for several years and they have proven very reliable where other cheaper thermostats have failed dangerously in the open position even though the load was within their specifications.
4. Cooling. Reptile rooms can get hot even if you're in the North. If you have central air, the vent might be enough or perhaps adding a zone to the room will work for you. Otherwise, a window mounted AC should do the trick. They can be attached to a ranco thermostat for more precise control as the built in digital thermostats are often a bit off. Another option would be to have a chiller/heater installed through the wall but I do not have first hand experience with those.
5. Shelving: For basking lizards, I like the wire shelving from places like Lowes and Home Deport. It is affordable and adjustable and simply to setup. For feeders, I find the plastic shelves useful as they are generally about the right height between shelves for my bug boxes to fit in. For snakes in tubs, I have also used these plastic shelves but it tends to waste a lot of height so I generally prefer buying or building a rack. Don't forget to include some where to store supplies.
The final touch is to add an alerting system in case you lose power or the temperature gets too high or low. Here is the model I am currently using Lacrosse
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