Electricity Bills

Alex Dew · 08-21-03, 04:44 PM

Hey all

I have a few vivs and quite a few fish tanks and my parents are worried about how much the electricity bills are going to be. Since the heat pads and other electrical stuff is on 24hours a day.

So days anyone kno9w if the elctricity bills are going to be high???

Sorry about the stupid question!!!

Thanks

Alex

BurmBaroness · 08-21-03, 05:32 PM

My electric bill:

Before snakes=$60

After snakes=$100-$110

But I have more than a few..........lol

Edwin · 08-21-03, 06:26 PM

Check this link:

http://www.anapsid.org/electricitycost.html

Hope this helps.

Invictus · 08-21-03, 06:37 PM

The most expensive heater we have is a 100 Watt heat bulb in a lamp for our BCI. We calculated this at $10/month to run if we leave it on 24 hours a day. Considering that UTH's are 8-25 watt, even a 25 will cost you about $2.50 a month to run assuming your electricity costs are around the same as Calgary's (6.9 cents per kilowatt hour.)

Snip3r · 08-21-03, 06:45 PM

Ours went up about 30 bucks a month for the monitor....BPs....Gecko....tarantula...rats...LoL so its not too bad

Pia · 08-21-03, 09:50 PM

Someone gave me the formula to figure it out but I lost it. But I do remember it worked out to about $2/month for each cage, so not a big deal unless you have lots of them.

Jeff_Favelle · 08-21-03, 10:37 PM

I have over 90 adult snakes and it maybe costs me $25/month to heat them. The trick is to be efficient. I use low wattage heat-tape on dimmers and thermostats (no unnecessary heat) and I have an insulated room, and I use slabs of insulation to minimize any heat loss from the cages. Everything is monitored to the smallest detail, and my electricity is next to nothing. Snakes are the cheapest things in the world to keep (outside of pet rocks).

Alex Dew · 08-22-03, 03:05 PM

Ok, Thanks every one

My parents are VERY happy to hear that. So now I can got more snakes and fish.

Thanks

Alex

Stockwell · 08-22-03, 04:23 PM

Well said Jeff! I've had up to 300 adult breeding stock...My hydro increase is nil. I have no lights in the room other than 2 40 watt fluorescents, which are only on when I'm in there. I heat the entire room in winter but only to 80F in the day, and let it fall to 68 at night. I do all that with one 1000 watt fan blown floor heater, which cycles as needed. I also have a setback system that takes the room up and down in steps during the course of the day.
Most of my stuff gets hibernated in a separate room with no heat unless if falls to 52F.
I use some 3 inch heat tape only under gravid boids.
My room tends to get too hot in summer so I just open the floor grate and let some air from the central AC come in... It's running for the rest of the house anyway, so there is no increase to cool.

Snakes are super cheap to keep, espeicially ones that can be brumated, which means low heat and also NO food for 3 or 4 months...
Lizard and chelonian keepers that need UV, basking lamps and 12 months of heating are the people spending money on Hydro..
Elliminate incandescent bulbs(filament bulbs) wherever possible.
They are power hogs and also the biggest cause of herper fires.

Linds · 08-25-03, 10:16 AM

Yup I have to agree with everyone here. Heat-tape, heat mats, heat panels, and all that junk are very low wattage. You run in to the higher costs if you are using lights... they suck the juice up nicely. The only lighting I have is for my tortoise and iguana... everyone else has no heat or heat tape, so the costs stay low. My main hydro concern is in the winter when I have the space heater going... those things use up a fair amount

And even still, the hydro bill isn't significantly raised. If your using the bottom-heat sources you shoudln't have any problems. As for fish, I've heard that their sources use up a decent chunk but this is jsut what I have heard, I have little actual experience with this.

Edwin · 08-25-03, 06:27 PM

Yeah, heat pads do not make much of a dent in the pocketbook. Analog thermostats are pretty good at lowering your hydro bill too, as they shut off the heat source once desired temps are reached.

I cannot really comment on fish, as I never bothered to examine my electricity usage when I kept fish.

Solid Snake · 08-25-03, 10:28 PM

i've noticed a big change when i got rid of my fishes and replaced the tanks with snakes! I used to have the lights on all the time for the fishes. I only use 2 50watt bulbs for my Bp and Boa.

Linds · 08-25-03, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Edwin
Analog thermostats are pretty good at lowering your hydro bill too, as they shut off the heat source once desired temps are reached.

Except that anaolog thermostat really wear out your heat sources at an accelerated rate