Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi. I am going to build a snake rack that will house 9 corns, a texas rat and a pair of western hognoses.

I have the design planned, but the heating is getting to me.

I plan to use flexwatt 4 inch heat tape, BACK mounted on the back wall. However, I am a little hesitant as if it were to come into contact with the wood, it may catch fire. I want to put fire retardant paint on the wood for peace of mind, but I wonder if this will be toxic to the snakes. Of course, the paint will be all dried at least for a week or two before any snakes go in there. But still, the bottom of each shelf will be painted with fire retardant paint which the snakes will be in contact with, as it is their "roof". Please can somebody advise me on this?

Also, how dangerous is the 4 inch flexwatt? Is the 11 inch much safer? I have heard so, but 11 inch is just too big for me as my tubs are only 6 inches tall.

What would be best? To mount the heat tape VERTICALLY along each column? Or horizontally against the back wall of each shelf?

First let us dispell the myth: 11-inch Flexwatt is no safer than 4-inch Flexwatt. Both can overheat if the end user is a knucklehead and doesn't use temperature control of some sort or doesn't ensure some sort of safety practice.

For heating down the back wall of a rack, 11-inch is more practical. It takes alot of heated surface area down a back wall to heat boxes in a room that is cooler than the desired box temp. 4-inch Flexwatt down the back wall will do little for you but may be OK for hatchling racks.

What kind of wood are you using?

You will be waiting alot longer than a week if you paint the undersides of each shelf. The smell will linger for a month or more. Paint will work, and you don't need fire-retardant paint under the shelves. Use semi-gloss or eggshell kitchen and bath paint. Alternatives to painting are contact paper, vinyl film or the plastic wall covering they sell at Home Depot (not FRP, the other one called "white poly panel). You can cut the plastic with scissors and use contact cement to adhere to the wood. Allow a few weeks or more for the glue smell to dissipate.

Now, the back wall. I wouldn't put Flexwatt on a painted surface, period. I wouldn't put Flexwatt on a plywood back, period. I would use particleboard for the back or better yet melamine. In fact, you would do better with the whole rack being melamine. No painting, no worries about warping and heat.

I've seen uncoated particleboard racks that last longer than you would think. Of course, for a wood rack, melamine is best IMO.

Thanks. What if I run the heat tape HORIZONTALLY against the back wall instead of vertically? Still not under the tank, but along each shelf on the back wall, not up and down. Will the 4 inch work in this case?

I think you will be disappointed if you use 4" wide heater run horizontally. In summer you may be just fine, but if you plan to keep the boxes warm in Winter or in early Spring and your ambient room temp is cool, you will see little effectivity in your heating system.

Bottom line: If you want to use 4" wide, use it under the boxes. Otherwise, use 11-inch run vertically.

If you question my advice (which is just fine for you to do), look at all of the rack mfgrs that offer back-wall heating and see what they use. You will only find 11-inch run vertically.

BTW, most rack mfgrs have gone to underbox heat instead of back-wall heat due to the problems people have when the room the rack is in is cold.

I don't question your advice in fact my experienced herp friend has his in 11 inch run vertically. However, I want to run horizontally somehow because I want to be able to control the temperature for each shelf individually, that's all.

So if I run 11 inch backwall vertically there will still be problems with it when the room is cold?

I plan to use flexwatt 4 inch heat tape, BACK mounted on the back wall. However, I am a little hesitant as if it were to come into contact with the wood, it may catch fire.

Keep in mind that just about any type of wood that you'll use on a rack should be a fire-rated product. If you think about it all of these woods are used on kitchen cabinets which are often accept wiring, hot halogen lights, etc.
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Current snakes:

0.0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Java locale (green)

2.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Seleyar locale (all black)

I can use melamine for the boards but how about the tracks, spaces, stuff like that?

>>I can use melamine for the boards but how about the tracks, spaces, stuff like that?

What is your design exactly?

Regardless, let me stress that I will not discourage you from doing anything that increases your peace of mind. If you use melamine for the shelves then you don't need to worry about using fire-resistant paint for the undersides which I believe was your only concern. Then just the non-melamine surfaced could be painted.

I totally understand where you are coming from. Flexwatt is not within my comfort zone so I don't use it at all. I instead rely on room heat and then use rope light or heat rope to provide small amounts of supplemental heat.

Unfortunately I know very little about fire-resistant paint so I can't guess to what degree and for now long it offgasses.
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Current snakes:

0.0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - Java locale (green)

2.2 Gonyosoma janseni - Seleyar locale (all black)

unfortunately I have only two rooms for herp keeping and one is already full. The other one I will be keeping the snake rack as well as other lizards, tortoises etc. that require different temperatures so heating the whole room may not work very well. Perhaps I will build a box and just heat the inside.