A massive part of my life is my animals, at the moment I have a 4ft monitor lizard, 4 snakes, many tropical fish, rats, mice, and a multitude of tropical insect species (hissing cockroaches to name one). Many of my reptiles should live for over 20 years if I do it right, including my beast of a lizard. The concern of mine at hand would be how to heat these animals effectively and efficiently. I love my reptiles and can hardly imagine not having them in my life and would never be willing to give them up even if it would be far easier for me. My monitor lizard requires a huge amount of space, a minimum 8x8x5 when I get my own place and a basking spot of up to 130F surface temperature. Ambient for warm weather species shouldn't drop below 70F typically. So being able to have the resources to provide the energy for these beasts would be difficult in most places. I do not wish to live anywhere arid, because high humidity is necessary. I was thinking maybe something like a green-house would be a good building to keep the animals in. A design that lets plenty of light in, but is also well insulated for winters. I wish to be well out of the way of "normal" people so on the grid power may not be an option. My wish to is raise native species for fur, companions, and education. I need to be far away from people because of everyones irrational fear of "dangerous" animals. Areas of interest for me are Tennessee, the Carolinas, West Virginia, Virginia, and places of similar climate. (With proper licensing I could keep the species I wish without issue in these states)
heat reflective panels? space blankest lining the cages? heat up hella rocks and leave em around your house? idk hmmm maybe have a little shed where the cold blooded animals live and have it constantly heated?
well i was thinking the gheto rig way like either get a sunroof on the shed and harness the energy point it to the metal walls and the power of the sun should keep it got all day (the thicker the meal the longer the heat will hold) or just get a electric blanket idk i don't know anything about these animals i was just trying to help or get a big ass metal box and have a contestant low powered flame under it. I'm not helping am i
A small scale rocket mass heater would be my idea. It'd work just like a heat rock. If I still had my pythons that's what I'd do. Was checking them out for our future greenhouse.... Surfing The Apocalypse Network - ON POCKET ROCKETS, ROCKET STOVES, AND 'THE PROJECT'
insualte the shed really well heat lamps run on a car bettery with as solar power trickle charger. check out bossoftheswamp on youtube he reacently did a thing on alternative lighting just use a heat lamp... or a wood stove ..... google barrel stove kits
Thats pretty rad, thanks for posting Yeah, heat lamps are pretty big for me as it provides heat and lighting for my critters, then a woodstove for their room/shed to try and keep the ambient temp of the room stable. Oh mai Also sorry for the uber late responses! I appreciate all of you <3
@BailyTheFox You'll note that the rocket stove is vented by an external chimney, so noxious gases shouldn't be an issue. I like the solar soda-can collector concept, but it should be linked up with thermal mass / heat sink in the menagerie room so that the heating will be more even and will continue room heating during the night when there is no solar gain. The rocket stove is a good option as it will operate day and night, and during periods of cloudy weather/snow etc The rocket stove can be used to produce hot water as well as room heating.
I have a solar pop can furnace, about half built. (For my hunting cabin). I don't know of any way to link it to mass or heat sink, since all it does is heat air and draw from low to high by thermals. A fan can be added, but it works by heating the air in the cans, which causes airflow as it rises. Nothing but the vents top and bottom, enter the building. A computer fan at the cool air inlet, and a solar panel to drive it, are pretty standard, but not required.
@kellory There are various ways of using thermal mass to store and radiate the stored heat when required. The following link demonstrated an above ceiling system, which may not be practical for your purposes, but the principle of which may give you some ideas. Instead of a horizontal above ceiling system, perhaps you may use a system similar to some rocket stove heating plans, by using adobe or brick as thermal mass before recirculating the cooled air back into the solar soda can heat collector for solar gain. http://davidmdelaney.com/thermal-cs/thermal-crawl-space-1.html or.... Solar space heating -- active and passive solar projects for space heating indeed, BuildItSolar: Solar energy projects for Do It Yourselfers to save money and reduce pollution has a huge amount of resources on solar design and construction....well worth a look.
Alright, rebuilding the house to handle the greater weight load is NOT a reasonable solution. Being also that they work best when they are needed the least (summer) they need to be removed, or at least covered to prevent excess heat when you are trying to cool the place. If I was to build a house to specs for solar heat, I would not be using stone, but water, which has warm water uses all year long, and would prevent it from ever freezing on you. It could be used in a pinch for fire suppression just by opening a valve, or even be run with sprinklers. (Triggered manually or by fire link.) I would not be using solar/air either, but evacuated cylinders around thick wall metal pipe and water.these are much more efficient, and concentrated as a heat source, and much easier to control the output, while still leaving room for solar panels, and can be retro fitted to existing building with only minor modifications. If I recall correctly, @ColtCarbine did a thread detailing how they are installed.
