Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Of the two racks I plan to build with available closets that I can use for conversions, the measurements are as follows:

Small rack:
Tubs are 16" X 10" X 6" tall.
Shelves are 14" DEEP X 19.7" WIDE X 6'6" tall

Seems perfect, but note that the shelves are 14" DEEP, not wide, so the tubs will be placed with the LONG side facing out, not the short side.

While this will let me look at my snakes better along the long edge (good), I do think it makes more sense to make a temperature gradient along the LONG side of the tub, not the short edge.

I plan to run my 11 inch flexwatt heat tape vertically for back heat. Obviously, I can't run a continous strip of heat tape onto the side wall vertically, because the shelves are nailed to the sides. I was wondering if I can get a "Diagonal" temperature gradient if I were to put the flexwatt on one side of the back panel...
This diagram should explain what I mean... Please note that the 11 inch heat tape would cover over half of the back of each shelf, as the shelves are only 19.7" wide. I'd go with 4 inch, but you guys said it wasn't strong enough for back heat, so its gonna be 11 inch. Here's the diagram.

Would that work?

That will give you a very poor temp gradient. I would guess much less then 10 degrees from the cool side to the hot side. The whole shelf is just going to heat up. Ideally I would place a square of flexwat on each shelf and connect each of the engs to the one above and below so that each piece is on one circuit. You can see a pic of what I'm talking about at clay davenports website when he builds a large iris tub rack. You could even just put each shelf on its own plug. This gives very nice control. Many racks get warmer then you want at the top and too cool at the bottom. (Some people plan for this and put hotter species up top.) This way you can plug them in to a thermostat individually or in groups via a power strip.

What species are you keeping? If they are not to crazy about very high heat, you could use 4 inch flexwatt on the back. The 4 inch is a werd size you can get it from MG reptiles. It woul not be supper powerful but if your room isnt too cold it should be fine.

-cheers