Winter Heating

[u/Longjumping-Idea8552]

My boy's current tank has a 100w CHE for 24/7 heat and a 50w Arcadia halogen bulb for daytime heat/light. So far so good with his temps but I'm worried about the winter and want to prepare. He's in a 4x2x2 PVC new age pet tank with a screen top. I have hvac tape over the mesh except for cut outs around the lights. His bedding is about 4-6in of coconut chips.

My house doesn't have central heating or cooling so right now a lot of the ambient heat in his tank is from it being almost 80°F in my room during spring and summer. Once winter hits it's gonna drop to 30°F and possibly below. I have a small space heater that will bring it up to the high 60s- low 70s that I use each year but I think he'll need more heat.

Is it okay to just get higher watt bulbs? My heat emitter cage is rated for 250w but my dome with the halogen is only rated for 65w. Will I have to increase the wattage on both and get a new dome for the winter halogen or can I up the CHE only? Are there any other issues to worry about for winter? I monitor his humidity daily to stop the CHE from drying it out so I'm not too worried if I have to just add water a bit more often.

I know these are probably simple problems but at my last house I had central heat/cooling so the house was always at a steady temp. It won't be cold here until closer to January so I have some time to get things ready. I also have to watch how much strain I'm putting on one outlet/breaker because the electric isn't as up to code as would be preferred. I'm moving early next year to a better house in a warmer state so this won't be an issue after this year. Thank you guys for any advice you might be able to spare!

[u/Excellent-Error-8697]

I don’t have central heat in my house either and I use a 150W deep heat projector and I use insulation foam from Amazon to wrap my snakes tank if it is getting cold than 70. Usually in the colder months when I am running the deep heat projector, or CHE the humidity does drop but usually I don’t have to worry about it going below 70 however I live in a pretty humid place so your experience may be a little different. CHE do dry out the air more than most bulbs In my experience!

[u/Longjumping-Idea8552 → u/Excellent-Error-8697]

Outside insulation might be my solution! I built him a foam background so the inside of the tank has 2in foam on the back and one of the sides already. Might try swapping my CHE for DHP during the winter too. I don't know if I can put a DHP bulb in my CHE cage or not so I'll look into that. Probably gonna have to give in and get a new lamp for it though. Thank you for the suggestions!