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bigdee,
Basements will tend to be colder. I'm not sure what options you have but if they must stay in the basement, I would wall off part of the basement as your reptile room so you can control the temps better. I don't know your financial situation so I'm not sure if that is an option for you. As you continue to work on bringing up the ambient room temp make sure that they have a nice hot spot that runs about 85 - 90 degrees. Heat pads are fine if that is all you have right now. I actualy have 2 snakes that are using head pads under their sweater box on one end, until I can finish another snake rack.
I have an air conditioner and a ceramic heater in my reptile room. I really like the ceramic heaters because they have an automatic cut-off if tipped over and they have a digital temp setting. Some models are also capable of moving side to side (oscillating) as they blow warm/hot air. I purchased mine from Lowes but I'm sure you can find the same one at a Home Depot or WalMart. I have never used an oil filled heater so I can't comment much on them.
It has been in the 20's at night here in Georgia so I know what you mean. My reptile room's ambient temps are between 78 - 80 during the day and around 75 degrees at night. I use an enclosed snake rack with slide boxes and heat tape. My heat tape is set to 90 degrees and the cool side of the slide box is around 75 - 80 degrees. There have been a few times the temps have dropped to 72 degrees (which requires me to tweak the heat settings).
I hope this helps. Good Luck and Take Care.
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