snake housing / heat

Question
QUESTION: I have several colubrids and other reptiles.  I am running out of room in my home office and my wife is running out of patience. Can I safely move my animals to my garage?  Will the undertank heaters be enough or will I have to actually heat the garage? I live in Southern California so, at worst, the temp goes down to the high 40s (frost is really rare)

ANSWER: Colubrids can survive with the temp in the high 40s, but it's not something I'd recommend. If you do move to the garage I would look at some type of heating and cooling to avoid the extreme hot/cold temps you might experience. Even if you have to pay for a decent system it's worth it if you can preserve the peach inside your house :)

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks Paul.  Do you know of stand alone heating systems that can be used in a garage safely.  I've heard of other guys having their "reptile room" in their finished garage,but not sure how they accomplish the climate control.

Answer
I'm not really sure what would be best. I don't think that a space heater would be very reliable or safe as I've tried these before in my attic snake room and they just didn't cut it. I ended up going with a heat pump which was quite expensive. However, I know that you can also get a heating/AC company to install a wall/window type unit like you see in motel rooms. I would think that you could get one of those for under 1k.