How did you provide heat to your PM houses?

[Thomas Maddox]

Tell me(us) about how you provided heat to PM houses. Would 1 light bulb be able to heat a 16 compartment aluminum house? I'm having a fairly mild winter so far, but you never know.

[Martintown33]

Hi Thomas.. I mounted a ceramic light socket to a 5x5 inch piece of wood. I screw a 6 watt reptile heat emitter to it, and run an extension cord down the pole. I hooked up an in-line rheostat that allows me to control the amount of heat, it gives off. When it’s cold, I just slide the unit into one of the compartments, and close it off. The heat radiates to nearby compartments where the martins are huddled together. I would think 2 of these would work for a 16 compartment house. The emitter gives off no light, just heat.
Rob

[Thomas Maddox]

Thank you. I actually have a ceramic reptile heat emitting bulb without light. It's 100 watt though.

[Thomas Maddox]

Most of these reptile ceramic setups appear to be for indoor use. How do you protect it from the rain?

[flyin-lowe]

Fortunately never had the need to. I have had plenty of times where martins have been in Indiana with sub freezing temps, snow and or ice. I am not sure how cold it has to get for the martins to die just from the temps??? Up here by the time they arrive, if we do get a cold snap it usually just last a day or two. They are more likely to die from starvation than from just the cold temps. I provide pine straw and they seem to keep themselves huddled up and warm enough to survive.
The first probably 15 years I had martins I never had to try to supplemental feed. The last 10 years it's probably happened 3 or 4 times due to bad temps and the martins arriving earlier and earlier each year.

[tboydshirt]

up in Ohio, I wrapped heat tape around my core of myT14 martin house. These tapes are intended for water pipes in barns. The plug of it has a thermostat which turns on when temps get below 38 degrees. I honestly don't know if it will help since I got my first pair in May 9 last year. Good luck this year.

[Martintown33]

Here’s a photo of my ceramic reptile heater setup. I wired a dimmer switch , that sits at the bottom of the pole, inside the plastic container to keep it dry. I use a 60 watt emitter and the dimmer switch allows me to adjust the heat. The scrap flashing metal mesh keeps the emitter from making direct contact with the compartment walls and allows heat to radiate to adjacent compartments .. the finned lid folds down to keep too much heat from radiating to the above compartment...

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[Martintown33]

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